Ras Natty Baby

Joseph Nicolas Emilien better known as Ras Natty Baby, was born on April 14, 1954 at 9pm in Rodrigues. He started singing and playing guitar at a very young age to express his feelings. His music and in particular the percussion allowed him to externalize his revolt and to expose the injustices.

In the 1980s, he felt that all African descendants were suffering from a serious lack of recognition in the country and the world. He had the urge to make things happen, so he joined organizations fighting for the rights of the people and the social class.Ras Natty Baby had a passion for literature since he was a child and loved to read books to increase his general knowledge. His grandfather always told him “tou seki nou koze anvole. Me tou seki nou ekrir, reste”. Over the years, books helped shape his destiny as he discovered David, Solomon, Benelik, the Queen of Sheba, Haile Selassie.

Accompanied by a group of friends, he formed the Natty Rebels, a group formerly known as Ras Kilimanjaro. In 1987, the group launched their first reggae mixtape entitled “Nu zwen ensam”. And this was only the beginning of a fruitful and long musical career. With eight albums and numerous musical projects to his name, the 67-year-old singer is an encyclopedia who has written a page in the history of Mauritian music.

Ras Natty Baby had a clear perception of what he wanted to convey through his music, mainly to evoke the socio-political-economic-cultural problem existing in Mauritius.