Didier Lalaye, a.k.a. Croquemort, is a slam artist from Chad. His music of social and political protest has inspired a new slam generation in Chad, and is recognised internationally in and outside of Africa. After the release of his last album “Apprenons à les comprendre” in 2015, Didier Lalaye a.k.a. Croquemort has been invited to Mali, The Netherlands, Paris, Liège, Ouagadougou, Yaoundé and Abidjan, where in October 2016 he received the prestigious Pris de la Francophonie.

As an entrepreneur and a medical doctor, he started the m-health project, that provides easily accessible medical care to children with bilharzia in rural southern Chad using mobile technology. He takes part in very diverse events, from singing in festivals of slam poetry to conferences on French language and African studies.

Beyond his jobs of slammer and medical doctor, he is the founder and executive director of the festival N’djam s’enflamme en slam, based in N’djamena (Chad), partner of the CTD conference held in N’Djaména 25-28 October 2017. He is also the manager for the contacts with the Francophonie in the artistic-academic project Voice4Thoughts-Netherlands, in collaboration with the Voice4Thought foundation and the University of Leiden. He currently lives between Cameroon and the Netherlands.

Together with CTD project leader Mirjam de Bruijn he wrote the article ‘An Engaged Chadian Artist’s Digital Itinerary Towards Political and Civic Success: Pitfalls of Oppression’. In Digital Activism in the Social Media Era (pp. 141-157). Springer International Publishing (2016).

Read more about Croquemort on the Bridging Humanities website.