E ZinzaleTwo brothers,
one island, one stage
A music collective born in Balagne, based around Calvi.
E Zinzale, "the mosquitoes" in the Corsican language, carries a name that already says it all: an assumed Corsican identity, a popular spirit, lively and happily offbeat. It was Fred Nello, the original drummer, who found it, pointing out that the Beatles, after all, were only beetles.
At the start, it was a band: four musicians behind the project: Fred Nello, Laurent Lafarge, Nicolas Debelle and Sebastien Lafarge. Fred set the principle early on: if one is missing, another steps in. The band never stops for it.
From that idea the collective was born. Today, the two Lafarge brothers carry it forward, surrounded by a circle of musicians that varies with the venue, the night and the project.
The repertoire moves freely from Corsican singing to French chanson, from rock to funk, from pop to disco. An evening can start gently, over a meal, and end on its feet. That's the point.
Nothing is played on tape. Guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals: everything is live and adapts to the audience in front of it. Corsican songs remain the root, the tie to the island and to Balagne, but they live inside a much wider set list.
A family heritage
Laurent and Sebastien didn't discover music: they were born into it. A professional singer father, a mother and her sisters on stage from a very young age, musician uncles, one of whom still plays with them today, an accordionist grandfather at Corsican dances, not forgetting Maryse Nicolaï, one of the great voices of Corsican song.
In their family, music wasn't a Sunday hobby. It was the adults' trade, the background noise of family gatherings. It's what got passed down from one generation to the next.
A date in mind?
Tell us where and when. We adapt to the venue, the audience and the budget.