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Areski Belkacem | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 23 January 1940 |
| Origin | Versailles, France |
| Instrument(s) | singer, composer |
Areski Belkacem (born 23 January 1940), also known simply as Areski, is a French singer, multi-instrumentalist, comedian and composer.
Areski grew up in Versailles, where his parents, of kabyle (Berber) descent, welcomed Algerian musicians: "at my house, post-war stars, old chaâbi veterans, were coming to play at my parents' home." [1] As an adolescent, he watched rehearsals, for Olympia concerts, by Édith Piaf, The Beatles or Jacques Brel, in the great room of the Cyrano cinema. He began in dancing clubs, second-rate restaurants, and then went on to play at weddings, playing popular hits, and began performing on stage thanks to catholic sponsorship. [1] Before his military service, during which he became friends with Jacques Higelin, he was playing in Saint-Germain-des-Prés caves as a drummer for jam sessions; after his military service, he started touring France as a multi-instrumentalist in various rock and jazz clubs.
Belkacem recorded an album with Higelin in 1969 and his voice is heard in the song Remember, of which he composed the music. Higelin introduced him to Brigitte Fontaine, and as early as 1969, they created Niok, a mostly improvised show which remained for months at the Lucernaire theatre in Paris. At the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, that same year, he played with Fontaine and the Art Ensemble of Chicago on the Comme à la radio album, which would go on to be an underground classic. He then recorded his first solo album in 1970, Un beau matin , and was the protagonist of the movie Ça va, ça vient, by Pierre Barouh, founder of the Saravah label. At the same time, he composed music for the director Peter Brook and also contributed to his shows as a comedian in the International Centre for Theatre Research.
His sentimental relationship with Brigitte Fontaine began after the album Brigitte Fontaine (1972), during the production of Je ne connais pas cet homme . In the 1970s, the shows of the duo Areski-Fontaine, often played in difficult conditions, mixed theatre and music, included much improvisation and few instruments or props, a unique mix of Areski's music (who also wrote some lyrics) with African and European traditional influences, and the lyrics of Fontaine. They shared lead singing on several albums (Je ne connais pas cet homme, L'Incendie , Le Bonheur , Vous et Nous , Les églantines sont peut-être formidables ) produced under various situations, sometimes with little resources, exploring new ground, including some in which they are precursors (spoken poetry on Comme à la radio, electronics on Vous et Nous). Their influences range from Renaissance music to psychedelia with lyrics tackling legends, social commentary and biography.
The 80s were a more difficult period, which saw the creation of Acte 2, a Brigitte Fontaine show which he performed with her. The album French corazon and the low-profile hit Le Nougat helped both of them to come back in 1992. Since then, Areski is still Brigitte Fontaine's main composer and sometimes sings duets with her on her albums, performs background vocals and does the arrangements. His work has evolved toward more contemporaneous sounds but still includes more classical influences.
Named "Prince consort of French chanson" by Camille Couteau in the newspaper Le Saule in January 2011 or compared to Berlioz by Éric Loret ("If Gainsbourg was Chopin", Libération, May 2010), Areski has also collaborated with Barbara, Georges Moustaki or Sapho. With her, he contributed to the Voix de la Méditerranée festival in Lodève. He also worked with Jean-Claude Vannier and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Antoine Duhamel, Sonic Youth, Richard Galliano, Christophe and Grace Jones. He is considered one of the most prestigious French composers. Both Comme à la radio and Les Palaces received the Académie Charles Cros award.
In parallel to his activities in chanson, Areski has also made soundtracks with his son Ali Belkacem for films (notably Jeunesse dorée in 2001 and À mort la mort by Romain Goupil in 1999) and theatre (Une liaison transatlantique). In 2004, he went studying at the Schola Cantorum de Paris to learn more about classical music. With Zep and Benoît Mouchart, he created in 2005 the music for an innovative show, the Concert de dessins which is now featured every year at the Angoulême International Comics Festival and allows the creation in music on big screen of an original comic.
On 26 October 2010, he published his second solo album, Le Triomphe de l'amour . The next year, he sang a duet with Zaza Fournier at the Olympia. In 2012, he played with Benoît Poelvoorde and Albert Dupontel in Le Grand Soir . In May 2013, he contributed to the show Il n'y a plus rien mais on est là by Mounia Raoui alongside Ali Belkacem and Bobby Jocky at the Gérard Philipe theatre.
