Nicolas Ker was born in Phnom Penh, to a French father and a Cambodian mother, into an aristocratic family, and spent his childhood between four countries without any of them staying with him. The voice of Poni Hoax, he gave the French scene of the 2000s a cold, literary, dandyish rock. Arielle Dombasle, with whom he made records and a film, saluted him as an “incandescent dandy with a golden voice and a Dionysian laugh”. His stone bears no inscription.
The story
Born on 19 November 1970 in Phnom Penh, to a French father and a mother from the Cambodian aristocracy, he was named Nicolas Narayanak Langlois. His childhood was spent between Cambodia, Egypt, Turkey and Réunion: no country stayed his.
He became Nicolas Ker and sang — for Poni Hoax first, as their voice: a cold, literary, dandyish rock that marked the French scene of the 2000s; then for Aladdin and for Paris.
His meeting with Arielle Dombasle produced two duet albums and a film, Alien Crystal Palace (2018), which she directed and in which he acted. A documentary, Drunk in the House of Lords, had already filmed two years of his life with his band.
He lived without a filter and made no secret of it; those close to him did not try to smooth him over afterwards. The day after his death Arielle Dombasle wrote: “The black angel with a rage to live. The incandescent dandy with the golden voice, the Dionysian laugh, the torn heart.”
He died in Paris on 17 May 2021, at fifty, and lies in Division 86, chemin Casariera, third row. The stone is bare: it carries no name at all.
On site, do not miss
The stone bears no inscription: no name, no dates. It is one of the rare anonymous graves in the cemetery, and it takes its location — chemin Casariera, third row — to recognise it.
Visitors' questions
Where is Nicolas Ker's grave?
In Division 86, chemin Casariera, third row. The grave is plain and — a rare thing at Père-Lachaise — bears no inscription at all: you have to know the spot to find it. Apollinaire rests in the same Division.
Guillaume ApollinaireWhat was the band Poni Hoax?
A French band of the 2000s with Nicolas Ker as its singer: cold, literary rock, somewhere between new wave and electronica, which mattered to an entire Paris scene without ever chasing a mass audience.
Mano SoloWhat was his connection with Arielle Dombasle?
An artistic partnership: several albums as a duo, and the film Alien Crystal Palace, which she directed in 2018 and in which he acted. The day after his death she wrote: “The black angel with a fury for living. The incandescent dandy with a golden voice, a Dionysian laugh, a torn heart.”
Didier BezaceWhere did Nicolas Ker come from?
From Phnom Penh, where he was born in 1970 to a French father and a mother from the Cambodian aristocracy. He grew up between Cambodia, Egypt, Turkey and Réunion — a childhood itinerary that left him no single set of roots.
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