Are there no limits to the joys of living in this most beautiful part of the world? Last night, a typical summer's evening in the Dordogne Perigord, stars in the sky and champagne air all round, I left my house guests -- a lovely extended family group of Chinese/Americans from Maryland, USA, and set off over the rolling hills of the Dordogne valley, down south, some 30 kilometres, to Monpazier. Driving through several villages on the way, I was tempted to stop in each as there were events going on in every little market square -- an arts and crafts fair here, a traveling circus of trapese artists there, a story telling troubadour troupe in another.
But, I
resisted temptation and continued, for my aim was Monpazier -- where, only a couple of weeks ago I spent an entire Saturday 'living' the middle ages as the town went back almost a thousand years and filled its streets with feasting and revelling jugglers, black smiths, Barbary travelers, jousters, soldiers in chain mail and lovely buxoms maidens. Last night there was a feast of a different kind : the French icon, Bashung, was performing in the open main square of Monpazier.
An incredible show. He had us mesmerized from the moment he was helped onto the stage -- frail, painfully thin, completely bald and bearing the visible scars of the last six months of chemo therapy which he has been undergoing since April, when he learned that he had lung cancer. But last night he was carried by the anticipation and excited adoration of the more than thousand strong audience. People had come from far and wide to hear him -- realising that this might very well be his last concert. The man obviously does not have long to go before the cancer takes him -- unless he has a miraculous recovery and remission. And in the audience one could sense an urgency of wanting every last moment spent with their icon. And he delivered --- after a short and painfully unpopular 20 minutes of his wife Chloe Mons's singing, there was half an hour of waiting, slow clapping, silence, more clapping and more waiting. Eventually he came out at a quarter to ten -- and captivated the audience for two hours, singing one song after the other with slick professionalism and with an energy that was amazing. From time to time he sat on a high stool, but mostly he stood and played guitar or played his harmonica and sang and sang -- old favourites and new, every piece a gem of artistry and music talent.Enough to send shivers up any one's spine....
Despite being an undisputed heavy in the intellectual rock category, Alain Bashung has never been one to take himself seriously - like Lacan, he has a fondness for lightening up his often tortuous lyrics with apparently simplistic puns. Aided and abetted by wordsmith cronies Bergman and Fauque, he has signed a handful of modern French masterpieces, songs so musically sophisticated and rich it takes time to fully take them in. We are only beginning to discover just how much of a mark Bashung has left on the last two decades.
Born in Paris on December 1st 1947, Alain Baschung (with a c) was sent away to Alsace when he was one, to the village of Wingersheim near Strasbourg. His parents were worried about his health, so Alain ended up spending his entire childhood there, his paternal grandparents bringing him up in a conservative rural community (where there was precious little time for sentiment or imagination). In 1959, at twelve years old, Alain left this austere rural world to go and live in the Paris suburbs, in Boulogne-Billancourt, where his mother soon found work in a local rubber factory.
Rock'n'rollAlsace was a long way from the capital and from French music. Alain had grown up listening to German radio stations, but returned to Paris as a young adolescent, he soon discovered all the great French artists, from Brassens to Brel. Then, at the beginning of the Sixties, came the discovery of rock'n'roll, and with it his fascination for Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent and, of course, Elvis. Alain had no great taste for school and in 1962 he set up his own group with some friends. At first their repertoire oscillated between country and rockabilly, then evolved towards rythm and blues and finally American folk, particularly Dylan. Finally, in 1963 Alain gave up the drudgery of his accountancy studies and left home. At sixteen, he went on the road with his group, playing local dances, provincial hotels and restaurants and, of course, the very best venues of all, the next best thing to the land of dreams itself, the American military bases.
