Deep Forest
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Deep Forest - Biography

 
last update : 07-07-2006 20:24
Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez of Deep Forest are sound reporters. A voiceless musical duo, they draw on voices from every corner of the world. Under their patronage, infinitely distant utterances have become familiar to us. Hymns of joy and cries of anger, prayers and aubades, songs of hope and despair have all been brought to shake our certainties, seize our senses and stir our emotions.From Africa or Eastern Europe, from pygmies to nomads,the human visions brought to us by Deep
Forest have helped greatly in narrowing the musical gap between the hemispheres. In the North of France, Deep Forest's homeland, sheltered from sight and far from worldly concerns,


a true communion has sprung up between ethnic songs and instruments on the one hand, and accordion, piano, synthesisers and high technology on the other.


Way before the Caribbean and Cuba became such sought-after tourist destinations, Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet pointed their magic wands towards this region of the globe. After stopovers in nearby Mexico and Belize, they took a long detour to Madagascar. After the gracious dreaming of Sweet Lullaby and the poignant melancholy of Bohème, the two Northerners' third set of musical travel notes is determinedly festive and generous. With the Sun as a universal theme, Comparsa shines from start to finish with the fraternity which springs


from dance and song whenever women and men of good will come together.



As is their custom, Deep Forest wish to contribute a share of the album's royalties to providing aid for the countries in question. Among the guest artists on the album features the now-familiar, good-natured Wes Madiko, the Bantu griot, as well as Syria's formidable Abed Azrie, who performs the heady, voluptuous closing duet with Ana Toroja, from the Spanish group Mecano. Listeners will also recognise the keyboards of magician Joe Zawinul, founder of the legendary group Weather Report and a great influence on Michel and Eric: we can be sure that a teenage dream has come


true there. Jorge Reyes' prowess with flute and percussion and his infectious enthusiasm in defence of the Aztecs will also have left their mark on the pair. Then there are the many contributors, all those who spontaneously came to offer their only treasure: a tune; a traditional chant; a family, religious, local or universal melody.

The members of Deep Forest remember Mama Sana with particular affection. The hundred-year-old Malagasy died before they had finished recording the album. We hear her on Noonday Sun, which also features a prayer which was specially dedicated to her by her friends. And the duo met another impressive woman in Belize, Marcella Lewis, who sings on the song Très Maria.

Deep Forest's music - in the manner of so many non-Western civilisations - refuses to draw lines between joy and suffering, elation and sadness, just as, from the very beginning, it has banished all barriers of style from its personal grammar. After three albums and thanks to the diversity of encounters, mixes and alliances that the group has undertaken, Deep Forest have not only invented a sound different from any other, they have also created a language. From the heart of the Amazon forest to the North of France, from Havana to Prague, from Madagascar to New York, it remains our best-shared secret.