Author, composer and performer, Laurent Voulzy is very attached to his dear brother, Alain Souchon. Since 1974, their collaboration has given us titles that have become “madeleine de Proust”. His repertoire includes: Pomegranate heart, rock collection, Belle-Ile-en-Mer, Marie-Galante or Joan. In October 2021, he published the book My cathedrals published by Stock and was on tour. After a break, he sets off again on the roads of France to stop in these places steeped in history.
franceinfo: My cathedrals is a beautiful declaration of love to these places steeped in history and souls that seduced you very early.
Laurent Voulzy: Yes. When I was very young, it was especially the era of cathedrals that I liked before it was cathedrals, it was the Middle Ages.
You also say that you received two gifts that were decisive for the rest of your life. There was this guitar and then a wooden and cardboard castle. A kind of passion was triggered for the Middle Ages, is that where it starts?
This is where it starts. That is to say that before, I had a policeman’s uniform. I was nine years old, a garage with little cars that I really liked. Cyclists too. We were racing with marbles, it was fun. And all of a sudden, my mother offered me this fortified castle and there, it was a revelation.
That is to say, you wanted to cultivate History. You started rummaging through your mom’s library. And next to Agatha Christie’s books, there was a huge encyclopedia on the history of France.
Yes. There had been old volumes from the 1880s, the engravings fascinated me. They were Gustave Doré engravings that make you dream, a little dark, a little mysterious, magnificent. From the moment I had this fortified castle, I started to read these seven volumes until the end and in fact, very quickly, I returned to the Middle Ages. I had made my choice by choosing this very long period that is the Middle Ages.
It’s funny because you didn’t like school!
No, I didn’t mind school. There were lessons that I liked like History-Geo in primary school, but in high school, it started to be a disaster. There was Latin, I didn’t understand anything. In sixth grade, I got kicked out after six months. Then I was put in accounting school, which wasn’t the best choice, and then I went to high school to become a chartered accountant, but that didn’t pass either.
You have wanted to write this book for a long time because these places have accompanied you for a long time, haunted you, inhabited you a lot too!
Yes, I have a great attraction for churches. In fact, it’s a mixture of the Middle Ages and a quest I have.
I am attracted by the invisible, attracted by mysteries. Cathedrals are ideal for this.
Laurent Voulzyat franceinfo
Your mom has a lot to do with it because not only did she reach out to you about this story, but also because she told you stories of these distant islands. With this mystical side, this magic and this idea which is extremely well developed in this work, that there are things behind things. That is really an idea that has been with you for a very long time.
Yes. So, in Guadeloupe, in the West Indies, the invisible is present, that is to say the irrational is almost rational. We speak quite naturally of prayer, witchcraft, magic. The magic is present. It always lasts.
What also fascinates you in these places, basilicas, cathedrals, collegiate churches, is the humility that emanates from them. You say that, indeed, the generations that have succeeded one another in these immense naves have come to seek forgiveness and hope.
In cathedrals, churches, we are not going to look for distress, we are going to look for hope, comfort.
Laurent Voulzyat franceinfo
Yes. First, artistically, they are masterpieces that contain others, but in general, when you go there a bit with a desire for silence, etc. It’s loaded with hope, mystery, the invisible, people who have come with their tears to seek hope, others to recover love, to pray to find their love again or to give thanks for having us gave love. I think that’s a lot of hope and expectation.
You searched for a long time for the sound that would represent this love you had for the history of cathedrals. The switch was made with the song: Joan. What does this song represent to you?
A miracle. Besides, this album is very curious. At first, I wanted to make an electro album. We met in the studio, with Alain, to make electro sounds and afterwards, I said to myself: I’m going to make poems by Charles d’Orléans. Alain told me:You’re gonna make an electro album, so you don’t need me, it’s just music“, I answered him that no, I would like texts. He said to me: “You have to start writing lyrics again because I’m going on tour. Why don’t you take poems?“So I thought the idea was good, but it didn’t inspire me much.
All of a sudden, I had the idea of taking only poems by Charles d’Orléans, a contemporary of Joan of Arc, and then we went into the studio like that, the electro version. At one point, I found this music from Joan and every evening, I went home to Paris, I listened to the music. I had been looking for weeks with what words I was going to start this song and what I was going to tell. Then, I dreamed, I heard a voice that said to me: “Joan”.
This book is an agnostic pilgrimage?
It’s a search and at the same time, I say my love of places, the strangeness that I could see in these places, mysterious things. When we approach, it looks like a dream. When we are at the top, we are in the sky. It is still something very extraordinary.
Laurent Voulzy will be April 5 and 6 in Hondschoote, 20 and 21 in Cherbourg, 22 and 23 in Saint-Lô.
You can re-listen to the series dedicated to Laurent Voulzy in August 2021: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Epidose 4, Episode 5