LeFLOFRANCO: Ottawa's Franco Pied Piper

How one artist is helping kids embrace the French language

I’ll admit, I’m biased. I’ve known Jeff Homère aka LeFLOFRANCO since he captured my daughter’s heart when she was just out of high school. Marissa met him at a party in Toronto, and they’ve been together now for 16 years, and share a daughter, Kennedy, who is the light of my life.

I had no idea then that he would become an international star, having been a winner in the Manie Musicale 2023 competition, which is an annual bracketed competition for students and teachers of French. Similar to March Madness basketball, participants try to predict which of 16 francophone songs will be the most popular. This is Flo’s winning song.

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The competition, which is designed to use music to get kids interested in the French language literally changed Jeff’s life and trajectory. Since his big win, Jeff has been on the road travelling across Canada and the U.S. playing to packed auditoriums of kids who treat him like a rock star.

Now, he’s on a new trajectory. He was named a co-host of Rendez-Vous Francophonie, a national forum that provides fun, music, contests, and educational content for Canadian students studying French. As part of his duties, Jeff will once again be travelling across Canada telling his rags to riches story of how a boy born in France from Haitian roots immigrated to this country and became a success performing in his own language.

His music is infectious and joyful, a fusion of rap and hip hop which he describes as “multicolored urban pop”.

Mostly, to me at least, Jeff is an inspiration and a role model for kids who often feel marginalized and are forced to just fit in.

Jeff shows the world that if kids believe in themselves, they can do anything.

Proud to call you my son from another mother!

If you want to see Flo on tour this month, here is the lineup.