Icelandic singer Björk, always concerned about the environment, hopes that "Elon Musk and his tech friends" would make electric tour buses" for her Cornucopia show. Could you pass the message on to Elon Musk? " she told AFP. The pop star makes "efforts" to limit the impact of her tours, she navigates between two shows: a philharmonic, entitled Björk orchestral, and a more avant-garde with more substantial means, Cornucopia. The author of the hit Army of me has thus given up the three dates of Cornucopia scheduled for early June in Iceland because its ambitious scenic device would have required additional developments on her native island.
«
It was the first time I couldn't bring one of my shows to Iceland and it made me very sad, but I tried everything. ", she confides by email to AFP, in an agenda shaken by this hitch and by her involvement in a day of protest at home against whaling.
Read alsoElectric batteries: what are the main giga-factory projects in Europe?
To combine touring and ecology, Bjork has no shortage of ideas. She even imagines a new kind of festival "with a festival boat crossing the oceans without an aircraft involved". Despite the difficulties, the singer is optimistic about humanity's ability to meet environmental challenges. "I think the turn is very slow, it would be better if it was done faster, but I remain hopeful," she says. I think it's a generational thing. She even finds reason for hope in the period of the health crisis. "At least during Covid we had birds singing louder, healthier air, fewer planes. We know it's possible, that if we want, we can."
A choreography of 860 drones
Bjork is preparing today the resumption of the European tour of Cornucopia, which will pass on September 1 in Portugal, on September 8 in Bercy and December 5 in Floirac, near Bordeaux). The show concludes with a video message from climate activist Greta Thunberg. Cornucopia, conceived around the album Utopia (2017), then swept the artist's entire repertoire. "I'm gradually integrating more and more Fossora (latest record, 2022)," says Björk.
The Icelander also performed her philharmonic show at Coachella in April. In a festival copiously relayed on social networks, a simple orchestral version seemed surprising. She embellished the representation of more than 860 drones above the stage.
«
I didn't want to add musicians or instruments so as not to disturb the stripping of a show with a naked voice and a symphony orchestra. " she explains. "I was thinking about something epic in the sky. I wanted the drones to follow the arrangements for sound visualizations. It seems to have worked well in the desert" of Indio, place of the festival.
Read alsoGoing on holiday in an electric car: tips and pitfalls to avoid