For the 9th edition of the “Avant-Garde” program, Les Trois Baudets venue is preparing to host this operation dedicated to exporting and showcasing French talent. In partnership with the Yourope network, the Institut Français, Sacem and Crédit Mutuel, this program will make it possible to discover 12 French artists selected within the MaMA program who will play in a light format and ahead of their concerts at MaMA.

Every day, 4 artists will follow one another on the Trois Baudets stage for 15-minute mini-shows in front of an audience made up mostly of international professionals.

Discover the Avant-Garde 2022 selection:

JULII SHARP – FR – Pop

Julii Sharp was named after a shell from the Indian Ocean, on the coast of which she was born and spent part of her childhood. She doesn’t call herself a storyteller, but rather she writes, composes and interprets her pop-folk songs with inspiration from sensorial experiences, encounters, travels and hours of contemplation. Her lyrics are mostly written in English, but sometimes also in French, as a tribute to the English language and her bilingual family roots. Like Marie Laforêt, she likes to explore music in all of its languages, sounds and origins. Her folk ballads are borrowed from the road, and are sung as if composed with electric and progressive sounds.

• Management : Yann DABIZ, dabizmgmt@gmail.com

ELLIOTT ARMEN – FR – Singer-Songwriter / Folk

Elliott Armen is a 23 year old author and composer based in Saint-Malo (Brittany). Since his teenage years Elliott composes music with guitar and piano, inspired by his attachment to the landscape that surrounds his family house, anchored on the border of a beautiful estuary. Settled in his family house, Elliott Armen has recorded his first album in July 2020 in a studio tucked away on the Island of Ushant. In the footsteps of Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens and Andy Shauf, he mixes the sounds of the guitar and the piano with his ownoriginal voice thus building an intimate wooden atmosphere whichoscillates between density and lightness, always rooted between the sea and the land.

• Booking: SUPER ! MON AMOUR, Juliette Coste, juliette.coste@supermonamour.com

BRACCO – FR – Rock Post Punk/ Darkwave/Techno

Working with the electronic producer Paulie Jan for their first LP, Bracco came up with the sound that faithfully portrays their music. A logic and sensitive mix between dark club-music, and deep postpunk. «Grave», their first album, refering to the multiple dramas that have stroke the group’s life, forms a skillful deconstruction of references.

In 2022, the duo, based in the venue «La Station Gare des Mines», in Paris, France, are preparing a new album, even more rallying than the previous. It will be released beginning of 2023, on the french music label – Born Bad (Frustration, Villejuif Underground, J.C. Satan, etc.).

• Booking: AZIMUTH, Lea TRAN, leo@azimuthprod.com

LOMBRE – FR – Singer-Songwriter / Rap

Both precise and moving, this artist came under the light recently. He is not afraid of clashing his freshful style with some powerful melodies. A corrosive instrumentation to nest this flow of peculiar lyrics. From all these ingredients emerges a beautiful mixture. The breathtaking darkness of his texts ends in a positive light and tone. Each of these aspects combined are making him one of the true rising powers of his genre.

Child of rap, it was the sincerity of #Fauve which urged him to go even farther. The Lombre avatar could live with the fury of Georgio, its model, which still inhabits him, the wisdom of a Ben Mazué or a Gaël Faye and the values – honesty and humility – from Bigflo and Oli that are also his. Born like him in Rodez, Lombre is getting closer to Pierre Soulages as his blackness becomes shiny and the writing of his sung speech aims more and more towards the idea of beauty.

• Booking: ULYSSE MAISON D’ARTISTES, Sylvain LACOMBE, sylvain@ulysse.coop

ANNA MAJIDSON – FR – Pop R’n’B

Anna first achieved international recognition as half of the electronic R&B project Haute (alongside the producer Blasé); their hit song, Shut Me Down, obtained over twenty-two million plays on the COLORS YouTube channel. After graduating from McGill University, the duo moved from Montreal to Paris and quickly obtained a dedicated following on both sides of the Atlantic.
Haute was disbanded earlier this year so that they could pursue careers as solo artists. Anna has taken the last few months to recalibrate and figure out the next step in her musical journey. During quarantine, she found her footing and recorded a project called MIXTAPE TELECOM, which was released in February 2021. Anna Majidson has now released four new singles from her debut album entitled “La Rivière”, available now on every platform.

• Booking: AEG PRESENTS, Quentin BRUNEAUD, quentin.bruneaud@aegpresents.fr

ST GRAAL – FR – Pop / Chanson française actuelle

St Graal redefines the codes of French pop music. A savant mix of the before and the after, he draws inspiration from French song and electronic music to propose catchy and deep rhythms. Author, composer and performer, St Graal expresses through his songs the dream of everyday life, of life and universal love. It is the cry of an entire generation in despair, wishing to break free of all barriers. St Graal is the variation between romantic poetry and dirty feelings.

