Tryo (pronounced[tʁijo]) 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 in France partly due to their politically charged lyrics, whilst also showing a fun side with a range of humorous songs, especially in live performances.
They take a left wing stance, criticising various French politicians such as Charles Pasqua (named in corruption scandals concerning suburban low cost housing or HLM) and Jean-Marie Le Pen and world leaders (George W. Bush, for example) in their music. The band has a "tolerant" view on cannabis, demonstrated by "La Main Verte" from the Mamagubida album. Drug references are reduced in their later albums.
They have sold 900,000 albums. They had their 10-year anniversary in 2005, followed by a nationwide tour. Tryo have four studio albums, a double CD live album and two live DVDs.
Band members were also active in independent work. Christophe Mali released a solo album Je vous emmène in April 2006. Guitarist and songwriter Guizmo was part of the band Pause.
In August 2012 they released new album called Ladilafé, a tribute to Patricia Bonnetaud who died in February 2012. This is the first album featuring DJ Catman.
Members
Guizmo – real name Cyril Célestin – singer, composer, musician (guitar) – Refer to separate section below
Mali – real name Christophe Petit – singer, composer, musician (guitar, accordion, piano, melodica) – Refer to separate section below
Manu – real name Manu Eveno – singer, musician (guitar, bass, oud, flute, clarinet, tablas)
Bibou – real name Sébastien Pujol – manager, sound engineer
Side projects
Guizmo
Guizmo (Cyril Célestin)
Guizmo with Tryo during Pinède Gould Festival at Juan-les-Pins, July 2007
Background information
Birth name
Cyril Célestin
Born
(1979-04-18) 18 April 1979 (age 45) 14e arrondissement, Paris, France
Occupation(s)
Singer, songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)
Vocals, guitar
Years active
1989 – present
Guizmo, real name Cyril Célestin, born in the 14e arrondissement in Paris on 11 April 1972, singer, composer, and guitarist for Tryo, has had a prosperous solo career on his own. He grew up in Cachan in an HLM for low income families. He started performing as a 14-year-old, leaving school after high school. With Manu Eveno, whom he met in 1989 when he was 17, they both formed part of M'Panada, a reggae rock and funk group, for almost 5 years. The band split up in 1994. With Emmanuel "Manu" Eveno and Christophe Mali, he took part in the musical comedy Histoire de piano written by Christophe Mali and Maïa Rubinstein. This was the beginning for the eventual formation of Tryo.
Besides Tryo, Guizmo was active in the music collective Desert Rebel, a joint cultural project launched by Tuareg guitarist Abdallah Oumbadougou. Desert Rebel made a tour of Niger.
Guizmo (front) and Negoos (back) in a Pause concert in Bretigny-sur-Orge, June 2007
Other projects Guizmo was involved him included the band Pause contributing as singer, songwriter and composer. The band was made up of Guizmo (vocals), Negoos (vocals), Daniel Jamet and Olivier Mizrachi (guitars), Thomas Loyer (keyboards), Julien Bonvoisin (bass) and Sébastien Le Bon (Zeb) (drums).
In spring 2012, he took part in the music collective On y pense. That collective was formed by initiative of the duo from Le Pied de la Pompe, in addition to Zeitoun (from La rue kétanou) and by Alee.
Christophe Mali known as Mali, singer, composer, musician (guitar, accordion, piano, melodica) for Tryo, real name Christophe Petit, was born in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine on 25 August 1976. He was named Mali by Slavic fellow actors he worked with at the beginning of his career as Petit, his family name translates to 'Mali' in Serbo-Croat languages.
As a young kid, he was passionate about theatre, and improvisation in particular. He became part of the Antony-based theatre group Firmin Gémier, and later in theatre group Zarina Khan where he notably played Raskolnikov in a French adaptation of Crime and Punishment (in French Crime et Châtiment written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Christophe Mali himself wrote a number of theatre pieces and 'mis en scène' of musical comedies, in which he would also act and play music for.
He studied for a bachelor's degree (licence) in Philosophy and Sociology, but cut short his education to concentrate in acting and music.
He co-wrote the musical comedy Histoire de piano with Maïa Rubinstein. He offered roles for Emmanuel "Manu" Eveno and for Cyril Célestin (Guizmo) to act in it. This was the beginning for the eventual formation of Tryo in 1995, a 5-piece band that included Mali, Manu and Guizmo in addition to Daniel Bravo (Danielito) and Sebastien Pujol (Bibou). Mali was a singer, guitar, accordion and piano player for Tryo.
Christophe Mali has also developed since 2004 a solo musical career and was involved in several projects.
Influenced by Thomas Fersen, Jacques Higelin and others, he wrote about more intimate and profound subject as different from the reggae and festive air of Tryo materials. He also wrote for other artists like Jean Guidoni, Olivia Ruiz, Marina (of Star Academy) and Lambert Wilson amongst others. He also cooperated for a show with Gérald Dahan. He has also been a music consultant for Francofolies de La Rochelle. In 2011, he engaged in mise en scène in a show at Boulevard des Airs.
Manu Eveno playing with Tryo at Pinède Gould Festival, at Juan-les-Pins July 2007
Background information
Birth name
Emmanuel Eveno
Occupation
musician
Manu Eveno real name Emmanuel Eveno, also known as Numa, born 7 May 1971 is a guitarist for Tryo. He is a vocalist in addition to playing guitar, bass, oud, flute, clarinet and tablas.
Manu started in 1988 with the band M'Panada that also included eventual tryo vocalist Guizmo. He was also involved in a few other bands. He met Christophe Mali for a show co-written by the latter called Histoire de piano and the three became founding members of Tryo after the musical comedy. He has also taken part in various materials for the band Pause.
Manu also plays tablas for Tryo as he learned playing the instrument in India.
Danielito, real name Daniel Bravo, also known as Ito, is the band's percussionist of Chilean origin. He studied playing percussion instruments at the music conservatory at 16, and has been in a dozen formations before joining Tryo. He plays drums, djembé, bongos, darbuka, congas, güiro, cajón, bendir, tambourin, udu as well as batajon, krakebs, timbao etc.
He has also taken part in the band Pause with Guzimo, another Tryo member.
Bibou
Bibou (Sébastien Pujol)
Birth name
Sébastien Pujol
Occupation(s)
Manager and producer
Sébastien Pujol known as Bibou, is the manager and producer for the group Tryo. He self-produced the debut album of the band Mamagubida in 1998 reportedly selling 15 thousand copies of the album. He remains the director of the band (including productions, editions, shows).
He also manages the reggae band Sunshiners that is made up of ex-members of Mister Gang. Members are mainly from Vanuatu. Some members of Mister Gang were recording with Tryo and that's where they met Bibou, who convinced them to launch Sunshiners. The new formation was made up of vocalist Gero Iaviniau, John Kapala, Jake Moses and Ben Siro as well as musicians Arthur Romijn (guitar), Chewinoo (drums), Toko (bass), Capt'n (keyboards), Feal Le Rouzic (saxophone), Mols (trumpet) and Thomas (trombone), Sunshiners had their debut album in June 2006, composed of reggae remakes of 1980s songs including hits by The Cure, Supertramp, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Tears for Fears and others.
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