Born in Pontoise, in the Paris suburbs, in 1977, Anis Kachohi spent his early years in the Vexin countryside, in north-west France. His father was a former Moroccan revolutionary who arrived in France as a refugee and made a career for himself as a doctor. His Russian-born mother was a social worker looking after families on problem housing estates. Anis discovered the suburbs for himself when, around the age of eight or nine, his family moved to Cergy, a suburb north-west of Paris.

Anis’s initiation into the world of music dates back to the school choir when he was five, an experience which made him realise how much pleasure could be got out of singing. As a teenager he went on to listen to Tom Waits and was heavily influenced by the blues, soaking up the sounds of Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday. Anis, a great fan of Edith Piaf and Colette Magny, branched out in a radically new musical direction when he discovered hip-hop and began rapping himself. Never a pupil motivated by his studies, Anis left school at seventeen and decided to devote his time and energy to music from this point on.

Anis originally started out taking piano lessons, but soon realised that he preferred to sit around strumming his guitar, an instrument which he taught himself to play. The budding young musician went on to perform with several local bands in Cergy, then got together with a group of friends and set up his own ska-punk outfit, K2R Riddim, in the early ‘90s. However, Anis, K2R Riddim’s frontman, quit the group to go solo before their first album was released.

Anis decided to try his luck in the capital after that. He arrived in Paris, with his guitar and very little else, and moved into a ‘chambre de bonne’, earning a living through various odd jobs including working as a waiter, a washer-up, a removal man and a carpark attendant. Throughout this period he became more and more focused on his music, but with no contacts in the music world it seemed an impossible task for a young unknown to break through.

Meanwhile Anis, armed with his faithful guitar, honed his live skills busking in the Paris métro. Over the next couple of years he rode the trains on different lines, alternating Bob Marley and Bob Dylan covers with his own compositions. One day, in the course of his travels, the young singer had an enormous stroke of luck. A stranger came up to him and gave him a card with a telephone number - which proved to be the hotline to the artistic director of Warner!

Supported and encouraged by his manager, Myriam Chiaramonti, Anis contacted Warner. The label did not offer to produce Anis, but they gave him precious help, giving him access to a recording studio. Here, joined by a bunch of musician friends, Anis went on to record a mini seven-track album, "Gadjo décalé", which he financed the release of himself in 2003.

A number of songs from the album made it onto the airwaves and leading French singer-songwriter Tété came across them one day. Impressed by what he heard, Tété invited Anis to support him on a tour of the French provinces and at a concert at the legendary Parisian venue, L’Olympia, in May 2004. This was a major break for Anis who, up to this point, had only performed in small obscure venues and had never supported a well-known artist before. Boosted by this success, Anis trekked around the major labels and ended up signing a contract with Virgin.

Anis’s longterm dream finally came true in the spring of 2005 when he went into the the famous Gang studio in Paris to record his first full-length album. The singer who, up to this point had been used to performing solo with his guitar, elaborated his musical style on this occasion, adding in piano, drums, double bass, clarinet and  harmonica. The result was a lively thirteen-track album mixing reggae, blues, jazz and chanson. "La chance" (Luck) proved to be aptly named. Anis’s album was enthusiastically received and his natural cheekiness and spark won over the public and the media. The national French television channel France 2 even chose Anis as its artist of summer 2006 and as a result Anis’s video clips enjoyed extensive airplay. The young singer soon went on to earn his first gold disc as sales of "La chance" topped the 100,000 mark.

After playing two sold-out concerts in Paris, at Le Bataclan then La Cigale, Anis embarked upon an extensive national tour, playing dates up and down France up to the end of 2006. The young singer won critical recognition for his work, too. He was selected as one of the ten finalists for the Prix Constantin 2006 and was also nominated for a coveted ‘Victoire de la Musique’ award in 2007, in the "best live newcomer" category. An excellent start to a career for the young ‘gadjo’ from Cergy who headlined at the legendary Olympia on 26 April 2007.

Anis hit the road again in the spring of 2007, touring from March through to August. 

June 2007