Singer-songwriter Jofroi was born in Belgium on May 8, 1949. He wrote his first songs in 1969, including "Champs la rivière ". He followed in the footsteps of the guitarist-folk singers of the time, with lyrics about people and nature. He soon made a name for himself in Belgium with the release of his first LP, Jofroi et les Coulonneux, in 1975. The following year saw the release of the album Si Ce N'Était Manque d'Amour (whose eponymous title has been updated to 2020 with confinement), which opened the doors to French concert halls. His playground expanded still further, as his meeting with Félix Leclerc enabled him to perform in Quebec as early as 1979. He also toured Africa that same year. As the folk wave waned in the early '80s, Jofroi released his first album for young audiences, Les Aventures du Petit Sachem , in 1982. This was followed by Les Rêves d'Antonin (1986) and a new version of Pierre et le Loup (1988), recorded with the RTL orchestra. By 2010, Jofroi had published 12 albums for children. On the "adult" side, recitals followed one another, both in France, notably at the Printemps de Bourges festival (1987, 1995, 1996), and in the rest of the world (Russia, Quebec, Dakar...). He created the Chansons de Paroles festival in Barjac in 1996, and was its artistic director until 2015, achieving the feat of becoming a benchmark in the field of chanson à textes festivals. In 2020, Jofroi will be releasing a complete set of his "adult" songs, the title of which sums up what he's all about: Faut Bâtir une Terre, Faut S'Inventer la Vie. In 2023, Jofroi celebrates 50 years of songwriting.
