La Rue Kétanou

La Rue Kétanou is a French music group mixing elements of reggae music, bohemian style of life, theater, 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 Paris. 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 "We don't belong in the street, it's the street that belongs to us." 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".

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.

Official members

* Florent Vintrigner: accordion
* Olivier Leite: guitar
* Mourad Musset: guitar

Discography

* "En attendant les caravanes" (2001)
* "Y'a des cigales dans la fourmilière" (2002)
* "Ouvert à double tour" (2004)

External links

* [http://www.tousenlive.com/larueketanou Official website]
* [http://fragmentsdeconcerts.free.fr/ Pictures of La Rue Kétanou shows]