La Compagnie Créole is a popular French pop band from

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and the

French West Indies The French West Indies or French Antilles (, ; ) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloupe, including the islands of Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Ma ...

, founded in the 1970's. They originally started singing in Creole but quickly adopted French as their main language. They are known mostly for the feel-good and happy-go-lucky quality reverberating in all of their songs: popular themes and imagery include colorful rainbows, sunshine, music and harmless animals as a positive morale booster all set to

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

rhythms. Many of their records have been produced by

Daniel Vangarde Daniel Bangalter (, born 1947), known in his musical career as Daniel Vangarde, is a French former producer, lyricist and songwriter who co-wrote and produced several hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, including " Aie a Mwana" with Jean Kluge ...

Biography

Founded in 1975, the group released their first album, "Ba mwen en ti bo" in 1976, with the album "Blogodo" following in 1982. In 1983, two of their most popular songs, "Vive le Douanier Rousseau !" and "C'est bon pour le moral" were released, with 400,000 and 500,000 records sold, respectively. From 1984 to 1987, the group released additional popular songs, including "Le Bal masqué", "Ça fait rire les oiseaux" and "Ma première biguine-partie." The group received top billing in the fourth and fifth seasons of "Âge tendre, la tournée des idoles" a tour composed of musical acts originating from the 1960's and the 1970's. On May 27, 2011, a celebration in their honour was held in Paris. In the summer of 2020, they released a parody of their song "Le bal masqué" under the title of "Sortons masqués" (Let's go out wearing masks) to encourage wearing masks during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The group has produced over 23 albums, and claims to have sold over 60 million records. At the beginning of 2024, the group took part in the 6th season of the popular French TV project "Mask Singer" under a Hand mask. They left the project in episode 3.

Members

* Clémence Bringtown – born 17 December 1948,

Le Robert Le Robert (; ) is a town and the third-largest commune in the French overseas department of Martinique. It is located in the northeastern (Atlantic) side of the island of Martinique. It contains the Sainte Rose-de-Lima church, Club Nautique Wi ...

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

(

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

) * Arthur Apatou – born 6 June 1951, Pointe a Pitre,

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

(

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

) * José Sébéloue – (17 September 1948, Ouanary,

– 3 September 2023) (Guitar,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, vocals) * Julien Tarquin – born 16 September 1948, Marigot, Martinique (

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, vocals) * Jean-Marc Vivenza – born 26 December 1957, Marigot, Saint-Martin ( Keyboards, intonarumori, percussion) * Guy Bevert – born 18 February 1949,

Basse-Terre Basse-Terre (, ; ; ) is a communes of the Guadeloupe department, commune in the France, French overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the ''prefectures in France, pref ...

(

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion, vocals)

Discography

Studio albums

*''Ba mwen en ti bo'' (1976) *''Blogodo'' (1982) *''Vive le douanier Rousseau'' (1983) *''Le Bal masqué'' (1984) *''Bons baisers de Fort de France'' (1984) *''Ça fait rire les oiseaux'' (1986) *''Sans chemise sans pantalon'' (1986) *''Soca Party sur la plage'' (1986) *''La Bonne Aventure'' (1989) *''Bon anniversaire maman'' (1990) *''Megamix'' (1990)

Tribute album

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

titled ''Les machines à danser'' (dancing machines) was released in June 2010; the album includes covers by Québécois artists such as Ariane Moffatt,

Dubmatique Dubmatique is a French Canadian hip hop group formed in the 1990s in Montreal, Quebec. Groupmates Dj Choice, OTMC, and Jérôme-Philippe are the first French-language hip-hop group from Canada to have a number one hit single on the francophone po ...

and

Afrodizz Afrodizz is an eight-member afrobeat/ afrofunk band from Montreal. Their music is a modern mix of afrobeat, jazz and funk, that has been described as having nuances of The Herbaliser and Tony Allen.McLeod, Erin, "Reach to teach >> Montrealer A ...

.Pellerin, Marie-France, "La Compagnie Créole au goût du jour", ''7 Jours'', Jun 7, 2010. Last retrieved June 17, 2010.

References

External links

Official site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Compagnie Creole, La Music of French Guiana Musical groups established in 1975 1975 establishments in France 1975 establishments in South America