La Rue Ketanou is a French music group that blends

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

and

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

mixed with elements of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

music, bohemian style of life,

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

, 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 is composed of musicians Mourad Musset, Olivier Leite, and Florent Vintrigner, all from the ''Théâtre du fil'' in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. At first the trio played in the streets of

la Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

and the

île de Ré Ile or ILE may refer to: Ile * Ile, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino aci ...

. The show was a mix of theater and music. The group's motto was "C'est pas nous qui sommes à la rue, c'est la rue qui est à nous ('Ketanou')", meaning literally: "We don't belong to the street; it's the street that belongs to us." This could also be rendered as: "We are not bums; the street is ours." After spending some time living a semi-

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

life, the group met Bibou, a member of

Tryo Tryo () is a French-language 'unplugged' ska acoustic band, popular in Europe and Quebec, with three French guitarists, a percussionist, and a producer: Guizmo, Christophe Mali, Manu Eveno, Daniel "Danielito" Bravo and Bibou. Tryo are popular ...

, who invited them to open for Tryo's shows at

L'Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

and for the rest of their tour. The band's first album, ''En attendant les caravanes'' (''Waiting for the caravans'') was finally produced in 2001. After some time touring 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 rumors that they were about to break up, but so far the band continues to perform together. Florent did spend 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. The group has recently been touring with two new members, Pierre Joseph and Simoné Monticelloni. La rue ketanou3-21032009

Official members

* Florent Vintrigner:

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

* Olivier Leite:

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 ...

* Mourad Musset: guitar

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

*
Pictures of La Rue Ketanou shows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rue Ketanou, La French musical groups French folk rock groups