Since July 3rd, the track “Amouwé” is available on all download platforms. This is the work of the young 26-year-old Guadeloupean artist, Cyril D’Alexis “Xolo”, who lives in Lisbon, Portugal and is the son of well-known gwoka singer Marie-Line Dahomay.
“Amouwé” (In love, in English), this is what’s happening to Xolo right now. The artist then composed a song to make known his feelings and his expectations regarding this love which turned his life upside down.
He wanted this song to be suave to take “our zouk to jazzy and contemporary sounds” and he took back “the basics of an enriched tropical music” to transport listeners on “a bewitching Creole melody”. The young singer defines himself as a “songwriter who creolizes love in a variety of sounds”.
It must be said that Xolo is inspired by Guadeloupean singer who invented zouk R&B, Jean Michel Rotin, as well as Martinican pianist Mario Canonge, one of the masters of Creole jazz. Xolo is not afraid of crossbreeding in music. In fact, he co-produced the track “Amouwé” with Emmanuel Barno, a Guadeloupean pianist, for a solo mixing biguine and jazz.
Music as a family’s legacy
Xolo, whose real name is Cyril d’Alexis, is not a newcomer to the music world. His stage name comes from “Xo”, an emotional expression in English and “on lo” in Creole, which means “a lot”.
Rather discreet, for the past six years, he has nevertheless been evolving on the alternative Creole scene ; he is one of the members of 142 Désibèl where he became known as the label’s songwriter and through his appearances on Ehk Lounge ; finally, he also collaborated as an arranger with artists such as Nomis, Myki Débrouya, Kemay and especially Marie-Line Dahomay.
And even if the 26-year-old artist who currently lives in Lisbon, Portugal, doesn’t say so, certainly to chart his own artistic path, he is the son of the famous Guadeloupean gwoka singer.
In this year 2020, Xolo decided to embark on a career as an artist. The single “Amouwé” is therefore his first assumed musical project, but above all, the first of a long series to come. A video clip is in preparation, but a subtitled version is already available on YouTube.
The song “Amouwé” is available since July 3rd on all download platforms.
