At this
time, I was invited by the French Cultural Services to perform in
Kigali and to assume the heavy task of restarting
French Cultural activities in Rwanda, after the terrible
genocide...
In a state of shock, in this country
where I had performed many time before, and that I like and
know
quite well... I wrote Faut-il encore 2000 ans? (will it take an other
2000
years ?) to
the music of "Carolina in my Mind"...
Later
on,
I met James and he was very interested in what I was doing and asked
me to send him all the new lyrics... which I did.
During the
summer of 2000, I wrote the arrangements and began to
organize the
schedule for recording the new album... I wanted to do
something
different and to add my mark and style... I followed my passion for
string quartets and vocals and gathered my musicians...
The recording
was finished by the end of december ...
Pierre
CHERÈZE played the electric guitars, and we had great fun
playing the acoustic ones together ...
Sylvin MARC,
between two gigs with Chris REA, played the
bass in five songs...
Vincent HAMAMDJIAN
the acoustic bass ...
Roland ROMANELLI
accordion...
Fabien HAIMOVICI
Drums...
I wrote the string quartet arrangements for the song Où tu n'sais pas...My friend and mentor Jean BOUCHETY wrote the five others. The string quartets were performed by Jean-Philippe AUDIN, Agnès TOUSSAINT, Eric LACROUTS and Franck AGIER.
The
Malagasy
singer Josée RABESON
and the Brazilian singer Teca CALAZANS... brought a very special touch to
the vocals,
as well as Rita,
Claudine,
Fabien... Working with the
children Les Petits Citoyens, from the Music school of Laval, was very
exciting. Fabrice and Hélène, soloists from
LesPetits Citoyens de Bonchamp, the kids with whom I produced the
record against
violence Opération
Boule de Neige (Operation Snow-ball), a few years ago, also
were part of this children's group.
But
without
the mercilous comments and the great talent of my good
friend musician-producer Vincent BRULEY,
this album
wouldn't exist.
The
record ends
with Naissance d'une planète (the Birth of a
planet), a piece written for six cellos by Jean BOUCHETY and
performed with bravura by Jean-Philippe AUDIN.
Eric VINCENT