Étienne Roda-Gil

Étienne Roda-Gil (1 August 1941 in Septfonds, Tarn-et-Garonne, France – 31 May 2004 in Paris) was a songwriter and screenwriter. He was an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist.^[1]

Biography

Roda-Gil was born in the Septfonds internment camp to refugees who had fled Francoism at the end of the Spanish Civil War. His father, Antonio Roda Vallès, had been a militant with the CNT and a member of the Durruti column. In the early 1950s the family moved to Antony, a suburb of Paris, where he studied at the Lycée Henri IV. In 1959, when he was called to military service in Algeria, Roda-Gil instead fled to London, where he became active in anarchist and rock-and-roll circles. He returned to France after receiving a reprieve.^[1]

Roda-Gil participated in the Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth and the Situationist International, and was an active participant in the events of May 1968.^[1]

He met singer Julien Clerc in a café in Paris's Latin Quarter in 1968, and became his songwriter.^[1][2] He also wrote for Mort Shuman, Angelo Branduardi, Barbara, Vanessa Paradis, Johnny Hallyday, Claude François, Juliette Gréco, and Malicorne, among others.^[1]

In 1989, he received the grand prix of songwriting from SACEM (La Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique). He also won SACEM's Prix Vincent-Scotto [fr] in 1993.^[3]

Roda-Gil died in Paris on 31 May 2004^[1] of a stroke.^[4]

Family

Roda-Gil was married to painter Nadine Delahaye from 1965 until her death in 1990.^[1]

Works

• RODA-GIL, Étienne (1956). L'Ami. La Nouvelle idéale. Toulouse: CNT.
• Roda-Gil, Etienne (1981). La porte marine : roman. Paris: Editions du Seuil. ISBN 2-02-005791-3. OCLC 17042809.
• Mala Pata (Seuil, 1992)
• Roda-Gil, Étienne (1995). Ibertao : roman. Impr. Firmin-Didot). Paris: Stock. ISBN 2-234-04434-0. OCLC 464160216.
• Paroles libertaires. Paris: A. Michel. 1999. ISBN 2-226-10138-1. OCLC 421716745.

Over 700 songs, as well as Juin 36 (a rock opera), Café, sang, sucre (a musical), Che Guevara (an oratorio), and ça ira (an opera).^[1]