After having started with three members as the name lets you guess, Tryo quickly became a foursome as soon as the three guitarists, Guizmo, Manu Eveno, and Christophe Mali were joined by the percussionist Daniel Bravo. The MJC (Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture) in Fresnes (a town in the suburbs of Paris) was the true starting point of their story .

In fact it was at the MJC that Manu and Guizmo met each other in 1992 in M'Panada, a fusion group, of which they were both members. Mali, another regular of the place ended up by meeting them and in 1994 had them perform in the musical that he had written.

The following year, they went on vacation together in the Pyrénées with a group of about fifteen people. Around the campfire, they strummed their guitars and combined their voices to Guizmo and Mali's songs. The chemistry seemed obvious right away to the rest of the group, who encouraged them to go further. All of this was a big surprise to the three concerned who had never before considered working together. At the start of the school year, the MJC offered them a job as an opening band which enabled them to meet Bibou who then became their sound engineer and manager.

From the first show it seemed obvious based on public reaction that the formula had real potential. In 1996 after several concert dates in small clubs in the Paris region, they concentrated on Brittany, a territory that continued to escape business logic in terms of music and regularly produced revelatory artists. During the next six months of that year, Tryo enlarged their field of activity and set off to conquer the Vendée, then Burgandy. In the meantime, Daniel who had performed in a play with Mali joined the group with his percussion.

To satisfy the demand, the cassette that they had recorded shortly after their debut was no longer sufficient. Made to get them concert dates the 1500 copies made were gone. At the end of 1997, in haste, the group produced an album "Mamagubida" with four tracks done in a studio and excerpts from live concerts at the MJC of Fresnes and in Brittany in the bar owned by Guizmo's brother. The conditions weren't ideal to achieve a perfect result but Tryo heralded its approximation and its artistic side, preferring to expose their music as it was lived and not as a product. The musicians preferred to emphasize the warmth and the human element of their record. They tried to make songs that "one can whistle in the shower" and to add a bit more authenticity, they didn't hesitate to say that except for a few exceptions their chorus and harmonies and the structure of their songs were born on stage. This natural side of the band, void of the non-essentials, is at the base itself of their lifestyle that takes as much from the reggae culture as from French pop music.

Since they hate labels, they preferred to be considered as "acoustic reggae" because their music is based on singing, guitar and percussion. No electric instruments, so no bass guitar, which is one of the determining elements of reggae. They innovate, they differentiate themselves, using the backdrop created by the Jamaicans to place their French references on it. Among their influences, they mention Renaud, Higelin, Thiefaine, Brel, Brassens.... Tryo has joined in the tradition of songs with politically committed lyrics with a message that mixes Marley, Desproges and Coluche. The spirit is anti-establishment, the lyrics are bubbly. This cocktail worked as soon as "Mamagubida" came out in 1998.

For several months the group distributed its record itself and had to have it re-made regularly. The phenomen gained proportions that instigated the record companies to finally take notice of Tryo. Wary, Manu, Mali Guizmo and Daniel wanted to keep their freedom so as not to find themselves caught red-handed in a contradiction by accepting what they reject in their songs. Those who denounce the politicians without distinction or moderation in "Regardez-les" were nevertheless given an award by the mayor of Paris Jean Tiberi who gave them the Grand Prix de la ville de Paris in the French pop category in 1998. When "Mamaguvida" was re-released on Sony records, it had already sold 15,000 copies. Five months later, in May 1999, they got closer to 80.000 and then 130.000 at the end of the year and this ascent continues which is beyond 400.000 copies as of the summer of 2001. The success is made outside of the media circuit, essentially by word of mouth and supported by a long tour.

During the first seven months of 1999, the group did 90 concerts including the reggae festival of Bercy(in Paris), the Francofolies of La Rochelle, les Vieilles Charrues in Brittany, the Paleo festival in Nyon, Switzerland and a couple of detours to Belgium and Canada. On stage, if they are sitting on stools its because the four musicians know how to recreate a decor conforming to their values by surrounding themselves with around 60 green plants that they bring with them everywhere (and a gardener too!)

The year 2000 was in part consecrated to the preparation of their second album "Faut qu'ils s'activent" released in the month of October. They kept part of the live ambiance with four songs taken from concerts given in Millau and Lille, but the other ten songs were done in the studio which was an impressive experience for the group who had never worked on its music in such an environment, with new ideas brought back from their travels. Between the recording and the mixing the group also did a mini-tour from the Sudan to the Ile de la Reunion while also going to the Olympia in Paris and to Brussels. In the spring of 2001 Tryo set off on the road again with a crew of 36 people for an out of the ordinary show called "reggae a coup D'CIRQUE" (reggae with a touch of circus). Born out of a meeting two years earlier with the troupe des Arrosés, this project combines a street circus and music and has been performed at the exhibition centres and Zenith halls in around twenty large cities.  

Tryo were beginning make their mark within the French musical scene. In June 2003, the artists released a new album entitled ‘Grain de sable’, resulting from their travels and their opinion on international events. The first track on the album was entitled ‘G8’, displaying protest against the global order of things. Media also became the target of his criticism in ‘Sortez-les’. For the first time before going into the studio to record an album, the band’s members took singing lessons and hired an artistic director to supervise their activity.

As soon as May 31^st, the band embarked upon a tour up and down the country, stopping at La Cigale in Paris on June 10^th,11^th and 12^th.

June 2003