display
Paris (dpa) - Shamanic chants, the crackling of fire, drawn-out screeching of birds and synthesizer music in between: Jean-Michel Jarre was inspired by photos by star photographer Sebastião Salgado (77) from the Brazilian rainforest for his new album “Amazônia” to let.
The pioneer of electronic music explained in advance that he had approached the Amazon in a respectful, poetic and impressionistic way.
The French musician and composer (72) created the “Amazônia” soundtrack for the Salgado exhibition of the same name.
The approximately 200 photographs are to be seen for the first time in the Paris Philharmonic, probably from May 20th.
After that, the multi-sensory event will go on an international tour - via Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to London and Rome.
display
Jarre is almost immersed in the depths of the rainforest with musical means, but electronic and orchestral instruments are combined with authentic jungle sounds.
In the interplay of many synthesizers that is typical for Jarre, elements of an entire living space are mixed: fire, water and wind, animal noises, spiritual chants and music from ethnic groups.
Jarre has captured the sound world of an ecosystem with his music without slipping into the category of ethnomusic.
He said of his work that he created a musical toolbox to reproduce the timbre of realistic natural sounds.
For the voices, songs and instruments he used the sound archive of the Ethnographic Museum in Geneva.
Its almost 60-minute soundtrack creates a dense atmosphere that not only makes the Amazon perceptible musically.
His sounds create a variety of images in your head of a region that is considered the jewel of world nature.
He created the forest as a fantastic idea, explained the French world music star.
display
This is how you can hear and see the Amazon - even if you cannot visit the unique Salgado exhibition.
For six years the photographer and environmental activist roamed the Amazon and photographed the forest, the rivers, the mountains and the people living there.
Recordings, many of which are being shown to the public for the first time, with which the multi-award-winning photo artist aims to encourage reflection about the future of biodiversity and the place of man in the world.
The musician Jarre continues his experiments with “Amazônia”.
He described his creative process as having returned to the basic principles of natural sound compositions in order to create a soundscape, the elements of which seem to flow randomly into one another and still generate harmonies and dissonances.
Only a few months ago, the sound magician surprised people with live reality concerts.
He appeared as an avatar in a virtual environment - first on June 21st for the Festival of Music, which was canceled due to the corona pandemic, then on December 31st in the 3D reconstruction of the Notre-Dame church in Paris, which was held at a The major fire in April 2019 had been badly devastated.
According to the German record company Sony Music, the 45-minute New Year's Eve event attracted 75 million viewers worldwide.
display
Jarre broke new ground for the first time in the 1970s with his compositions for synthesizers and revolutionized the music world.
With "Oxygène" he made his international breakthrough in 1976.
The instrumental album, which he recorded in his improvised home studio, sold millions of copies worldwide.
That was exciting and exciting, as he said before his live reality concert in Notre-Dame.
"Oxygène" was followed by "Equinoxe" and "Magnetic Fields", also million sellers.
With «Zoolook», his eighth album, Jarre experimented for the first time in 1984 with scraps of speech that he alienated and processed into sound collages.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210406-99-99130 / 3
Exhibition page Salgado
Website Jean-Michel Jarre