Biography
Kana is a French reggae band that was formed in 1997.
The early days
The band formed in 1997 on the island of Mauritius. They wasted no time in recording seven tracks and named themselves Kana, after the Capricorne recording studio, which was situated in the middle of a sugar cane plantation in Pereybere, in the north of the island.
In 2000, the band took part in an “MCM session”, which served as a springboard for their career. This competition opened the doors to the Élysée Montmartre, where a second competition was held, which they went on to win. The first prize in this competition was a spot at the Garance Reggae Festival, a reggae festival at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, where they performed in front of 15,000 people. That same year, they released their first studio album, a self-titled record. The band, led by Philippe Ripoll, known as… “Zip”, made a name for themselves in 2002 with the single ‘Plantation’, which sold 350,000 copies.
Second album: “Entre frères”
Just as the band were releasing a promising second album, Entre frères, they were faced with an incident that nearly brought their career to an abrupt halt.
“Plantation” and a plagiarism lawsuit
Indeed, the band Kana – and more specifically the singer Philippe Ripoll, who maintains that he wrote the song – were sued for plagiarism by the Congolese musician Georges Mwanangele, known in Geneva by his stage name George King, who claimed authorship of the song. Kana lost the case and the band were ordered to pay G. Mwanangele 150,000 euros in damages, which they never paid. The affair could have torn the band apart, but the members remained united and decided to appeal the decision. In August 2007, a hearing took place, but the defendants from the band Kana did not appear, so the hearing was adjourned. Georges Mwanangele, who had been living in Switzerland (Geneva) since the 1970s, died in October 2007 at the age of 59, alone in his Geneva studio, with no known descendants. The legal proceedings were therefore suspended in favour of the Franco-Mauritian group.
Third album: “Les fous, les savants et les sages”
Despite the ongoing legal case, the band Kana consolidated its position and released a third album in March 2008: Les fous, les savants et les sages. By the end of the first quarter of 2009, sales of this album had exceeded 10,000 copies. The band then embarked on a tour that took them to every corner of France, playing in both large and small venues. They also made an appearance at the German reggae festival, the Chiemsee Reggae Festival, in 2008, sharing the stage with Nneka, amongst others. In 2009, the band continued to showcase their work in France; their Myspace blog announced gigs at the Würzburg Festival, in Monaco for the Fête de la Musique, at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in Poland in August. In a radio announcement, the band revealed that they would be on “sur la route” until November 2009. Afterwards, Kana went into the studio to record their fourth studio album.
The band’s lead singer, Zip, died on 7 September 2026 at the age of 57.
Based on Wikipedia (in French), translation DeepL (CC BY-SA licence)
2Songs
| Song | Year | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Pas De Problèmes | 2003 |
|
| Plantation | 2003 |
|