île de Maurice
Mauritius

Jolicoeur Jean Danoël - National Ambassador

I'm Jolicoeur Jean Danoël, the ambassador for the CASP in the Republic of Mauritius. In fact, the Republic of Mauritius consist of outer islands including Tromelin, Chagos Archipelago, Agalega, St Brandon and Rodrigues. I'm for my part a native from the island of Rodrigues. My island got colonised in the 1700s with a majority of slaves from Africa coming to work in the fields for the Europeans. As compared to Mauritius island, Rodrigues is less developed in terms of modernity. Being a Creole nation, we have conserved ancient rituals and cultures. We have a deep-rooted culture for storytelling and poetry. Our language is a demonstration of creativity and cultural mix. And we have our Sega Tambour: an african derived music played with artisanal drums and percussions now being "Patrimoine de l'UNESCO". Poetry is and has always been the foundation of our social life.

I work as Special Needs Educator at St Esprit RCA School. At school, which is the first inclusive one in the republic, I help kids in our slam club and during slam competitions. Meanwhile I'm a founder and member of the School of Arts: an NGO aiming at popularising spoken arts amongst youths. I'm a resource person there and helps in delivering poetry workshops.
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I'm also the 2011 and 2018 slam poetry national champion. I'm really an engaged slam activist aiming at the improvement of my society and the world. For me poetry is better than cure.

I also believe that Africa will stand strong if we work together towards peace and progress. Joining hands for poetry is just the beginning and only proves that we're not alone.

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Jolicoeur Jean Danoël - Candidate 2018

Je suis Jolicoeur Jean Danoël, le slammeur national de l'île Maurice de fin 2017. Je viens d'une petite île de la république de Maurice qui s'appelle Rodrigues et qui fait 110 kilomètres carrés. Mes ancêtres sont d'origine africaine et française, et ma langue reflète le métissage ; l'envi d'évoluer et en même temps de s'accrocher aux valeurs, l'envi de résister ou de s'adapter. Enseignant Spécialisé de profession, je pratique aussi le théâtre et j'écris des scriptes pour des stand-up session. Je suis un slammeur et chanteur de Trap appart-entière. 

J'ai évolué ma poésie en mêlant créativité aux coutumes et à l'expression et mouvements du corps. Chacun de mes textes et performances est unique et à son propre âme.