Brigitte Fontaine, is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Michel Colombier, Jean-Claude Vannier, Areski Belkacem, Gotan Project, Sonic Youth, Antoine Duhamel, Grace Jones, Noir Désir, Archie Shepp, Arno, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. She is also a novelist, playwright, poet, and actress.
Vous et Nous is the ninth album by experimental pop French musician Brigitte Fontaine and the seventh by Areski Belkacem, released in 1977 on the Saravah label. Vous et Nous is an avant-garde double album mixing a variety of instruments and vocal styles. The album uses synthesizer and drum machine on some songs. Other, more acoustic, songs show the Algerian/African influence that Fontaine and Areski were known for. The album was not well understood upon release, but in later years was championed by musicians such as Jim O'Rourke and Stereolab.
Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin was a French pop singer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s.
Benoît Mouchart is a French writer and curator. From 2003 to 2013, he was artistic director of the cultural programming of Angoulême International Comics Festival, in France.
Saravah is a French jazz record label founded by singer-songwriter Pierre Barouh in 1965.
Pierre Barouh was a French writer-composer-singer best known for his work on Claude Lelouch's film A Man and a Woman as an actor and the lyricist/singer for Francis Lai's music score.
Ivor Mervyn Vigors Guest, 4th Viscount Wimborne is a British Grammy Award nominated record producer and Emmy Award nominated composer.
Comme à la radio is the fourth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine, recorded with Areski Belkacem and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It was released in 1969 on the Saravah label after a series of concerts in 1969. It is Fontaine's most famous album, and is known outside of France on the 1990s alt-rock scene, thanks to laudatory comments from Beck Hansen, or Sonic Youth among others.
Je ne connais pas cet homme is the sixth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine and the fourth by Areski Belkacem, released in 1973 on the Saravah label. It is their second collaborative album, and the first of a string of albums co-credited to both artists.
L'Incendie is the seventh album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine and the fifth by Areski Belkacem, released in 1974 on the Byg Records label. It is their third collaborative album.
Le Bonheur is the eighth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine and the sixth by Areski Belkacem, released in 1975 on the Saravah label. It is their fourth collaborative album.
Genre humain is the twelfth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine, released in 1995 on the Virgin Records label. The album features a new version of Comme à la radio, the title track from her 1970 album. The song Il se mêle à tout ça is inspired by an autobiographic event of her life.
Rue Saint Louis en l'Île is the fifteenth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine, released in 2004 on the Virgin Records label. It features a new version of Le Nougat from her French corazon album with Mustapha and Hakim Amokrane of French band Zebda, as well as a duet with Areski Belkacem, Le Voile à l'école. There's also a cover of Édith Piaf, L'Homme à la moto, which was present before on an hommage album to the singer, in the words of Fontaine, "just to show off".
Libido is the sixteenth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine, released in 2006 on the Polydor label. It once again features a collaboration with -M- on the song Mister Mystère, which -M- also sang solo on his fourth album, to which it gave its title. Brigitte Fontaine, for the first time in more than thirty years, calls upon arranger Jean-Claude Vannier for some songs, Barbe à papa and Mendelssohn. The title of Château intérieur comes from a book by Teresa of Ávila, although Fontaine admitted she didn't read it.
J'ai l'honneur d'être is the nineteenth album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine, released in 2013 on the Universal Music Group label. Areski Belkacem composed and arranged all songs except La Pythonisse and Les Crocs, which were composed and arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier.
Higelin et Areski is the second album by French rock singer Jacques Higelin and the first credited to Areski Belkacem. Higelin and Areski met at the army, and Higelin would later introduce Areski to Brigitte Fontaine, who would become his lover and creative partner. The songs on the album are mostly minimalistic and experimental.
Un beau matin is the first solo album by French experimental singer and composer Areski Belkacem, released in 1970 on the Saravah label. He would not release a new solo album until Le Triomphe de l'amour in 2010, instead collaborating with his lover and creative partner Brigitte Fontaine for the next few decades.
Jacques "Crabouif" Higelin is the third album by French rock singer Jacques Higelin, released in 1971 on the Saravah label, for whom it would be his last release. "Crabouif" was Higelin's nickname at the time. The music on this album is mostly minimalistic, improvised, and experimental.
Les églantines sont peut-être formidables is the tenth album by experimental pop French musician Brigitte Fontaine and the eighth by Areski Belkacem, released in 1980 on the Saravah label. Because of its arrangements, described as almost "disco" by Fontaine herself, a sound that she can't stand, she has disowned the album and refused its re-release on CD, although it has been pressed in Japan in October 2008 by the Columbia Music Entertainment label.
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