Frédéric Joron

Born on 8 September 1966 in Saint-Pierre, Frédéric Joron grew up in Saint-Louis, where his father, Jules Joron, ran the local school. A songwriter and performer, he launched his career in 1984 by founding the band Ousanousava, driven by committed lyrics. The first cassette, in 1989, broke sales records on the island; he received the SACEM medal in 1990.

Watching his father lead choirs and small groups with his pupils, he caught the bug himself and was soon accompanying him on guitar. Arriving in Saint-Louis around 16 or 17 for a carpentry qualification (CAP) at the Roches Maigres lycée, he began writing songs in the early 1980s — among them Ti Paris and Ti Fleur, the latter only appearing in 1991 on the album Vivre cité. Between 1982 and 1985, he wrote, in parallel, the eight tracks of the founding cassette (Ousa nousava, Ousa milé, Flèr malèr, Zamal, Maloya, Là-bas, Grand-mère, Savannah), all inspired by scenes and people he observed around him, notably in Saint-Louis, where his family settled after leaving Terre-Sainte.

He still recorded with the group on the albums Déraciné (1990) and Ousanousava chante les succès de Jules Joron, vol. 1 — known as Pic Nic (1992) —, featuring the title track Pic nic chemin volcan, written and composed by his father, the ségatier Jules Joron. In 1995 he left the stage to devote himself to a spiritual life, before a noted comeback in 2001, under his own name, with « Génération l'an 2000 » and a concert at the Théâtre de Saint-Gilles in 2002. His solo career (A Koz, Gran mèr zamal, La reine z'ananas, Kel lékol…) earned him the SACEM's Tiembo trophy in 2012.

« Timeless » is the word pinned on artists who are hard to place in a movement or an era. Frédéric Joron stands outside time altogether: rooted in the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, yet carried by songs the years do not wear down. A voice worked like an instrument, music explored without ever giving up its roots, and a rare demand placed on lyrics — his own and other people's.