A Lebanese exiled in the working-class Jura, a great lover of the texts of Aimé Césaire, an aesthete avid of encounters in all directions, Marc Nammour does not allow himself to be confined in any box and has pursued, for 20 years, a singular path in French hip hop. Portrait of a proud scoundrel with social and unifying poetry.
On the edge of rap, rock and electro, La Canaille takes its name from a revolutionary song sung in 1871 during the Paris Commune. 140 years later, in 2009, the group made a sensational entry into French hip hop with a clear message: Neither God nor master.
His mouthpiece is him: Marc Nammour. A Lebanese exiled in the working-class Jura, a great lover of the texts of Aimé Césaire, an aesthete eager to meet people in all directions, Marc Nammour does not allow himself to be confined in any box and pursues a singular path in French hip hop.
In rhyme or prose, his pen recounts the fragile existence of his family. And with tenderness, melancholy or anger, she speaks of the impossible resignation, of this necessary and legitimate quest for verticality in order to remain dignified, upright and free.
With La Canaille, Marc Nammour and his musical accomplices have delivered four albums with evocative titles (In times of rage Or Nausea) and weaved the thread of a social and unifying poetry, anar and militant tendency, in which punks, anti-fascists, fans of text songs, rock and conscious hip hop can recognize themselves.
An enemy of categorization, whether social or musical, Marc Nammour has also taken part in many essential projects, notably alongside Serge Teyssot-Gay, combining rap and songs or rap and theater and which place openness at the center inventiveness.
I met Marc Nammour at Peach Cafein Montreuil, a city-world of Seine-Saint-Denis where identity is not “never national” but always plural. This is where the passionate artist and activist has lived for more than 20 years. There, his group, La Canaille, took root, without ever dissociating the poetic act from political commitment.
SessionLab by Hortense Volle : a conversation in complete privacy and in 3D audio (spatialized sound).
A podcast to listen to, preferably, with headphones.
Achievement : Benjamin Sarralie
3D mixing : Fabien Mugneret
Production : RFI Lab
Youtube / instagram / Facebook
Titles broadcast:
Taken from the album 11.08.73 (Modulor / La Canaille Association – 2017) : 11.08.73 ; Republic ; Dirty work (feat. Mike Ladd); Noise (feat. JP Manova); Lull ;
Taken from the album Standing in the ropes (Triton Interval / The Other Cast – 2017) : Standing in the ropes.
In this album Zone Libre and Marc Nammour pay homage to Aimé Césaire and his Notebook of a return to the native country (1939).
Excerpt from the EP two eyes too many (2015) : I salute you my street
Excerpts from the album Nausea (The Canaille Association – 2014) : something is brewing ; never national ; Redefinition ; Omar ; The Sweat of Shadows
Excerpts from the album By Rage Time (The Canaille Association – 2011) : I’m hungry ; three letters to
Excerpts from the album A drop of honey in a liter of lead (The Canaille Association – 2009) : Scoundrel ; The Chronicler 1 ; Factory ; my camp ; Neither God nor master
And also :
Pigsty Black Béruriers
Scoundrelrevolutionary song sung during the Paris Commune
Teaser a spectacle A screaming man is not a dancing bear by Marc Nammour (feat. Tinariwen, Imarhan, Akosh S., A. Bossard)