Pone, Musician & Producer

For many years Guilhem Gallart was a successful record producer and recording artist. Better known as Pone, he helped shaped the sound of hip hop in France in the 90’s and enjoyed a number of hits with his collective the Fonky Family. In 2015 Pone was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or motor neurone disease. There’s no cure for ALS. It’s left Pone tetraplegic, dependent on a machine to breathe, and unable to move anything but his eyes. And yet … Pone recently released an album of new music. He’s working on a series of books. He writes a regular blog, ALS for Dummies and as he tells me in our conversation he is now more at peace than ever. Pone’s boundless creativity is painstakingly realised, note by note, letter by letter, using eye tracking software. The interview you’re about to hear was conducted over a month via email. Pone’s words are spoken by the French actor Guillaume Farré and the sound design for this episode was created by Sébastien at La Plage music. Pone’s story is a remarkable one. I hope you enjoy it.