 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2012) |
Edith Lefel | |
|---|---|
 Memorial to Edith Lefel | |
| Background information | |
| Born | November 17, 1963 Cayenne, French Guiana |
| Died | January 20, 2003 (aged 39) Dreux, (Eure-et-Loir) |
| Genres | Zouk |
| Occupation(s) | singer |
| Instrument(s) | vocals |
| Years active | 1980s–2000s |
| Labels | Aztec Musique |
Edith Lefel (November 1963, in Cayenne, French Guiana - 20 January 2003, in Dreux, France) was a French singer. [1]
Lefel's mother was from French Guiana and her father, a meteorologist, from the island of Martinique; she is Edith in memory of a cyclone of the same name. [2] She moved with her parents to Martinique when she was three. It was there that she was exposed to the rich musical traditions of the Caribbean. During the 1970s, Lefel grew up in a compas or cadence music environment where Haitian Compas bands such as Les Frères Déjean, Le Ska Shah Number One and Tabou Combo flourished, featuring a rich modern western-Hispaniola meringue-compas style (the Dominican Republic is located on the eastern side of the island where it's spelled merengue in Spanish), in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora that includes the basic music of the French Antilles, Haiti, Dominica, Cabo Verde and several places in west Africa and the continental Americas.
In her 14th year, Lefel and her mother left for France, settling in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. There she continued her studies in law, occasionally singing with her brother's folk rock group, and, in 1984, launched her career as a professional singer. The turning point in her career came when she met the Maffia band leader Jean-Michel Cambrimol. He invited her to accompany the band on a tour of the French Antilles, and recorded the hit single "My doudou" with her. Lefel's success on that tour led to more offers, including one from Jean-Luc Lazair of Lazair, with whom she recorded the single "Ich Maman". In 1987, she accepted an offer from the famous Martinican group Malavoi, appearing as a chorus singer on their album La case à Lucie. She earned her nickname "la sirène" by singing a song of that title on Malavoi's 1993 album Matebis. During the same period she met the arranger and producer Ronald Rubinel, whom she later married and with whom she had twin sons. [3]
The year after Lefel first appeared with Malavoi she recorded her first solo album, La klé (The Key), which won the Prix de la SACEM for its bassist-producer Georges Décimus in 1988. The album included a duet between Lefel and "Latin Crooner" Ralph Thamar - one of many collaborations Lefel recorded during her career with famous musicians, including Gilles Voyer, Dominique Zorobabel, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Sylviane Cédia and Mario Canonge. She explained to an interviewer for the RFI Musique website that when she hosted a house party she invited the people she loved the most, and she felt there was no reason why a recording session should be any different.
By 1992, Lefel had become well known throughout the Caribbean and her reputation had spread to Mozambique. In that year she released her second album, Mèci (Thanks), which was honored with the Sacem trophy for the best female singer of the year. Mèci broke records for Afro-Caribbean independent artists, selling in excess of 40,000 units. Her third album Rendez-vous, released in 1996, continued to build her reputation as one of the leading female interpreters of Afro-Caribbean genres.
But that same year Lefel took her career in quite a different direction, with a live recording made at the famed Olympia theater in Paris. In Edith Lefel a l'Olympia, the artist expanded her repertoire to include French and English language material, including some of the Parisian street songs that had been popularized by Edith Piaf. She explained that her parents had listened to Piaf when she was young (along with other classic French-language chanteurs like Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour), and that Edith Lefel had often imitated Edith Piaf at home for their entertainment. On the evening of the Olympia concert, May 11, 1996, Lefel impressed the audience with her immense talent, supported by her friends Ralph Thamar and Jean-Luc Alger, and her husband and children.
A very attractive woman whose likeness graced the covers of many prominent French magazines, Lefel died at the height of her powers and popularity [4] in January 2003, at only age 39. Autopsy results revealed that she died of a heart attack in her sleep, and ruled out the possibility of an overdose. [5] Edith Lefel is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
also appearing on
Tilda (Ronald Rubinel, 1987)
The music of Martinique has a heritage which is intertwined with that of its sister island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially Martinican chouval bwa, and Guadeloupan gwo ka. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa.
The music of Guadeloupe encompasses a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Guadeloupe and Martinique. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Guadeloupe and Martinique, especially Guadeloupan gwo ka and Martinican chouval bwa, and the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition.
