Biography

Serge Ananou was born in Benin in the late 70’s. He grew up in the popular suburbs of Cotonou where he discovered the rhythms and culture of Voodoo. At the age of 13, the young man from Cotonou started to play music as a percussionist before he discovered his talents as a guitar player.Autodidact and music enthusiast, Serge met a lot of people and played many concerts in the West African sub-region along the years. In 2002, he went on his first European tour with the group Fifawa Band. This experience allowed him to play in Switzerland, France and, Italy.

In 2006, Serge decided to settle in France where he began pursuing musical studies and jazz arrangement for four years: one year at the CFPM (Paris) and three years at the American School of Modern Music/IMEP( Paris).His music bears the traces of a tension between the city and the village. It remains African, but integrates elements of funk, jazz and blues, including effective unisons, preponderant rhythm and breaks (both rhythmic and harmonic)

Alone or with his musicians he shares with his audience from France to Morocco, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland etc. the energy of a music merging West-African rhythms and melodies with influences of Jazz and Blues.