Massilia Sound System is a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

band formed in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, in 1984. They developed a

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

hybrid version of reggae, rub-a-dub and

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Smi ...

muffin, with lyrics in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; ...

languages, sometimes referred to as ''trobamuffin'' (from the Occitan word '' trobador'' and the musical style ''raggamuffin''), though they have also performed in Portuguese and Italian. They incorporate many rhythms, beats and samples from the local tradition or other musical colleagues, and their lyrics indicate a profound parochialism for Marseille and the south of France in general. Massilia Sound System re-popularized the city of Marseille in the 1990s, in conjunction with the success of

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club p ...

, the local soccer club. Along with that, empowered an entire generation of young Marseillaise with a positive identity, proud of their city and their capacity to embrace different cultural traditions. Intra-regional links were formed with other groups, such as Claude Sicre's Fabulous Trobadors in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

, Les Nux Vomica in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, and other reggae/ ragga groups using the culture and language of the region. Their recent albums incorporate more rock sounds, with deepening explorations into world music, such as the use of

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

, and make further incursions into

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

and hip-hop. On 18 July 2008, Lux B, one of the members of Massilia Sound System, died at the age of 47 after battling illness for some time.

Discography

* Rude et souple (demo cassette) * Vive le PIIM (demo cassette) * Parla Patois (1992) * Chourmo (1993) * Commando Fada (1995) * On met le òai partout (live album) 1996) * Aïolliwood (1997) * Marseille London Experience (1999) * 3968 CR 13 (2000) * Occitanista (2002) * Massilia fait tourner (live album) (2004) * Òai e Libertat (2007) * Massilia (2014) * Sale Caractère (2021)

External links

Official Site
(in French and Occitan)
MySpace page

Papet Jali interview with CNN, 2006
French reggae musical groups Musical groups from Marseille Musical groups established in 1984 {{reggae-stub