Gambeat is the stage name of Jean Michel Dercourt, a French bass guitarist and DJ, best known for his musical collaboration with Manu Chao. As a member of the Parisian group French Lovers, Gambeat travelled with Manu Chao and his band Mano Negra during their famous rail tour through civil war-racked Colombia in the early 1990s. The tour was later commemorated in Ramon Chao's book The Train of Ice and Fire.
After Mano Negra was disbanded and a new band Radio Bemba founded by Manu Chao, Gambeat became one of its integral members alongside Madjid Fahem. Thanks to his distinctive appearance and high-energy playing, Gambeat was one of the most charismatic presences at the band's live performances; he often appeared shirtless on stage, his burly torso heavily tattooed, playing the double bass guitar, which he had named (according to Ramon Chao) "Madame Dercourt".
References
- According to the musician himself, in an interview fragment within Manu Chao's documentary film Infinita tristeza (a bonus feature in Chao's 2002 live DVD Babylonia en Guagua), his stage name is a pun on gambit and beat.
- The Train of Ice and Fire, by Ramon Chao, first published in French in 1994