About · The PIROS house
Half a century of Réunionese music publishing.
From the 1960s rock scene to the Saint-André studio, PIROS publishes, records and passes on a repertoire tied to Réunion and the Indian Ocean. A family story, carried by Pierrot Rosély and then his brother Jean-Louis.
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1960–66
Les Loups, Réunion's first rock band, with Pierrot Rosély on vocals.
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1968
Pierrot Rosély wins the « Jeux, Danses et Chansons dans Votre Quartier » contest.
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1976
PIROS is founded — the name coined by Jean-Louis: PI (Pierre) · ROS (Rosély).
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1979
The PIROS recording studio opens in Saint-André (8 tracks).
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1982
Pierre hands the company to his brother Jean-Louis Rosély, its manager ever since.
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1986
A national, international and Caribbean-African distribution network is created.
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1988
The studio moves to 24 tracks; a new generation of artists joins the catalogue.
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1998
« Cocktail Séga » concert at the Olympia (Paris), 25 artists on stage.
Les Loups, then Pierre Roselli
In the early 1960s, Pierrot Rosély sang in Les Loups, regarded as Réunion's first rock band. On 20 December 1961, the band staged one of the island's first rock shows at the Rio cinema.
Winner in 1968 of the ORTF contest « Jeux, Danses et Chansons dans Votre Quartier », Pierrot Rosély — now Pierre Roselli — signed the following year with Pathé Marconi. His song Marylou (written with Jean-Claude Gigant) was a wide export success.
1976 · The birth of PIROS
In November 1976, Pierre Roselli founded his record company. The name PIROS was coined by his youngest brother Jean-Louis: PI for Pierre, ROS for Rosély. Jean-Louis Deny would be the first artist to officially launch the label.
The Saint-André studio
In July 1979, the PIROS recording studio opened in Saint-André, first with 8 tracks. Jean-Louis Rosély joined in 1980 and became sound engineer, before structuring the distribution network. In 1988, the studio moved to 24 tracks.
Over the years, PIROS recorded and published many artists from Réunion, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Rodrigues and Madagascar, and supported the rise of a new Creole generation.
Jean-Louis Rosély, today
In 1982, Jean-Louis Rosély bought out his brother Pierre's shares and took over PIROS, which he has led ever since. A songwriter, producer and sound engineer, he long combined all three roles — recording, mixing, producing — for the catalogue's artists. For more than forty years he has carried the PIROS house, with the same rigour over rights, credits and the quality of the catalogue.
In 1998, PIROS brought together 25 artists at the Olympia for the Cocktail Séga concert — a stage brand that keeps the repertoire alive. Pierre Roselli passed away on 2 May 1996; his name is now given to a cultural venue in Saint-André and to the auditorium of the Stella Matutina museum.
