Sapho (singer)

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Sapho (2014)

Sapho (born January 10, 1950 in Marrakech ; real life Danielle Ebguy ) is a French singer. Stylistically, she covers a broad spectrum: from North African music and flamenco to chanson , rock and new wave . She sings in French , Arabic , English , Spanish and Hebrew . She has also published several novels and is active in cabaret and choreography .

life and career

The future singer was born into a family of Jewish origin . In 1966, the year of Moroccan independence, the family emigrated to France. The southern French metropolis of Lyon became the new domicile . After a short stopover at local schools, Danielle Ebguy continued her education at a Swiss boarding school. When she was 18, she moved to the Parisian artist and tourist district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, on the south bank of the Seine , and enrolled at the university to study art. In the meantime, music became increasingly popular: she played the guitar , took acting lessons, and made street music . Following the advice of a friend, she took singing lessons at the Petit Conservatoire de Mireille founded by the film actress Mireille Hartuch . After a brief interlude with the pseudonym Bergamote, she chose the name Sapho as her stage name - derived from the ancient Greek poet Sappho .

Early career (1979–1990)

Location of the live double album from 1987: the Bataclan im XI. Arrondissement of Paris

Parallel to the visit to the conservatory, Ebguy / Sapho concentrated more and more on their music. Finally, RCA France signed the singer. The debut album, Le Balayeur du Rex, was released in 1979. The ten pieces on the record oscillated stylistically between rock and new wave. The album was not very successful commercially. On the part of the critics, however, Sapho was registered as a new, exciting talent. After the publication of the first work, the singer moved to New York as a reporter for a year . In addition to her work for the music and underground magazine Actuel , Sapho performed in various clubs. His time in New York was followed by a shorter stay in London . The second album from 1980 (title: Sapho ) reflected the singer's enthusiasm for the local punk scene. Just like its predecessor, Sapho also offered a mixture of fast, punchy punk rock and dark new wave melodies based on the US band The Doors . The single was the track Janis - a homage to the US rock legend Janis Joplin .

On the two subsequent productions - the mini-LP Le Paris stupide released in 1980 and the album Passage d'enfer released in 1982 - the singer continued to cultivate her mix of fast punk rock, new wave, synth pop and chanson. With Souvenir D'Enfance (Endi Ou Hida) (translated: childhood memories - Endi or Hida ), Passage d'enfer was the first to include a longer piece in Arabic and with North African melodies. The two follow-up albums Barbarie (1983) and Passions, passons (1985) offered even more North African tones. With the pieces Carmel , Méthylène and Globo Night , some of which were released as singles , the album Passions, passons, produced by Les Négresses Vertes discoverer Peter Murray , contained three pieces that became the singer's basic repertoire. The lyrics addressed social grievances such as exclusion, racism and the macho attitude of many men more clearly than on their first albums . The album productions - which appear almost annually at times - were flanked by tours within and outside of Europe . Sapho made appearances in France, Germany, the USA , Canada and Japan .

In addition to her music, Sapho was also a writer . Her first two novels were published in the 1980s: the autobiographical debut novel Douce violence 1982, five years later the second work Ils préféraient la lune - a novel that addresses the identity insecurity of a young Tunisian in the context of a love story. In the meantime, the singer completed a longer stay in Mexico . In 1987 a live double album was released - Live au Bataclan, which presented a cross-section of Sapho's repertoire and was based on several Bataclan appearances in September 1996. In October 1987 the next studio album, El sol y la luna, was released. Other activities: Cabaret appearances as pirate Jenny in a production of the Threepenny Opera by Brecht / Weill and participation in a 1989 film about the situation of Palestinian children during the Intifada . However, the film (title: Discours à la mer ), which was recorded under problematic production conditions, could not be distributed; there was no public performance.

Later career (since 1991)

The change from the hard rock image to a more chanson-like music, strongly influenced by Arabic elements , had already been announced with the album Passions Passons . La traversée du désir, the 1991 follow-up album to El sol y la luna, was lyrically more lyrical than its predecessor. Recorded in Rabat , Berlin and Lille , it contained pieces in Arabic, French and English - including a cover version of the popular chanson Parlez-vous d'amour by Charles Lenoir from 1930. New in the singer's repertoire: El Atlal - a hit by well-known Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum . In 1994, Sapho organized a concert in Jerusalem that also served as a musical experiment. Together with an ensemble of Palestinian and Israeli musicians, she recorded a throwback album with pieces by Umm Kulthum - including the title song El Atlal. Sapho then completed a European tour with the repertoire of the concept album.

