What a pleasure it is to welcome this unconventional musical ambassador, who travels from island to island and shore to shore, to take part in the Festival’s 40th anniversary! This enchanting artist, accompanied by his musicians, is coming to town to share his eclectic fusion of genres that includes reggae, Bossa Nova, jazz, blues and mazurka.

With the soul of a minstrel, Chris Combette spreads his harmonious blend of cultural influences wherever his travels take him. Having started playing bass and composing his first song, “Pa Sa,” in the 1970s, this perpetual adolescent returned to the spotlight with his latest album Laissez Faire les Anges (2022), which includes a variety of lively tracks just bursting with positivity. There’s no time to be stressed out when you’re grooving to its refreshing reggae tunes like “Lafòs pwav” and “Crésus.”

Combette, who first graced the Club Balattou stage in 2004, continues to attract new fans with his sunny music! A festive occasion to enjoy his celebrated albums like Plein Sud (1994), which includes his hit song “Lè Sièl Si Ba,” and earned him five nominations and an award; or Salambô (1996), which garnered international acclaim. And it’s impossible not to be moved by his appeal to humanity in Enfants de Gorée (2011), which confronts the tragic story of slavery with its poignant lyrics affirming, “We also come from Gorée, when we’re a child from here…”

With five albums to his name and still at the top of his game in his sixties, this guitar playing singer-songwriter creates Creole, zouk, calypso and biguine tunes that reveal something of his former incarnation as a math and physics teacher, as those fields have undoubtedly contributed to a rich musical repertoire that demonstrates such precision and harmonic sophistication. Like a sociologist, Chris Combette welcomes us to his table, where a host of characters and encounters await us: Soledad, Little John, Fatoumata and many others… What a treat!