Among all the pop music in the world that does not have Anglo-Saxon roots,
the French chanson
effortlessly ranks among the most recognizable, thanks to the seductiveness of the language, combined with irresistible melodies and voices that can range from almost recited whispers to over-the-top displays more for the feeling that by the technique.
Zaz, the great current exponent of the French chanson in an updated version.
Press photo.
From Edith Piaf to today, the genre featured female voices as important or more important than the male ones.
And from 2010 to today, among the standards of the chanson,
Je veux
de
Zaz
occupies a rightfully earned place thanks to qualities that respond both to tradition and to the present.
Isabelle is back
Zaz is the stage name of Isabelle Geffroy.
And
Je veux
from his debut album, was the kickoff of a career that at this point has five studio albums and
an event that
far transcended his homeland, by the hand of a voice that shakes hands with its predecessors ( Jane Birkin, Carla Bruni) without giving up an iota of interpretive personality.
After six years of absence, the French singer will perform in our country on April 17 in Córdoba, two days later in Rosario and will culminate her Argentine tour on April
20 at Luna Park in
Buenos Aires.
But before she turned on her computer's camera and, through an interpreter, she talked with Clarín.
"I wanted to kill Zaz"
Isabelle Geffroy, known throughout the world as Zaz, just plain.
-Would you rather I call you Zaz or Isabelle?
-I'm the same person, so I don't care, I don't have any problems about it: I can be Zaz or Isabelle
(laughs).
-
The question has to do with why when you released "Isa", your last album, in 2021, you said you wanted to make Zaz disappear.
-You're right then: when I was composing that album I wanted to kill Zaz
(laughs)
.
I needed to live that sensation in my head, and when I experienced that I realized that it was something unnecessary
(laughs)
.
"I'm ready for a new album"
-"Isa" was a record conceived in the midst of a pandemic. How much did the composition and recording affect that world moment?
Zaz will be in Córdoba, Rosario and Buenos Aires in April.
-The pandemic fell at a good personal moment, because just before the Covid I decided to suspend a tour that I had.
I spent twelve years without taking a single break, and right there the pandemic appeared, so that coincided with a choice that I already had very clear from before.
That was, then, the moment in which I took care of Isabelle.
Isabelle, then, put the magnifying glass where there were needs.
In that instant I was able to distance myself from everything.
But, at the same time, it was kind of difficult, because I felt very vulnerable.
Because when Isabelle takes charge of everything and Zaz steps aside, vulnerability appears.
-"Isa" came out two years ago. How is the process of writing your new album?
-We start from the base that life is a process, so there were several changes in my life, and I'm ready, little by little, to face a new album.
"The French chanson evolved"
-How do you see yourself and what is your place in the rich historical tradition of the French chanson?
-It is something very special, since being French I carry that tradition and that culture within me, and in spite of myself.
My beginnings had to do with those, since I started playing in piano bars, and the public asked me for chansones.
The concept of chanson is so broad that in the end what unites everything is culture and language.
The chanson reflects the joy of living, and there may also be a bit of nostalgia and melancholy, but these are feelings that end up being buried by the celebration.
In this aspect, there are points in common between the chanson and the bossa nova, in the way joy and melancholy are treated at the same time... The chanson often has a dramatic side that the bossa nova does not.
This is related to being French: many times we are somewhat dramatic people.
I really like bossa nova, and all the music in the world.
-Can we associate this dramatic performance with tango?
-Yes, because in the old chanson there is a lot of waltz and tango.
And nowadays the chanson has evolved so much that it even incorporated rap and electronic music.
Everything mixes, and the chanson is no stranger to this phenomenon.
-What music are you listening to today, and how does that music influence your current work?
-I've been listening to a lot of seggae lately, which is the union of sega music and reggae, which comes from the Mauritius Islands.
I'm interested in everything: Brazilian music, Andalusian music, I really like Afrobeat, and I also had a return to swing jazz.
"I have incredible memories of Argentina"
Zaz's new tour poster.
-Could you tell us about the Organique Tour shows that we will see in Argentina?
-We call it that because we try to limit our pollution impact.
It is inevitable that we use airplanes, but we try to balance our carbon emissions to protect the environment.
The work that lighting engineers do is phenomenal, as it can be adapted to large or small concert halls.
And we try to make music the heart of that whole concept.
-You have already come to Argentina several times. Do you feel local here?
-I have incredible memories of Argentina, so many that it is impossible for me to count them all.
From the first time I went I felt like one more member of a big family.
So when I come back, I feel like I'm going to see all that family again.
And I feel like that family gives me all their love.
I am very happy to return.
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