• Management: Benoit MAS, benoitmas@live.fr

KALIKA – FR – Pop trash

Affirmative and combative, KALIKA’s voice has the effect of receiving a gut punch in velvet gloves. Bam! Her rough lyrics tell the story of a 22 year old feminist’s love story and tumultuous sex. Taking her name from Sara-la-Kali, a saint venerated by the Gypsy community of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer as well as Kali, Indian goddess of destruction and reconstruction, this modern-day Catherine Ringer expresses herself with her powerful voice, a look of absolute rage but with a smile barring her lovely face. LATCHO DROM, which means «good road» is the title of her first EP. The real revelation on stage of the last months. She will continue defending it on the road in 2022 and is part of the line up at many festivals including Le Printemps de Bourges, Les Francofolies de la Rochelle, Art Rock…

• Booking & Management: W SPECTACLE, Stéphanie RODOZ, stephanie.rodoz@wspectacle.com

GRANDE – FR – Pop Loud Folk

Grande started their journey in 2016, building a peculiar and poetical universe. Their music joins the emotions of old folksongs, the harshness of indie rock and the intensity of prog music. As if Agnes Obel, A perfect Circle and PJ Harvey joined together for the night.
This odd blend creates an almost magical moment when our internal demons are summoned and seduced. Gabriel’s deep and soothing voice meets Chloe’s delicate violin. Their melodies are then supported by the energy of the electric guitar. Since 2022 the band also plays with Annabelle at the drums and Mélanie at the double bass. More musicians for more pleasure.

• Booking & Management: 3 C TOUR, Pierre GIRAUD, pierre.giraud@3ctour.com

OSCAR EMCH – FR – Acoustic Neo Soul

Oscar Emch creates a hybrid French RnB & Neo Soul full of instrumental finds. In his new EP Respire (Bye Bye), we can listen influences from Gospel, Soul and Hip-Hop arranged with refinement around texts in French, rich orchestrations and a warm and organic atmosphere. Euphoric, carefree, down or elated, Oscar depicts the facets that make up our relationships in a search for balance, all in nuances. Oscar Emch is an author, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. After his first solo release «Portrait Craché» in 2020, he unveils Respire (Bye Bye), a second self-produced EP with notabled collaborations as Luidji, Enchantée Julia, Bolides and Siiré.

• Management: KLAKSON, Nicolas PUJOS, nicolas.pujos@klakson.fr

UZI FREYJA – FR – Hip Hop / Rap

Uzi Freyja was born from the meeting between Kelly Rose and Stuntman5 during an ‘open mic’ in the streets of Nantes. The flow and energy of the English-speaking Parisian of Cameroonian origin makes everyone agree: They start a collaboration the same day and will be quickly joined by FotonDanger to form a trio. Kelly Rose has been Raised by a family of musicians in the culture of Gospel and Soul Music (James, Franklin, Turner, Simone). As a teenager, she sees hip hop coming to her as an evidence: Eminem, Queen Latifah then Nicki Minaj, reinforce her in the desire to sing and rap. From freestyles in her room to karaokes, it was in high school, as part of a musical workshop, that she expressed herself for the first time. A few years later, she immersed herself in an environment of artists, dancers, painters and singers… The music of Uzi Freyja and texts are both committed and sensual, on prods influenced by artists like Death grips or Ho99o9.

• Booking: WART, Vincent NICOD, vincent@wartiste.com

VAPA – FR – Electronic Live Electronica / Techno

VAPA was created in 2018. The French producer launched his project from Cologne in Germany where he lived for 4 years. He discovers club culture, minimal techno, deep tech and begins collaborating with German producers. He refines his sonic touch, the inspiration is endless and he tries in parallel via meticulously selected vocal passages to address themes such as loneliness, introspection, the simple joys of life.
The electro from the producer, based in Angers, will therefore appeal to both diehards on the dance floor and lovers of introspective electronica/techno. The originality of his sounds earned him to perform at the Transmusicales in Rennes in December 2021.
The mental and visceral electro of the French artist David Raimbaud does not require to choose between the head and the legs. Its deep and bewitching synthetic sounds call for a communion of body and mind, muscles and poetry. VAPA is Rambo and Rimbaud together in the same nightclub.

• Booking: Uni-T Production, Tommy ADDINGTON, tommy@unit-production.com

NINA – FR – Pop / Pop française

In this movement, Nina leaves for the island. An exile with creative virtue which gave birth to his first EP – “Adieu”. Immersed in these immense deserts, Nina composes and writes her first record. Through the irradiating lights, the thickness of the synthetic textures of his keyboards is combined with a sharp and already singular writing. According to the landscapes, Nina immerses us in this introspection through her own sound space where the MIDI patterns draw the mosaic of rediscovered harmonies. This solitary quest continues in Brussels where she records and co-produces this EP in May 2021. Back in Paris, it is on stage that this record finds a new dimension, far from the ashes of the now free island.

• Booking: Uni-T Production, Cécile MOREAU, cecile@unit-production.com

In collaboration with