Foto/photo: Lydia Nine
Official release of the digital EP jOmO popumas on 10 october 2026
jOmO (Jean-Marc Leclercq) began his musical career in 1977 (playing with bands such as Caniveau, Les Diam’s, Queen Bees, etc.) and started learning Esperanto in 1988.
It was therefore only natural for him to decide to compose and sing in the International Language.
In early 1990 he formed the band Les Rosemary’s Babies with two other musicians (Éric “le Chien Fou” and El Rubio); the group gained recognition within the French alternative rock scene and was signed to the Boucherie Production label.
The band toured numerous countries (including China), released two albums, and even performed at the famous Parisian music hall, the Olympia.
The group also recorded two tracks in Esperanto under the name La Rozmariaj Beboj; this marked Vinilkosmo’s first release in 1990, appearing on a four-track vinyl compilation where they shared a side with the legendary band Amplifiki.
jOmO appeared again with La Rozmariaj Beboj contributing an Esperanto track to the Vinilkosmo-kompil’ Vol. 1 (1995), and the following year appeared as a solo artist on Vinilkosmo-kompil’ Vol. 2 (1996) with a song written by Marcel Redoulez.
After the breakup of the Babies, jOmO formed a new band, Liberecanoj. With them, he recorded a seven-track album with libertarian themes for Vinilkosmo, and set a record for a multilingual concert (22 songs in 22 languages), an achievement recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000. Later, working solo, he recorded an all-Esperanto album titled jOmO friponas at the new Vinilkosmo studio; it was released in late 2001.
His next album, jOmO slavumas, came out in the spring of 2006, featuring a Slavic-style band with which jOmO performs.
In 2010, collaborating with Mayoma from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, jOmO set music to and performed songs written by Mayoma; these were released by Vinilkosmo on the EP Mayoma kun jOmO afrikumas and also included in the compilation Afrika kompilo.
His fourth Esperanto album, jOmO okcitanas, has been available since April 1st, 2016; it is dedicated to traditional Occitan music, and features the boudègue, a type of bagpipe from the Languedoc region. jOmO performed with a full boudègue ensemble at the World Esperanto Congress in Lille in July 2015. He continues to perform, both in Esperanto and in numerous other languages, as a solo act with his guitar, singing cheerful, danceable songs. He travels all over the world: he has been to Japan, Australia, South and North America, Russia, Ukraine, and almost every country in Europe.
In 2021, his second EP, MArta kaj JOmo kantas MAYOMA-n, was released, another collaboration with Mayoma, featuring songs by Mayoma set to music by jOmO and performed in Esperanto by both him and his daughter, Marta.
His new EP, jOmO popumas, recorded with a guitarist from Liberecanoj and his daughter on vocals, pays tribute to the music that inspired him to take the stage: the music of the 1960s and 70s. This was the dawn of the hippie movement, a time of immense creativity and intellectual ferment, dominated by the struggle against the Vietnam War.
Beyond music, he has published a conversation manual in Gascon with a French publishing house, a language in which he also writes. In May 2006, he published his first novel, Ucraïna, in Gascon, winning a literary prize for the work. In 2012, he published an Occitan rhyming dictionary. He is also the author of a book in French titled Toulouse est le Centre du Monde (Toulouse is the Center of the World), scheduled for publication in late 2026 by a Barcelona-based publishing house.
On a personal note, he has a Polish wife; he neither smokes, drinks alcohol, nor eats meat; yet he does have one vice: he loves to talk.
Click on his albums to listen to or download them.
