Fabulous Trobadors
Encyclopedia
Fabulous Trobadors are a band from Toulouse
, France
, founded in 1987. They have developed their own distinctive style based on Occitan folk music and the rhythms of northeastern Brazil
.
Claude Sicre writes the lyrics and raps, while Ange B (real name Jean-Marc Enjalbert) raps and acts as a human beatbox, producing a wide range of sounds (beats, scratches, trumpet, guitar etc) solely with his mouth.
Their first album, Èra pas de faire (In English, We shouldn't have done it), was released on Massilia Sound System
's Roker Promocion label. Originally the lyrics to their songs were in the Occitan language, but they have since reached a wider audience with French-language lyrics.
They are noted for their political engagement, denouncing politicians such as Toulouse mayor Dominique Baudis
, and particularly for their humour, wordplay, and constant puns. A major feature of their concerts is improvisation in the form of rap battles, verbal duels between the two rappers with each trying to outdo the other. These joutes verbales or duels de tchaches, as the band calls them, are inspired by the "tenson" of Occitan troubadours
. The auditorium also forms part of the show, with numerous folk dances taking place.
The Fabulous Trobadors engage in their songs with the defence of cultural (notably Occitan) identity, decentralisation
, and the fight against economic neoliberalism
. Together with other artists they have promoted the idea of the Linha Imaginòt, an imaginary line linking like-minded people, towns and villages, "a symbol of a movement towards greater cultural democracy".
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, founded in 1987. They have developed their own distinctive style based on Occitan folk music and the rhythms of northeastern Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Claude Sicre writes the lyrics and raps, while Ange B (real name Jean-Marc Enjalbert) raps and acts as a human beatbox, producing a wide range of sounds (beats, scratches, trumpet, guitar etc) solely with his mouth.
Their first album, Èra pas de faire (In English, We shouldn't have done it), was released on Massilia Sound System
Massilia Sound System
Massilia Sound System is a reggae band formed in Marseille, France in 1984. They developed a Provençal hybrid version of reggae, rub-a-dub and raggamuffin with lyrics in the French and Occitan languages, sometimes referred to as trobamuffin , though they have also performed in Portuguese and Italian...
's Roker Promocion label. Originally the lyrics to their songs were in the Occitan language, but they have since reached a wider audience with French-language lyrics.
They are noted for their political engagement, denouncing politicians such as Toulouse mayor Dominique Baudis
Dominique Baudis
Dominique Baudis is the French ombudsman. Formerly a journalist, politician and Mayor of Toulouse, he had been a member of DL and later of the leading centre-right Union for a Popular Movement....
, and particularly for their humour, wordplay, and constant puns. A major feature of their concerts is improvisation in the form of rap battles, verbal duels between the two rappers with each trying to outdo the other. These joutes verbales or duels de tchaches, as the band calls them, are inspired by the "tenson" of Occitan troubadours
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
. The auditorium also forms part of the show, with numerous folk dances taking place.
The Fabulous Trobadors engage in their songs with the defence of cultural (notably Occitan) identity, decentralisation
Décentralisation
Décentralisation is a french word for both a policy concept in French politics from 1968-1990, and a term employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and institutional organization of France....
, and the fight against economic neoliberalism
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
. Together with other artists they have promoted the idea of the Linha Imaginòt, an imaginary line linking like-minded people, towns and villages, "a symbol of a movement towards greater cultural democracy".
Discography
- Èra pas de faire (1992)
- Ma Ville est le plus beau park (1995)
- On the Linha Imaginòt (1998)
- Duels de tchatche et autres trucs du folklore toulousain (2003)