Agnès Jaoui

Agnes Jaoui can name that tune. Those who weren’t aware of this have not paid the necessary amount of attention to her career as actress, screenplay writer or director– many of which paths lead toward music. With Alain Resnais, popular songs acted as rubber repair patch for the chickens of human drama or as bandages for the love and relationship wounded. In « Un air de famille » Dalida’s song, Come prima mended the memories of frayed siblings. In 2004 she sang a twirling Cuban bolero, Lo Dudo, in François Favrat’s film, « Le rôle de sa vie.” And, more recently she offered herself the role of a voice teacher in her film « Comme une image», a symbolic way of reflecting her image and joining her two paths before she was forced to choose, just as the characters in « Smoking/No Smoking. » For a long time lyrical singing hit her vocal and sensitive chords. Especially because of her father’s love for the opera, whose intoxicating fragrances at home were mixed with the more discreet perfume of Brassens or Mouloudji. At age 15, she began studious singing lessons, which led her to the Parisian 7th district conservatory, and then to Enghien where she sculpted her deep voice into grave soprano. In came theatre mixing it all up - even if it was at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre where she studied with Patrice Chéreau that she met a teacher who specialised in Baroque singing, Beatrice Val, and who still today remains her singing mentor. Her devouring work as an actress, film writer and director took her further and further away from singing repertoire arias. She continued to sing however, for her own pleasure and sometimes in public with the Ensemble Canto Allegre and Lamoureux Orchestra. But Agnes Jaoui never gave up singing entirely, she was simply waiting for the right time, or a revelation – and it came in stages. Pedro Almodovar’s films and his very opportune way of using popular Latino songs were an appealing sign to her. Already among the variety and diversity of her personal collection of music, her attraction for the Latino rhythms and melodies became irrepressible. A trip to Cuba 9 years ago, long before the success of the Buena Vista Social Club convinced her that this way of singing, passionate and euphorically, yet intimate and flamboyant was custom made to fit her. That is where she began, slowly but surely, tracing her musical chart across the continents and oceans of music that she discovered along the way: Son, bolero, bossa, fado, flamenco, Cuba, Brazil, Portugal, and Andalusia…. Agnes Jaoui can name that tune, and all you need to do is listen to her album to be immediately convinced. « Canta » comes from a show « Historias de amor » that Agnes discreetly toured in some French towns during the spring of 2005 as a series of low-key concerts initiated by the producer, Olivier Gluzman. The concerts were a natural continuation of Agnes singing with her Cuban, Bolivian, and Argentinean friends. This touring experience brought a multitude of simple pleasures and it would have been a shame not to create something from it, as if to prolong the moment, and, just as her confidence on stage, she let the idea of an album mature. This CD is a logical continuation of her career as according to her, “the rhythm and perfect tone are already major components for acting, writing screenplays and directing.” Listening to her today, it’s as if Agnes Jaoui has sung like this forever. She is not using acting skills as she glides into the skin of a fado passionaria, a carioca or a cubanita – beautifully enthroned by her two idols: Brazilian, Maria Bethania and Portuguese, Misia, who both accepted to sing with her on Samba em preludio and Fado de retorno, two breath-takers. « Canta » is mostly the result of many crossed encounters with Agnes in the middle – and while listening it becomes obvious that her goal was not to constantly be at the forefront. She shares the microphone with Marcos Arieta, a Peruvian friend with a beautiful scratchy voice and composer of two original songs on the album. The Spanish group from Elbicho who saved flamenco from arthritis by whipping up its blood, and who made Agnes stop dead in her tracks when she saw them in concert in Valencia, and, two other people who have been with her from the beginning as she turned towards singing, the guitarists, Roberto Gonzalez Hurtado and Dimas Martinez Dubost, all perform on the album. The latter was in charge of most of the delicate and temperate arrangements on the album, and takes credit for the overwhelming 'Milonga del navigante' where Agnes acts out a gipsy with Samarabalouf, a gipsy band from Toulouse, thus unveiling other parcels of her secret musical garden. And finally, in order to bring some order to all of this musical frenetic joy, and canalise the enthusiasm, an experienced outside vision was needed to give some cohesion to the album. Joining the Tôt ou Tard stables, Agnes was introduced to the ideal person for this type of challenge: Vincent Segal, cellist for M and Bumcello, and Jeanne Cherhal’s producer, whose talents for enlightener no longer need proving. The result speaks for itself: twelve vibrant and lively love songs who make you want to invent a new adjective just for them: rejaouiful! Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.