We met them on March 10 in the premises of Labo M, Matthieu Chedid's label, located boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris. In a treasure room where the guitars, gold records and trophies of the showman are enthroned, we talked about how Pierre Richard, 85, and -M-, 48, had met, about "their spontaneous empathy one for the other ", their friendship and then the poet Andrée Chedid also, and above all, who would have been 100 years old on March 20 and whose actor was to read the texts on the musician's guitar notes on the stage Parisian La Scala this Monday, March 16.
It was another time, more peaceful, more breathable. The singer, who talks about his grandmother - one of the most important women of his life - sometimes in the present, sometimes in the past, wondered: "The big question is: does Can we still do it on Monday? "
No, it will not have held. Not in public, the two planned performances having been obviously canceled because of the Covid-19 epidemic ... But both wanted to say the words of the poetess, including humanism, faith in l and wonder will be a balm in these troubled times. They are offering this “poetic recreation” this Monday at 9:30 p.m. live on Facebook.
My dear friends to change my mind, this evening I offer a poetic recreation live on Facebook and YouTube at 9:30 p.m. ✨
With friend Pierre Richard, for my grandmother's birthday Andrée Chedid (she would have turned 100 on March 20) pic.twitter.com/bsUiD5biCR
They tell the story of this poetic interlude.
Matthew, why Peter for this recreation?
MATTHIEU CHEDID . For me, Pierre has always been the embodiment of poetry. I had seen him in his “Little Praise of the Night”, in which he said poetic texts in a refined, surreal setting, in the atmosphere of Magritte… We had dinner and talked about poetry, and Pierre did not know my grandmother's poetry. I am a little obsessed with my grandmother and with her poetry, I sent her her complete works. It was a real meeting for Pierre.
PIERRE RICHARD. Oh yes !
MC It was two years ago. I realized that it was 100 years of my grandmother on March 20, I said to myself that it was absolutely necessary to celebrate that. Honestly, without any sycophancy, I told myself that the ideal would be with Pierre. I can't think of a better way to celebrate my grandmother's words than Pierre. I instinctively know that she would have been excited and happy and proud that it was him. I know it, even if she didn't tell me.
P. R. All the more, that at the time, she was far from knowing that I existed.
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M. C. Yes, you are kidding! No, she loves cinema, she is a clown my grandmother, she likes humor… We don't have that image of her, but she was a woman who liked to laugh a lot.
As we don't necessarily have the image of a Pierre Richard poet…
MC However, what I take from Pierre's universe is poetry. I might not have put his words there younger. The word poet can be interpreted in many ways, there are writing poems and then living poetically. Pierre is someone who has a poetic vision of things, it's a bit my case too, we recognize ourselves when we meet.
You said you were obsessed with your grandmother?
MC Obsessed, in the sense that she is very present to me, I haven't done a concert in my life without talking about her. Because she wrote songs to me, because I put some of these poems to music. It's as if I had the duty to talk about her, not that I force myself, no, but rather with the idea of a transmission, an artistic lineage ... We never come from nowhere, I don't want to be ungrateful and think that things only come from me…
Do you feel indebted?
MC Let's say it's part of me. For its 100 years, it gives me joy to celebrate it, it's very moving too, I want it to be light, joyful, because it inspires me with joy ... The wonder, the enthusiasm were very present at her place. Doing things with wonder and enthusiasm is how I envision the evening.
The wonder you both share ...
PR This is the best way not to become an adult, to remain always fascinated, curious about things. Amazed, it's a way of looking at things with the same look as when you were 5 or 7 years old… If you can keep a small part of it in adulthood, and at my age, what's more, it's a blessing. Otherwise, we are jaded, and then it is the beginning of death.
MC I am fortunate to have encountered beings who had that ... I was once spoken to about "words of them" when speaking of those of my grandmother, I realized that there are the idea of the model ... She is my model, yes, my "words of her", that of the feminine, there is something related to the woman that is very strong in me, the idea of the muse. I need it to live and inspire me. My grandmother is one of my muses…
And his wonder irrigated, irradiated your whole family ...
MC Exactly. This is where we see the beauty of the transmission, the filiation, when we sow something, it's nice to see that it sometimes produces beautiful fruits ... And age has nothing to do with wonder . Edgar Morin says that we should never forget that we have all ages in us, it is not because we have a biological age that we cannot be sometimes five years old, sometimes 40, 70, little matter, the mood changes the age… You can change the age several times a day.
Pierre, what does Andrée Chedid's reading give you?
PC Every time a wonder, precisely, of the beauty of the texts, their music ... I was not like that before, it came slowly. At 20, me and poetry… I loved Brassens, Léo Ferré, obviously, but it came over time, slowly. And, over time, I realized that it was almost essential in life, like a potion, at times, we need it because we need fresh air ... This tells you if it is important right now.
Is the era lacking in poetry?
PR I think that this century will be poetic or will not be, if not one goes straight in the wall, it is necessary to learn to look beyond the most materialistic interests.
MC Poetry is vital, it always has been. A world without music and without poetry would be lost ... Poetry is not very present, but it is at the bottom of all of us, for sure, you just have to go and find it.
Today, we have the impression that it is hatred that sows while love is inaudible ...
MC I think it's love that unites and hate that divides. We are living in a special moment when coming together is not the best thing… And yet it is the gathering and the communion that can save us… All of this surely has a meaning…
PR I'll give you a concrete example that shows like poetry, or more broadly things of the mind can bring together. It happened to me to be next to a gentleman I don't know at the theater, and to be moved by something, to watch him without a word and to share in a look the same emotion, of a air of saying: "it's beautiful what we just heard ..."
Is the shared emotion stronger?
PR As soon as we share, it's stronger.