One thing led to another and Alain Bashung (he anglicised the name by dropping the c) found himself working as arranger for RCA. In 1966, at 19 years old, he recorded his first singles, "Pourquoi rêvez-vous des Etats-Unis?", "T'es vieux t'es moche" and "Petit Garçon" . A long, lean period of only limited success had begun: in only a few years he brought out more than ten singles, some under the pseudonym of David Bergen. He was also writing for some of the ephemeral stars of the day including Noël Deschamps ("Ho la hey" ). Bashung wasn't happy with the type of career his record company had cut out for him. He had been modelled into a romantic singer, half rock half crooner. He did numerous tours, playing only in obscure clubs and half-empty dance halls. Neverthelss, he hung on through thick and thin, weathering successive musical fads, knowing that music alone made him tick and nothing was going to stop him making a career out of it."
In 1973, Bashung was chosen to play Robespierre in a musical comedy about the French Revolution written by Claude-Michel Schönberg (who went on to compose the blockbuster "Les Miserables"). Around that time, after a month's military service, he met French rock musician Dick Rivers, previously in the Chats Sauvages. He became the singer's right-hand man (composer, musician, etc), and in doing so discovered a whole new side the music business.
Gaby
After ten years in the business, Bashung's career still hadn't taken off, but this all changed after meeting Andy Scott, a brilliant studio musician, and lyrics writer Boris Bergman. With them, he at last found the freedom to express himself musically, and the result was his highly personal and very late first album, "Romans Photos". At the height of the punk explosion, Bashung came up with a unique blend of cynicism and rock, with Bergman's lyrics pun-packed lyrics playing around with the French language. But fans received this shift away from the familiar Bashung of the previous ten years gingerly and gave the album only a lukewarm reception.
In 1979, with his second album, "Roulette Russe", the rock component came to the fore, and its sombre, even tortured mood was accentuated by Bashung's inimitable voice. Two numbers remain a cut above the rest: "Bijou bijou" and "Toujours sur la ligne blanche". However, Bashung's big break came in 1980, with the release of "Gaby" . For the first time in his career, he reached a wide public. The single sold a million and "Roulette Russe" was re-released with "Gaby" - which has since become a cult title in the French repertoire - on it.
Things went from better to better with the release of the resolutely rock album, "Pizza" , in 1981. Recorded in London, the disc was long-awaited by critics and public, both curious to sample Bashung's follow-up to his huge first hit. The song "Vertige de l'Amour" went straight to the top of the charts, outselling even the biggest anglo-saxon artists. Bashung went on tour in May and June, playing now in the most prestigous venues, beginning with l'Olympia on June 3rd. Now a major box office draw, he received the Bus d'Acier award from the French rock press.
Vestige de l'humour
In 1982, a Bashung dream came true when he worked with one of the masters of French music, Serge Gainsbourg, on "Play Blessures". Gainsbourg signed most of the lyrics, which reflected the cutting, poetic sense of humour and a taste for linguistic absurdities shared by the two artists. Bashung, who had never sought stardom at any price and who had known many a lean year, now wanted to put fun first and foremost. The result: a more complex album which sold less.
The following year, Bashung's son Arthur was born, and his father made one of those idiosychratic changes in musical direction which some might call professional suicide. After "Play Blessures", he further disorientate his following with "Figure imposée", whose lyrics were more abstruse than ever and whose musical influences were muddled. Only "What's in a bird" stands out. However, thanks to his faithful following, Bashung easily weathered the album's commercial flop.
1985 saw a swing the other way with two hit singles one after the other: "SOS Amor" and "Touche pas à mon pote", whose proceeds went to the anti-racist organisation, SOS Racisme. From March 14th to April 27th, he went on the road with a highly successful French tour. The stage show, with its gloomy atmospherics, was impressive, and Bashung exercised a definite fascination on audiences. On June 15th, along with a host of other French speaking artists, he took part in a gala performance in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Later, in November, he released a live album of highlights of the French tour.
The success of his last album undoubtedly triggered the 1993 release of a nine CD complete works set, which included previously unreleased material. The package enabled new fans who had discovered Bashung with "Osez Josephine" to immerse themselves in the torn and sensual world of the artist's whole repertoire.
