Jawen is a French group from Evreux, Normandy. Formed by singer/guitarist Olivier and multi-instrumentists Nicolas.Jawen's adventure began in the little town of Evreux in Normandy and Paris in 2002.
Olivier and Nicolas formed the group sharing an affinity for R&B, soul, funk, rock, pop and disco music.
Early Life:
Olivier and Nicolas are two brothers; both of them were born in France in the eighties.
Olivier was born in Cambrai north of France and Nicolas was born in Evreux, Normandy.
They were raised to a French air force father and a dressmaker mother.
During the early years, their mother watched the boys telling them family roots.
Their grand mother was polish and their grand father was Lithuanian born in Moline (US), Illinois.
This latter came and settled in France as a tailor in the forties.
In the mid-eighties the two brothers and their family moved to Djibouti in Africa where they lived a fairy-tale during two years.
Back to France, their mother was offered a guitar for her birthday. Nicolas was always playing around with his mother's guitar.
Showing extraordinary talent for music Olivier and Nicolas started music lessons.
Nicolas and Olivier began playing guitar and piano at 10 and 12 respectively. Also they spent much of their time listening to their older brother's collection of soul, funk, rock and pop music.
Indeed their older brother worked as a D.J. in a nightclub, which was very close to their home.
It's in this place that the two brothers started discovering hip-hop music and standards of the Afro American music.
Every weekend they were dancing on James Brown's, Rappers Delight's, Curtis Blow's, Snoop Dog's…etc
It was the time of their touring start on the French bar circuit and local scenes doing the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield and Al Green covers.
It was a period of learning and practicing.
Career:
In 2000 at age 18 Nicolas flew to Boston, Massachusetts to study at the Berklee College of Music.
On the other hand Olivier moved to London to finish his English study.
In 2002,Olivier and Nicolas were re-united to begin making their first recordings.
That year they moved to Paris where they spent a couple of years songwriting and gigging.
It was hard time. Working on music, performing in jam sessions, they were compelled to find jobs in music stores, in bars, or given private music lessons.
However they constantly practiced and wrote songs in their home studio.
The same year the duo recruited the bassist-producer Yann Cortella whom they met in a jam session.
Quickly Cortella was seduced by their music.With his strong experience as a producer , Cortella helped them to improve the way of producing and recording songs.
Back in Normandy:
After spending 3 years in the French capital Paris, they went back home.
They put an end in the building of their home studio, which was an important element for independent musicians.
Following that, the Jawen Brothers released a self-produced and self-financed EP in 2007 and an album in 2008 in their own home recording studio which resulted in them signing a deal with French label Neogene Music.
Collaborations:
Olivier has written and featured for several artists. In particular in 2007 he featured on Cortella's single "I Feel". He also wrote songs for Michael Robinson (Martin Solveig, Bob Sinclar…) and Charles west (The Golden Gate Quartet).
Nicolas has toured with different French Hip-Hop bands.
He also played with Michael Robinson (Martin Solveig, Bob Sinclar…)
