Afrotronix

As part of the Éclatée Vidéotron series, the Rimouski International Festi Jazz presented by Vidéotron is proud to present a performance by Afrotronix.

Raised by griots and shaped by machines, Afrotronix transforms cultural erasure into a pan-African electronic liberation.

Afrotronix blends Chadian initiation rhythms and Sara, Gouran, and Arabic vocal traditions with forward-looking electronic production — crafting a spiritual and pan-African sound that bridges ancestral wisdom and the music of tomorrow in a true sonic initiation ritual.

The first electronic music export from Chad, Afrotronix has become an icon of Afrofuturism. Led by Chadian guitarist and producer Caleb Rimtobaye, based in Montreal, the project combines electronic music, Afro Tech, amapiano, and Afro house into what he calls “Saharan Electro” — a bold ancestral pulse turned toward the future. Born in Chad and raised within the spiritual and musical traditions of his people, Afrotronix transforms the traumas of civil war into a mission of collective healing and unity. Self-taught in DJing, vocals, and guitar, Afrotronix won the Jeux de la Francophonie in 2001 before settling in Montreal, where he developed his distinctive sound — “Saharan Electro Blues” — blending ngaja chants and Sara vocal textures with deep house, dubstep, and ambient electronic influences, actively redefining the way the world listens to Africa.

With more than 130 festivals performed worldwide (WOMAD, Afropunk Paris, JOVA Beach Party), collaborations with Baaba Maal, Youssou N’dour, Lorenzo Jovanotti, and Stonebwoy, as well as 18 international awards — including Best African DJ (AFRIMA 2018) and Best African Electro Artist (2019) — Afrotronix has become Chad’s most internationally recognized musical export, touring across North, South, and Central America with a sound whose soul remains unmistakably Chadian.

Wearing the DOM — a helmet symbolizing reinvented ancestral wisdom — Afrotronix creates sonic mosaics through electric guitar, live percussion, and cutting-edge visuals that reveal the soul of his people. Afrotronix is a living paradox: Chad’s most sacred sounds reinvented in their most futuristic form. His upcoming album, Köd, imagines an inclusive world rooted in shared memory, healing, and groove: “a dance of intersecting horizons and futures to be created together.”

KÖD, his new album bringing together collaborators from Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Congo, and Canada, highlights his role as a cultural leader and facilitator of pan-African exchange. KÖD arrives at a crucial moment: as African electronic music reshapes the global sonic landscape, Afrotronix stands at the crossroads, proving that the oldest vibrations can fuel the most avant-garde grooves. Humanity’s first algorithm was written in rhythm. KÖD honours this legacy. He describes it as “a dance of intersecting horizons and futures to be created together.”

This is music that dares to dream — and dance — beyond the boundaries of time and space. An electrifying surge from a future born of ancestral greatness.