He is known for songs such as “Coeur Canari”, “L’Abduction”, “PCV”, “Les mantes religieuses” and “Le Fantôme du 5ième étage”.

Pianist and writer Bertrand Ferrier says that he is the most famous abductee in French music. In 2021, Jann Halexander recounted his strange experiences on BTLV (among other programmes) and was one of a number of french-speaking personalities who showed that abductions were not just a story of hysterical white middle-class women, as some sceptics claimed. In the wake of this, the artist wrote “La question des Ovnis en Afrique Centrale” (The Ufo Issue in Central Africa) in 2023 and, in the same year, co-founded UAP Afrique, a big event in the French-speaking world with togolese journalist Samson Mawulolo Ahlijah.

However, Jann Halexander has always said that he has no passion for the subject of UFOs, that it was an obsession due to personal circumstances. His true passion is songwriting, meaningful, socially conscious songs that reflect his struggles (for human rights in Gabon, for respect for sexual minorities in Africa and around the world).

There is a constant juxtaposition of elements that ‘shouldn’t go together’: sharp poetry set to sometimes danceable rhythms (salsa, samba, pop), very French references (Brel, Pauline Julien) treated by a Franco-Gabonese artist, very sharp black humour on serious subjects, etc. And also profound, gentle songs about love and hypersensitivity.

Born in Libreville (Gabon), having lived in Ottawa, deeply attached to Berlin and Cologne, often rejecting traditional promotional avenues, sometimes releasing music sparingly or in ultra-limited editions, the artist cultivates a form of self-assured marginality that gives him a ‘strange’ aura without denying his place in showbiz. In the early 2000s, some music media outlets considered him a sort of mixed-race Jean Guidoni. He is the strange foreigner, ambassador of a vague, vast, disturbing and promising elsewhere.

Jann Halexander, with a career spanning 23 years, will be on stage at La Camillienne on 13 March at 8pm, 12 rue des Meuniers, Paris 12, with his musicians and Charlotte Grenat as a guest.

Reservations on billetreduc, weezevent, helloasso, eventbrite, or 06.16.13.98.32.