French Slam takes off
Abd Al Malik.
Right from the start of the 2006 season Slam is making a name for itself in France among public and critics alike, with the success of two new performers. Originating in the United States, initially organised in the form of a spoken word tournament, this verbal art is reviving the French "chanson à texte" songwriting tradition, and aims, like rap to which it is very closely related, to give a voice to as many people as possible.
Abd Al Malik is black; he was born in Paris in 1975 and grew up in the suburbs of Strasbourg. He is a string of paradoxes: a brilliant pupil by day and a delinquent by night, then a follower of a radical Islam and rapper. As a student (he has a degree in classics and philosophy), he finally came across Sufism which quenched his thirst for spirituality without sectarianism. Witness to this are his book Qu’Allah bénisse la France [May Allah Bless France] (pub. Albin Michel, Paris, 2004) and his second solo album Gibraltar (2006), poetic and lucid, as much inspired by French song and jazz as by slam.
Grand Corps Malade.
Grand Corps Malade is white, born in the Paris suburbs in 1977. He chose his pseudonym because of the handicap he suffered as a result of a sporting accident and he’s been "slamming" in small Paris bars since 2003. His first album Midi20 (released in March 2006) sold 300,000 copies and brought this very committed writer out of obscurity. He has created a "cultural café", Slam’Alikoum, runs writing workshops and likes to "slam words all over the place".
www.grandcorpsmalade.com
Monique Perrot-Lanaud
Journalist
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