Aknose

Les Abymes, dancehall, then the bouyon spark

Gaël grows up in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, and picks the stage name Aknose. In 2013 he starts singing privately, the dancehall reference he claims at the time is Vybz Kartel, whose name he has tattooed as a signature. Two years later, in 2015, he puts out his first tracks, still in a dancehall frame. In 2016, "Doctorat" becomes the first identified track in his catalogue. Life outside music runs in parallel: in 2017 he earns his cooking diploma and works in the kitchen at L'Arawak, the hotel in Le Gosier. The switch to bouyon lands around 2020, driven by two things at once. First: his cousin Vador, one of the historic figures who carried bouyon into Guadeloupe. Second: a conceptual click, putting bouyon next to the techno played in Ibiza, same BPM, same cardio. His formula: "bouyon is Caribbean techno". "Gwo Kok" becomes his first bouyon single, released at the very moment of 1T1's first show, a timing that says how the new scene was crystallising.

Founding core, the Les Abymes youth centre and the 2023-2024 build

At the Les Abymes youth centre, Aknose crosses paths with 1T1, him at judo, 1T1 at basketball. The town's mayor made a music studio available, and it becomes the room where several tracks of the new generation are written. In September 2023, "New Bouyon Wave #1" comes out with DJ Softee, Nils, Theomaa and TIITII NBA. The single gives the movement its name and places Aknose in the formal founding core. That same year, "KKM" with DJ Luchshiy sets one of the first modern Gwada productions on the circuit, and "You know" with LeJuh and Nils keeps the momentum. In April 2024, his first documented direct interview takes place at the Karukera One Love Festival. The same year he releases "Minimum", his first official video, and "Bad Mood" sits on the New Bouyon Wave axis. "Gwadloup cho" with Kevni and LaRose, "Kak up" with Gwada G, "Kalollipop" with Jixels and "Lè an pa siw ou si mwen" with LaRose thicken a network that now covers the Gwada transition pole.

Skyrock 2026: the first major French mainstream exposure

In 2025 the YSN cycle opens. "Manawa" first, then "Matcha", then "Palabras" the same year, a sustained artistic partnership that defines the year. "FREESTYLE TRINI 2" with 1T1, DJ Softee and Nils tightens the wave's voices two years after "New Bouyon Wave #1". "La Manigance" with Le Jèm'ss and YSN widens the network further. In 2026, the Skyrock appearance with Theodora marks the first major French mainstream exposure of contemporary Bouyon Gwada, a media shift that changes the scale of the scene. "Push / Pouché" is written two days before the show. "Bonne Humeur" comes out around 9 January, then "Macha" with MJ and DJ Skycee. "Move" with 1T1, LeJuh, Qwann, Theomaa and YSN gathers almost the entire 2023 core plus the rising voices. The run sets a clear function: a central voice of the New Bouyon Wave, able to connect the founding core (1T1, DJ Softee, TIITII NBA) to the Gwada transition voices (Kevni, LaRose) and to the YSN pole that shapes part of the 2025-2026 circuit.