In 1995 the artist published another novel - Patio, opéra intime. The next two albums were characterized by a mix of different styles. Jardin Andalou from 1996 combined rock music elements with Andalusian and Arabic sounds. The 1997 released album Digital Sheikha was on the one hand strongly determined by Tekkno , House and other electronic styles . On the other hand, Sapho specialized in the music of the Moroccan sheikhates - Maghreb singers who appear at weddings and similar occasions and whose image is associated with a loose, tending to immoral life. The raw recordings of Digital Sheikha were made in Casablanca . The final mixes were completed in a Basel studio. The novel stylistic mix met with critical acclaim; the critic Pat Jabbar characterized the sound of the album with the term Ethno Dance.

The political and human rights situation in the Middle East remained a field of activity for the singer. In protest against the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip , she organized a concert for peace in Gaza in 1998 . Despite warnings in advance and a tense situation on site, the performance was able to take place without incidents and in retrospect turned out to be a success. In 1999 Sapho conceived a new show with which she performed in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Morocco, among others . From September 21 to October 29, 2000, she took part in a cross-genre performance in honor of Rilke , Lorca , Michaux and Baudelaire at the Maison de la poésie in Paris. The production received rave reviews and was repeated in March 2001 due to the great demand. On October 5, 2001, she performed with the Raï musician Cheb Mami and the French pop singer Jane Birkin at a concert on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France.

The follow-up albums to Digital Sheikha were produced in an even more international environment than before. With her Umm Kulthum reminiscence album at the latest, Sapho had worked her way up into the league of internationally established world music acts. In 2002 there were various guest appearances on the African continent (including Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau ), Iraq and the northern Israeli city of Nazareth . The album Orients , released in 2003, was recorded with the help of a classical orchestral ensemble made up of Jewish , Christian and Muslim musicians. In 2004 Sapho took part in a French performance of Eve Ensler's novel The Vagina Monologues . On February 14, 2005, she gave a solidarity concert as part of the campaign for the release of the journalist Florence Aubenas kidnapped in Iraq and her translator Hussein Hanoun Al-Saadi.

With their next album, which was released in 2006, Sapho made another musical detour. Ferré Flamenco (Sapho chante Ferré) included flamenco pieces by the famous French chansonnier and anarchist Léo Ferré . Universelle, on the other hand, the follow-up release from 2008, contained a stylistic mixture of rock, reggae , funk and Arabic-Andalusian sounds. It was followed in 2011 by the album Velours sous la lettre - a French adaptation of the English term Velvet Underground and containing musical references to the work of the former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed . The singer continued her commitment to peace and human rights in 2013 by participating in a solidarity event for the benefit of the civilian population affected by the Syrian civil war .

Stylistic classification, criticism and political commitment

In her home country France, Sapho is one of the recognized greats of the pop and world music scene. Her crossover of Western musical styles and North African music found just as wide a response in the French media as her ambitious music projects. Reports, reviews and portraits were published by Le Parisien , L'Humanité , Match de Paris, Le Figaro , L'Express , France Soir and Le Monde, among others . She herself characterizes her turn to the musical culture of North Africa as a logical step that has resulted from her development. She justified her partial departure from the New Wave style of her first albums in 1999 to the magazine Le Parisien by admitting that rock music was only an adequate form of rebellion for her. The visits to concerts with traditional Arabic music would have left a lasting, moving impression on her and ultimately prompted her to deal more with this music herself.

Her three albums El Atlal, Digital Sheikha and Ferré Flamenco are seen as ambitious works in terms of cultural crossovers . The literary scholar Armin A. Wallas highlighted the production method of Sapho's album Digital Sheikha as an example in a contribution to a cultural study on Western fitness : “(...) She interprets several songs together with 'Zahera and her Girls from Hallilifa', one of the most popular Sheikha Combos from Marrakesh. The songs about 'shabby, bad girls' come together to pay homage to the Maghrebian sheikhates who - accepted at festivals and perceived as disgrace in social circles - embody the epitome of female creativity, artistic subversion and erotic permissiveness. In the words of Saphos: 'I want Arab and other people to understand that such women exist in the Arab world and that they are a natural part of life.' "

