Tryo, it’s 25 years of career sometimes far from the radars of the mainstream media, but above all it is 250 concerts per year and an audience who shares, singing, their humanitarian struggles and their struggles for the climate. Tryo are four guys who had nothing to do with each other and who built the most popular underground group in France.
Bertrand Dicale, accustomed to the biographies of the mythical authors and performers of French song, Brassens, Gainsbourg or Aznavour, tackles the life tinged with independence and freedom of the group of “the hymn of our campaigns”.
Chants of Possibilities tells the story of the group “the most underestimated in France “. tells us its author. Tryo and “his campaign hymn “ have traveled France from stage to stage for twenty five years, from festival to festival. Bertrand Dicale tells us why he wanted to write about this sometimes underestimated group: “What is striking about Tryo, when it was created it is believed to be a story of a few summer festivals, where guys are going to smoke joints while playing reggae in capris. We realize 25 years later that they are still there, and that all the groups that started at the same time in the same niche have disappeared. “
The biography of the group begins with a twist: a surprising separation for those who do not know the intimate life of the group. On April 28, 2021, Manu, founding member of Tryo, leaves the adventure. A start that marks the end of a hectic course. The public is familiar with “reggae acoustik”, their humanitarian and climatic commitments and the crazy live evenings at festivals, but thanks to the intimate testimonies of members of the group or relatives, the reader discovers Tryo from the inside. Twenty five years of music and life.
/2021/10/19/phpDC1ddv.jpg)
It all starts with what we usually call school failures. Manu and Guizmo do not shine in high school but dream of music. And Bertrand Dicale to tell about this France of MJCs and associations who fight so that kids, off the beaten track, can dare music or the theater. For Tryo and the 4 friends it will be that of Fresnes.
In the mid-90s, Tryo hit the road. Christophe Mali does not believe in reggae he likes song, theater, but Tryo will invent French reggae. And will survey the hexagon. “The story of 4 guys who have nothing to do with each other, 4 guys who meet around a few songs, a little tour and who realize that what they do together is better than separately ” recount the author. And if the first and inaugural tour leaves a bitter taste “I never leave with this asshole again .. never again”, Guizmo will say, the adventure will not stop.
Chants of Possibilities is also the story of the record industry of the 90s which does not understand anything about this group. Tryo is independent and refuses to compromise. Their audience doesn’t really like marketing. This biography is therefore a portrait of the music industry. No concession with variety or the world of television, their promotion is concerts.
We thus follow the group trying and managing not to deny their values while developing their careers.
/2021/10/19/phpzaMgki.jpg)
If Burning Spear, Jamaican reggae legend, dubbed the group as they opened for their first part, Tryo’s reggae is in no way that of Jamaica. The difference is less musical than moral. “Tryo realizes that Rastafarianism is a willingly reactionary ideology, far from the ideals of the group. We are a French song group that expresses itself on reggae, we are not a reggae group “. Because Tryo would not be Tryo without the commitment. a commitment against global warming and a humanitarian fight.
“When kids in middle school or high school listen to Tryo saying to themselves that capitalism is wrong and that man is destroying the planet (…) it is an important group for musical education, for politics, for consciousness, for several generations. Like civic education “ notes the author.
/2021/10/19/php5o71Fb.jpg)
If the group has sold three million albums, this success has not profoundly changed the four musicians. Their biographer concludes with his words: “a story of freedom and pleasure, of rebellion and urgency, with words that fight, dream or console, songs that say something else is possible”.
“I wonder if Tryo is not a group from silent France” asks Dicale. The last words … for now, because the Tryo adventure is not over. The group will soon be back on the road, and it will remain to write volume 2 of this musical journey, the songs of the possible are not finished.
/2021/10/19/phpzWa4wI.jpg)
“Chants of possibilities”. Bertrand Dicale. GM Editions. 25 euros. 144 pages.