Michel Tonnerre

Michel Tonnerre,  French singer-songwrite was a giant of the French maritime music scene.

He was born in Quimperlé (Finistère) on 30th June, 1949, and founded the group Djiboudjep in Lorient in 1970 with Mikaël Yaouank with which he collaborated for a long time, before leading a solo career.

Michel Tonnerre lived in Groix and started writing seriously at the age of 18. He began to play with a guitarist friend in front of sailors who frequented the bars of Lorient. He created the group Djiboudjep with friends, with his songs and covers that will soon become classics of sailor’s song, such as Quinze Marins or Satanicles.

In 1987, the family business having gone bankrupt, Michel Tonnerre decided to embark on board the cargo ship of a friend, embarking on multiple trips to New Caledonia, the Island of Pines, Tasmania, the Philippines, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Reunion Island.

Returning to Lorient, he began a solo career, surrounded by renowned musicians, with a first album Fumier d’baleine. In 1996, he wrote, directed and performed the pirate opera Libertalia. The show was only played twice in Ploemeur in front of 700 people.

In 2008, he released C’est la mer…, his 6th studio album, in which he tells the journey of his grandfather, sailing from La Rochelle, but also the tumultuous lives of freebooters like L’Olonois, or Blackbeard as well as the beauty and fury of the sea. His last album, released in 2012, is called Ar Mor.

Michel Tonnerre died of cancer on the 3rd July, 2012, at the age of 63.

As a tribute to him, the “Quai Michel Tonnerre” was dedicated in his honour at the Port de Pêche de Keroman in Lorient

Bibliographie

• 2010 : Une Bordée d’Rimes, A book of his poetry. 

Some examples of his songwriting: 

He wrote some 250 songs, including :

• Barbe noire
• C’est ma vie
• Le gabier noir
• Mon p’tit garçon
• Le quatre mâts-barque
• Satanicles (“Matelot le vent est bon…”)
• Quinze marins
• Saint Nazaire
• Les trois caps