Cultural life
Léona Gabriel
Léona Gabriel was born in 1891 in Rivière-Pilote in Martinique. Daughter of a wealthy family, Léona is lulled by the songs of the workers of her father's plantation, a White Creole, which they used to give themselves courage in the work.
When she was 10, she lost her father, who died accidentally while fishing. Her mother died of grief and illness some time later.
At the age of 14, the young Léona embarked for Guyana with her aunt and her brothers and sisters, where she would spend all her childhood. As a young woman, she held a post of secretary in Panama before returning to Martinique. Back on her island, she seduces the Martinican public with her voice and her charm. She sings her Martinique, that of Saint-Pierre, which is reborn from its ashes after the volcanic eruption of 1902.
Léona also composed new biguines and mazurkas, which would become great classics of the traditional Martinican repertoire: "vini wè kouli-a", "maladie d'amour", a song taken up by her nephew Henri Salvador a few years later.
Léona Gabriel left for Paris around 1920. There she met her future husband, Dany Derff, a talented Russian musician who arranged the melodies she composed and who took charge of her career. Léona Gabriel frequents the Parisian artistic milieu, and rubs shoulders with Edith Piaf, Henri Liméry, etc. Separated a few years later, she became closer to West Indian musicians and became the official singer of the Stellio orchestra, with whom she traveled through France. She remarried in 1935 with Mr. Soïme, a military doctor, whom she followed on a mission to Senegal for 2 years. The war forces her to mark a truce in her singing career. In 1948, Léona returned to Martinique.
Very much in demand, she gives numerous recitals in Martinique and Guadeloupe, hosts the radio program "Ça c'est la Martinique" (This is Martinique) alongside great musicians such as the trombonist Archange St-Hilaire or Hurard Coppet. In 1966, under the same title, she published a collection of Creole songs that brought together the main works of Martinican folklore from before 1902, when Saint-Pierre was destroyed. Léona Gabriel has recorded numerous records alongside great musicians of her time: Stellio, Hurard Coppet, Archange St-Hilaire, etc.
She died in 1971, leaving Creole songs that had become great classics.
Marijosé Alie: media woman
Marijosé Alie was born in 1951 in Paris to an architect father and a musician mother. She spent her childhood at Le Diamant in the south of Martinique with her grandmother first, then with her mother, a piano teacher. From the age of six, she developed a passion for this instrument. She also enjoys reading and writing. Hence her vocation for journalism, which she considers, at the age of 16, to be the most complete expression of democracy. As soon as she obtained her baccalaureate, she crossed the Atlantic to continue her studies in Paris. Marijosé Alie enrolled in a journalism school.
At the same time, this reading lover is studying literature and sociology at the Sorbonne. At the same time as her studies, she joined a group that played in the subway the same year. A group with which, sometimes drawing inspiration from real events, she writes and composes many songs. Marijosé Alie graduated from the Paris School of Journalism in 1974.
After graduating, she plans to start a weekly newspaper covering Caribbean news. But as soon as she returned to Martinique, television called on her. It then joined the Office de Radiodiffusion et Télévision Française (O.R.T.F) (French Broadcasting and Television Office).
She first started on the radio before presenting the regional television news a few months later. In 1977, she was transferred to Burgundy. She will stay there for three years. It was during her stay in Burgundy that she composed the song "Caressé mwen," which was recorded in 1983 by the group Malavoi. It will experience real popular success nationally and internationally. She successively held prestigious positions in Martinique and Paris, notably becoming the first female Regional Director in Martinique and directing two films on Aimé Césaire.
Anxious to promote artists from overseas France and ethnic and socio-cultural diversity, Marijosé Alie, in 2005, conceived and launched the “Dom Tom Folies”, for artists from the 9 overseas departments and territories, and “France Ô Folies” for minorities living in the suburbs. She has also presented "Studio M" then "A Nous Deux" since the start of September 2011.
Since Radio France Outremer (now, la 1ère) joined the Groupe France Télévision, Marijosé Alie has been Deputy Director of Programs in charge of Diversity for all the channels of the France Télévision group. Marijosé Alie-Monthieux is a Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (French Medal).
Jocelyne Béroard: ambassador of Creole culture
Jocelyne Béroard was born on September 12, 1954, in Fort de France. After obtaining her Baccalauréat at the age of 17, she moved to the metropolis where she continued her studies in Caen (pharmacy) and then joined the Beaux-Arts in Paris. Thanks to her brother, she joined the West Indian music scene in Paris.
In 1980, having become a professional chorister, Jocelyne Béroard left for Jamaica for a few weeks, where she recorded several tunes with Lee "Scratch" Perry and Third World. She also records in France with the disco group Gibson Brothers.
1980 is a pivotal year for her, it is indeed this year that she takes her first steps with Kassav' by participating in the choir for the second album of the group. She recorded the song "Soley" on this album. She continued her career as a chorister, where she worked for Bernard Lavilliers, Manu Dibango, Zachary Richard and Herbert Leonard.
Jocelyne Béroard definitively integrates Kassav 'in 1983. From then on, Jocelyne Béroard takes more and more importance in Kassav' where she ends up becoming the main singer of the group.
In 1986, his album “Siwo” and the single “Kolé séré” sung in duet with Jean-Claude Naimro were double gold records. She becomes the first Caribbean singer in history to obtain a gold record in France. In 1988, Philippe Lavil invited him for a duet cover of the hit “Kolé séré” by Kassav '.
In 1991, a second album was released entitled "Milan" with titles such as "Jilo Mayé" or "Milan". This album met with mixed success, dissuading the singer from making a new solo album for more than ten years.
In 1997, she recorded the song "Lonbraj An Pyé Mango" with Chris Combette. This song will be rewarded as a vacation hit in the Caribbean. In 1999, she was awarded the rank of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. In March 2001, she was one of the many performers of the title “Que serais-je demain ” as a member of the female collective “Les Voix de l'espoir” created by Princess Erika.
In 2003, she recorded the album "Madousinay" with her friends from Kassav. Along with the song, we could see it in the film "Nèg Maron", in particular, the Guadeloupe singer Admiral T.
On May 16, 2009, she participated in the “30 years of Kassav” concert, the biggest zouk concert ever organized in mainland France in front of more than 65,000 people. On May 22, 2011, she triumphed at the Olympia (prestigious concert hall in Paris) in a solo a few days after the release of her double album “Yen Ki Lanmou”.
In 2012, she participated in the film "Le Gang des Antillais". A year later, the group Kassav released their 15th album, “Sonjé”, notably with a tribute to Patrick Saint-Éloi, one of the members of the group who died a few years earlier. We could also have presented Jenny Alpha, former dean of French actors, or the producer Euzhan Palcy, Gertrude Seinin, singer of traditional Martinican music, Princess Lover, current zouk singer, Danielle René-Corail, among others.