Born in 1939, singer-songwriter Joel Favreau is a self-taught guitarist.

Influenced by jazz and traditional world music, he has accompanied Georges Moustaki, Yves Duteil, Colette Chevrot who introduced him to Georges Brassens, but also Jacques Higelin, Brigitte Fontaine, Catherine and Maxime Le Forestier.

He was Georges Brassens's second guitar in his last two albums, the one of songs from his childhood. In 2011, he produced a new version of the album of "la suppllique" including, according to Georges' idea, the second guitar which was absent from the original version.

He has produced and orchestrated several albums, including "Graeme Allwright sings Brassens" and "ils chantent Brassens" with Cabrel, Souchon, Renaud, Le Forestier, Balasko etc. 

For his album "Brassens autour du monde", he travelled around the world to meet local traditional musicians. Whether in Benin, Lebanon, Afghanistan or New Caledonia, each encounter showed how universal Brassens's songs are and how open they are to all kinds of mixes.

In 2017, Joel published the book "Quelques notes avec Brassens" (l'Archipel), in which he provides an account of the years spent as Georges Brassens' guitarist.

Today, after 18 years at the service of Brassens's songs, here he is eventually on a personal journey with a new duo concert with an amazing jazz accordionist and the new album "NEUF" of his own songs, orchestrated by his son Lucien Favreau, and with the participation of young musicians from current music groups at the CRR in Paris.

He also offers school meetings to introduce Brassens to the youngest, and "guitar and song" courses to pass on his experience to all those, amateurs or professionals, who sing while accompanying themselves on the guitar.

Joel crossed paths with Bossa Flor in 2017, and was invited to participate in the association's Brussels programming in 2017 and 2018 as part of the "Brassens dans tous ses états" project with accordionists Maurice Blanchy and Thibault Dille. He recorded two tracks with the latter in the double album released in 2021.