The expressiveness of Saphos' live performances is also regularly highlighted in the media. The in Alsace Mulhouse appearing daily newspaper L'Alsace as described a local presence as follows: "guitars and percussion ( darbuka and Cajon ) accompany Sapho song that begins and ends with a whispered scream. French, Arabic and Spanish are presented mixed, but the powerful voice never falters. The singer is Mediterranean in her warmth, her excesses and her amicable nature. She dances, turns, jumps with both feet, crawls on her knees. ”On the occasion of a portrait of the artist, L'Express provided the following brief description: “ She loves Garcia Lorca and Umm Kulthum, Rock and Rainer Maria Rilke. She sings in Paris, Sarajevo or Gaza. Her clear voice is a little hoarse, but clear at the same time. "

The position of the singer in matters of civil and human rights, against exclusion and racism, for the rights of women and for peace in the Middle East received a broad response. Sapho himself used the various occasions to advertise their positions. On the occasion of her participation in the World March of Women in 2000, she expressed clear criticism of the level reached so far in terms of women's equality : Half of humanity is still struggling. Ultimately, the situation of women is a barometer for the state of democracy : where their rights are violated, those of men and children are too. In 2012 she formulated her basic understanding to the daily newspaper L'Humanité as follows: “The awareness of the evils of humanity is deeply inscribed in me. How can we forget those who spend the winter or the nights on the streets? How can one accept this indifference , this indifference to the war ? Anyway, I can't get used to it. Talking about it, over and over, is a form of resistance . "

Discography

Albums

  • Le balayeur du Rex (1979; RCA)
  • Sapho (1980; EMI)
  • Le Paris stupide (1980; EMI )
  • Passage d'enfer (1982; EMI)
  • Barbarie (1983; Pathé)
  • Passions, passons (1985; celluloid)
  • Sapho live au Bataclan (1987; celluloid)
  • El sol y la luna (1987; torso)
  • La Traversée du désir (1991; Wotre Music)
  • Préférences (Compilation; 1991; EMI France)
  • El atlal (Sapho chante Oum Kalsoum) (1994; Gorgone)
  • Jardin andalou (1996; celluloid)
  • Digital Sheikha (1998; Barraka El Farnatshi)
  • La route nue des hirondelles (1999; Mélodie Distribution)
  • Orient (2003; Independance Records)
  • Ferré Flamenco (Sapho chante Léo Ferré) (2006)
  • Universelle (2008; Basaata Productions)
  • Velours sous la terre (2011; Voix de la Méditerranée)

Singles

  • La Balayeur du rex / Saimon a Saigon (1977; RCA)
  • Janis (1980; Sonopresse)
  • Respect / Amour Absence (1981; Pathé)
  • Carmel / Méthylène (1985; celluloid)
  • Duerme Negrito (1987; with Jairo; Malambo)
  • Train de Paris / Méthylène (1987; torso)
  • Petite fille veut le monde (1988; EPM Musique)
  • Globo Night (Barclay; only in Japan)

Books

Sources and individual references

Main source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sapho déchaîne Gaza. La chanteuse d'origine juive a donné un concert de reconciliation . Christophe Boltanski , Liberation, March 4, 1998 (French)
  2. ↑ Sapho. Site officiel . Press review on the official Sapho website. Accessed November 26, 2014
  3. ↑ Vivre au Maroc . Sapho, Le Parisien, 1999 (French). Text contained in press review from official website. Accessed November 26, 2014
  4. ↑ Armin A. Wallas: Forms of representation of the "oriental" in "western" entertainment cultures; in: Gerda E. Moser (ed.): Fit & Fun Culture - Between Performance and Enjoyment: Perspectives on Cultural Studies . LIT Verlag 2003, ISBN 978-3825867317 . Excerpts are available online from Google Books .
  5. ↑ Le monde de Sapho , HP, L'Alsace, 2000 (French). Text contained in press review from official website. Accessed November 26, 2014
  6. ↑ Le questionnaire de Proust: Sapho . Roland Mihaïl / Antoine Silber, L'Express, April 19, 2001 (French). Text contained in press review from official website. Accessed November 26, 2014
  7. ↑ "Il nous faut être majeures" . Karelle Ménine, L'Humanité, June 16, 2000 (French)
  8. ↑ Sapho, des mots sur le sel des souffrances . L'Humanité, January 20, 2012 (French)

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Sapho
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ebguy, Danielle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French singer and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Marrakesh , Morocco