Belgian singer, songwriter and composer Jean-Pierre Ntwali Mucumbitsi was born on September 20, 1988 in Kigali, Rwanda. Jali, his stage name, comes from the highest hill in Kigali. While still at school, he learned to play guitar with what he could glean from the Internet, played in reggae bands and soon began writing his own songs, performing live in concert. Quickly noticed, he followed Bernard Lavilliers on his Zenith tour of France, opening for him. His first album, Des Jours et Des Lunes, signed to Barclay / Universal, was released in 2011, produced by Jean-Louis Piérot. Her pop-folk songs and emotionally-charged vocals, with their imagery and openness to the world, quickly find an audience. The single "Española" is played over and over on the radio, and quickly finds a lasting audience. In 2012, he won the Octave de la Musique award for artist of the year. He is chosen as coach for season 4 of The Voice Belgique in 2014. He releases the single "Pars" the same year, heralding the release of his second album, Une Nuit Avant l'Aube . The artist marks a pause in his career, continuing to write for others before releasing a new album in February 2023, Paysages, a pared-down album of guitar vocals.
