Biography

Trumpetist-composer and producer Etienne Sevet mixes west african funk, semba, colombian currulao, afro beat, hard bop, salsa & hip hop, under his moniker The Bongo Hop (a name he draws from a childhood read - a leftfield comic book depicting the adventures of a Conradesque african seaman) . Originally hailing from Bordeaux (FR) where he grew up musically under the influence of the local afro caribbean music scene - a context that would prove to be crucial further down the road, he moved to Paris and then later to Colombia, living several years in Cali, where he first landed as a filmmaker (La Voz, Buscando a Abelardo) and journalist (So Foot, World Sound), but ended up Djing at his own Republica Calicuta events, meeting all sorts of inspiring musicians. He started to learn the trumpet and compose his own music. After several attempts at formalizing his musical ideas in Cali, he moved to Europe, ending up in Lyon, where he met producer Patchworks (Voilaaa). He collaborates with a wide array of artists, from Grammy nominee colombian icon Nidia Gongora to Angola's prince of semba Paulo Flores, french creole MC Greg Frite, danish crew Dafuniks, Haiti's Kephny Eliacin, Laurene Pierre Magnani etc. Satingarona pt 1, pt 2, and La ñapa came out respectively in 2016, 2019 and 2022 to worldwide critical acclaim, from France Inter to BBC6, FIP, Radio Nova, KCRW, Worldwide radio, NPR, Gladys Palmera, Radio Canada, WDR Cosmo Radio, Radionica, Songlines, Le Monde, etc