Antoine Ciosi

Antoine Ciosi was born on 15 December 1931 in Sorbo-Ocagnano, a village in the Casinca area of Haute-Corse. His father was a farmer described as a progressive peasant who was involved in local politics and ran a small tavern. He died prematurely in an accidental shooting, and Antoine's mother, Jeanne, raised the children alone. The family's life moved between the village and the plain of Aléria, in the Corsica of the years before the Second World War and of the occupation. As a boy he was destined for work on the land and kept animals, but he was drawn to singing very early. He told this childhood in his 1999 memoir Une odeur de figuier sauvage.

Ciosi left Corsica for Paris during his military service. He sang in the cabarets of Montmartre and was a chorus singer for Tino Rossi at the Théâtre Mogador. In March 1963 he won the first prize at the first Festival of Corsican Song at the Olympia in Paris with Paese spentu. U Tragulinu and Le Prisonnier (1975) followed, along with I Spartimenti, Chì fà, Le Porte-croix and Le dernier des bandits. In the 1970s he created at the Palais de Chaillot the first audiovisual show dedicated to Corsican traditions, and he returned to the Olympia several times. Over more than sixty years he recorded around forty albums, in Corsican and in French, and gave countless concerts on the island and on the mainland. He said goodbye to the Paris stage at the Folies Bergère in 2017 and kept singing in Corsica, with a last performance in Lumio in August 2025.

During the Riacquistu, the Corsican cultural revival of the 1970s, Ciosi interpreted the great Corsican authors and defended the Corsican language through song. His repertoire sang the island's villages, exile, bandits, peddlers and family memory. I Muvrini leader Jean-François Bernardini said he helped Corsica remember itself, and helped Corsicans understand that what they believed to be old, poor and condemned was in fact a treasure.

In 2020 Ciosi released Duetti, revisiting 27 of his songs with 21 artists including Patrick Fiori, I Muvrini, Jean-Paul Poletti, Diana Saliceti and Felì. He sang Le dernier des bandits with Julien Doré, appeared on the Corsu Mezu Mezu albums (2015 and 2022), and recorded Babbu è Figliolu (2023) with his son Jérôme, who also accompanied him on his Ultimu Giru tour. Singer Diana Saliceti recalled that he always had a word, attention or an invitation for young performers.

Ciosi was married to Monique Ciosi. Their son Jérôme Ciosi is a guitarist and singer who worked closely with his father on stage and on record. He had two granddaughters, Luisa and Rosalie. His brother Jeannot sang at his funeral. In his later life he lived in the hamlet of Curzo in Corbara, in Balagne, which Corse-Matin described as his adopted home.

Ciosi wrote Notes et chansons (Pica, 1978), Une odeur de figuier sauvage (Albin Michel, 1999), Chants d'une terre: 40 ans de chansons corses (DCL, 2002), Le chemin des sources profondes (Albin Michel, 2004), the book and four CD set Una mamma (2011) and the bilingual Corsican and French tale A Stella di Musè Namani (2017). The 2018 documentary U Tragulinu: Antoine Ciosi, une histoire corse, directed by Pascal Albertini, traced his life and career.

First prize, first Festival of Corsican Song at the Olympia, Paris (1963). Knight of the Legion of Honour (decree of 13 July 2001). Honorary citizen of Marseille (8 December 2018). The Musée de la Corse highlighted his lasting mark on Corsican song across more than fifty years and some thirty albums.

Ciosi was the senior figure of the Corsican music scene, often called a monument of Corsican song. He carried traditional Corsican song and language from one generation to the next, from the Olympia in 1963 to duets with the island's younger stars. Gilles Simeoni mourned the loss of a monument of Corsican song and culture, and the Ligue corse des droits de l'Homme called him an essential contemporary actor in passing traditional Corsican song and the Corsican language between generations.

Antoine Ciosi died at home in the hamlet of Curzo, Corbara, in Balagne, during the night of 3 to 4 October 2026, at the age of 94. His death notice gives the date as Sunday 4 October 2026. The cause was not made public. His son Jérôme announced it with the words that he hoped his father had left with a head full of songs. The funeral took place on 7 October 2026 at the church of Corbara, followed by cremation in Bastia on 8 October.