La Rue Kétanou
Encyclopedia
La Rue Kétanou is a French
music between chanson
and folk rock
group with mixed elements of reggae
music, bohemian style of life, theatre
, poetry and humor. Its name is a deformation of La rue qui est à nous, which means The street that's ours.
. At First, La Rue Kétanou was playing in the streets of la Rochelle
and the île de Ré
. The show was a mix between theater and music. Their motto was C'est pas nous qui sommes à la rue, c'est la rue qui est à nous ('Kétanou'), meaning literally : We don't belong to the street, it's the street that belongs to us." and figuratively : "we are not bums, the street is ours". In French this is a play on words due to the repeated usage of the article "à", which can mean either "at", or indicate possession. For example, "je suis à la poste" means "I am at the post office," whereas "c'est à toi" means "it's yours". So an approximately good translation of this pun would be : "We don't live in the streets, the streets live us".
After spending some time living a semi bohemian life, the group ended up meeting Bibou, a member of Tryo
, who asked them to be the opening act for the Tryo shows at L'Olympia
and for the rest of their tour.
The first album of La Rue Kétanou, En attendant les caravanes (Waiting for the caravans) was finally produced in 2001. After some time doing tours throughout France, the group completed a second album Y'a des cigales dans la fourmilière (There are cicadas in the ant-hill) in 2002. In 2004, they released a live album Ouvert à double tour. After this album, there were rumours that they were about to break up, which have proven untrue so far. Florent, however, spent some time in a related project, the group T'inquiète Lazare. Mourad and Olivier also formed a new band with several other musicians and friends, Mon côté punk.
After this pause, the group is touring again with two new members, Pierre Joseph and Simoné Monticelloni.
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...
music between chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
and folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
group with mixed elements of reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
music, bohemian style of life, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, poetry and humor. Its name is a deformation of La rue qui est à nous, which means The street that's ours.
History of the band
The group itself is composed of musicians Mourad Musset, Olivier Leite and Florent Vintrigner, all of them coming from the Théâtre du fil in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. At First, La Rue Kétanou was playing in the streets of la Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
and the île de Ré
Île de Ré
Île de Ré is an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait....
. The show was a mix between theater and music. Their motto was C'est pas nous qui sommes à la rue, c'est la rue qui est à nous ('Kétanou'), meaning literally : We don't belong to the street, it's the street that belongs to us." and figuratively : "we are not bums, the street is ours". In French this is a play on words due to the repeated usage of the article "à", which can mean either "at", or indicate possession. For example, "je suis à la poste" means "I am at the post office," whereas "c'est à toi" means "it's yours". So an approximately good translation of this pun would be : "We don't live in the streets, the streets live us".
After spending some time living a semi bohemian life, the group ended up meeting Bibou, a member of Tryo
Tryo
Tryo is a French language 'unplugged' reggae acoustic band, popular in Europe and in Quebec, with three French guitarists, a percussionist, and a producer: Guizmo, Christophe Mali, Manu Eveno, Daniel "Danielito" Bravo and Bibou....
, who asked them to be the opening act for the Tryo shows at L'Olympia
Paris Olympia
The Olympia is a music hall in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Located at No. 28, Boulevard des Capucines, its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin and Auber....
and for the rest of their tour.
The first album of La Rue Kétanou, En attendant les caravanes (Waiting for the caravans) was finally produced in 2001. After some time doing tours throughout France, the group completed a second album Y'a des cigales dans la fourmilière (There are cicadas in the ant-hill) in 2002. In 2004, they released a live album Ouvert à double tour. After this album, there were rumours that they were about to break up, which have proven untrue so far. Florent, however, spent some time in a related project, the group T'inquiète Lazare. Mourad and Olivier also formed a new band with several other musicians and friends, Mon côté punk.
After this pause, the group is touring again with two new members, Pierre Joseph and Simoné Monticelloni.
Official members
- Florent Vintrigner: accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
- Olivier Leite: guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Mourad Musset: guitar
Discography
- En attendant les caravanes (2001)
- Y'a des cigales dans la fourmilière (2002)
- Ouvert à double tour (2004)
- À Contresens (2009)
- La Rue Kétanou et le Josem (2011)