In France, music reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of classical music, France has produced several prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson and cabaret style. The oldest playable musical recordings were made in France using the earlist known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, which was patented by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, and its music industry has produced many internationally renowned artists, especially in the nouvelle chanson and electronic music.
The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music; much of the folk and popular music is also a part of the Afro-American musical complex, being a mixture of African, European and indigenous American elements. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves brought by European traders and colonizers. The African musical elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West African tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them.
Kassav' is a French Caribbean band formed in Guadeloupe in 1979. The core members of the band are Jacob Desvarieux, Jocelyne Béroard, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Patrick Saint-Éloi, Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur, and Georges Décimus. Kassav' have issued over 20 albums, with a further 12 solo albums by band members.
Konpa, also known as Konpa dirèk, is a modern méringue dance music genre of Haiti. The genre was popularized by Nemours Jean-Baptiste following the creation of Ensemble Aux Callebasses in 1955, which became Ensemble Nemours Jean-Baptiste in 1957. The frequent tours of the many Haitian bands have cemented the style in all the Caribbean. Therefore, Konpa is the main music of several countries such as Dominica and the French Antilles. Whether it is called zouk, where French Antilles artists of Martinique and Guadeloupe have taken it, or konpa in places where Haitian artists have toured, this méringue style is influential in part of the Caribbean, Portugal, Cape Verde, France, part of Canada, South and North America.
Suzanna Lubrano is a Cape Verdean Zouk singer based in Rotterdam. Several albums have gone Gold and Platinum, while she has won major international music awards.
"Non, je ne regrette rien" is a French song composed in 1956 by Charles Dumont, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire. Édith Piaf's 1960 recording spent seven weeks atop the French Singles & Airplay Reviews chart.
Experience 7 was a Guadeloupean kadans band formed in the mid-1970s, led by Guy Houllier and Yves Honore. However, unlike Kassav' or Malavoi, the small band produced most of its songs with Henry Debs in Guadeloupe.
Malavoi was a Martinican band consisting of Mano Césaire, Jean-Paul Soïme, Christian de Negri, Denis Dantin, and Marcel Rémion. They formed in 1972, naming themselves after a kind of sugarcane and a street on Gorée, a Senegalese island. Many of the members were part of the Merry Lads, a band from the Lycée Schoelcher, and many had been students at Colette Franz, a music school.
As an overseas department of France, Martinique's culture is French and Caribbean. Its former capital, Saint-Pierre, was often referred to as the Paris of the Lesser Antilles. The official language is French, although many Martinicans speak a Creole patois. Based in French, Martinique's Creole also incorporates elements of English, Spanish, Portuguese, and African languages. Originally passed down through oral storytelling traditions, it continues to be used more often in speech than in writing.
Juliette Noureddine, better known by her stage name of Juliette, is a French singer, songwriter and composer.
Soumia Bahri or just Soumia is a French Zouk singer.
Raymond Asso was a French lyricist.
Jean-Marc Monnerville, better known by his stage name Kali, is a French musician from Martinique known for his contributions to Modern Zouk, banjo playing and his work with the Eurovision Song Contest. He is further notable for his often controversial, politically charged lyrics comment on imperialism, slavery and military proliferation.
Jocelyne Béroard is a Martinican singer and songwriter. She is one of the lead singers of the Zouk and Compas band Kassav'. As a solo artist, she helped create zoukBeton, a music genre originated by the seminal Martinican Creole band Kassav' from Paris, the main members of which are from Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Monique Séka is a singer from Ivory Coast. With the musical fusion that she generates, Monique Seka's Afro-zouk music is popular across Ivory Coast, Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
Récital 1961, also known as Edith Piaf a 'l'Olympia, Edith Piaf at the Paris Olympia, Olympia 1961, Olympia '61, and A l'Olympia 1961, is an album from Édith Piaf recorded live on December 29, 1960, at L'Olympia in Paris. The album was released in January 1961. Piaf was accompanied by the Orchestre Et Choeurs conducted by Jacque Lesage. Eight of the nine songs on the album were composed by Charles Dumont. The album was released on the Columbia label. The cover painting was by Doug Davis.
Le Tour de Chant d'Édith Piaf a l'Olympia - No. 2 is an album from Édith Piaf recorded live at L'Olympia in Paris in 1955. Piaf was accompanied by the Orchestre Et Choeurs conducted by Robert Chauvigny. The album was released on the Columbia label.
Stacy is a zouk singer from Martinique and Guyana who sings in French and Creole.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