Chinese nights
On the back of these recent triumphs, and happy to carry on working with Jean Fauque, Alain Bashung began recording with the producers of the previous album (Phil Délire, Djoum and himself). The result, "Chatterton", released in 1994, was disconcerting, a quality which has become a defining trait of Bashung's work. Sonny Landreth worked on the disc along with a host of other guests including Link Wray, Ally McErlaine (from Texas) and French jazz musicians Marc Ribot and Stéphane Belmondo. The two year tour which began in October at L'Olympia ended, after numerous interruptions, in November 1996 at the Bataclan. Highlights were the Zenith in March 95, the Printemps de Bourges Festival in April and the Eurockéennes in Belfort in July 96. A live album, "Confession publiques", came out late in 96.
In February 99 Bashung swept the board at the 'Victoires de la Musique' (the annual French music awards), winning Best Album of the Year (for "Fantaisie militaire"), Best Video (for Jacques Audiard's clip accompanying the single "la Nuit je mens") and Best Male Artist of the Year.
June 30th 2001 proved to be a memorable date in Bashung's personal life as it was on this day the singer married Chloé Mons (a 28-year-old artist from the Lille region) in Audinghen, Pas-de-Calais. The couple had celebrated the birth of their first child just a few months earlier.
A remarkable artist, Alain Bashung invaded the French musical landscape with charactistic casualness and a touch of irony. In carving out his highly personal brand of rock he has never been afraid of taking risks, whether in his music or in his lyrics. His career has been an unusual one and one can but admire his constant drive to write, sing and perform, whether crowned with success or not.
Wide landscapes
On the eve of his 55th birthday, Alain Bashung released his eleventh album, "L'Imprudence", which his fans have praised as his best so far. His faithful companions, such as lyricist Jean Fauque, musicians Simon Edwards (bass), Martyn Baker (drums), and Marc Ribot (guitar) accompanied him as usual. This time round, Bashung also invited some new names, among which the Breton artist Miossec, the Swiss Mobile in Motion and the American Arto Lindsay. The black cover echoed the rather dark general atmosphere of the album, which was also enhanced by relatively long tracks. One of Bashung’s most personal and tender albums, it also reflected his extensive musical culture.
On April 13 & 14 2007, Bashung made the music headlines again, this time as the first pop singer to perform at the recently revamped Salle Pleyel (a renowned classical music venue in Paris).
2008: "Bleu pétrole"
Committed to his musical philosophy of constantly experimenting with different styles, Bashung branched out in a new direction on his new album, "Bleu pétrole", released in March 2008. Abandoning his famously elliptical style of songwriting, he suddenly made his lyrics and his music more accessible to fans. Bashung assembled a crack team of songwriters and producers on "Bleu pétrole" including Gaëtan Roussel (lead singer and songwriter from the group Louise Attaque). Roussel not only contributed lyrics and compositions to the album, including the first single release "Résidents de la république", but also produced part of "Bleu pétrole". The American producer Mark Plati (famous for his work with the likes of David Bowie, The Cure and Les Rita Mitsouko) also stepped behind the studio controls on several tracks.
The well-known French singer and songwriter Gérard Manset penned a number of songs for Bashung's new album including "Comme un lego" and "Vénus." But Bashung also recruited the aid of two young songwriters and composers whose work he admired: Joseph d'Anvers and Arman Méliès. "Bleu pétrole" also included two interesting cover versions, a French adaptation of the Leonard Cohen classic "Suzanne" (translated by Graeme Allwright) and a reworking of Manset's 1970s hit "Il voyage en solitaire." While more open and accessible than many of Bashung's previous albums, "Bleu pétrole" proved to be a dark and brooding work, but the critics loved it. It seems that after years of artistic risk-taking and musical experimentation, Bashung has finally been accepted as a classic fixture on the French music scene.
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Osez Josephine
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