Louis Chedid is an author, composer, performer, writer, son of, father of, in a family of artists that continues to grow. Author also of emblematic titles and albums. We think of Heistat Anne, my sister Anneat So be itjust like in the show The pink soldier. Louis Chedid is part of the soundtrack of childhood, adolescence and adult life for many French people with his recognizable voice from the very first notes.
This Friday, September 9, 2022, he released a new album, with Yvan Cassar by his side, In black and white, before going on tour throughout France.
franceinfo: It’s a big challenge to agree to rework pieces known to everyone! I feel like you even changed the way you sing?
Louis Chedid: From the moment we make the songs completely naked, that is to say piano-voice, there is only the music, the melody and the text that stands out and obviously the arrangements made by Yvan Cassar.
“This album allowed me to sing again in a much more intimate way, much closer to the microphone.”
Louis Chedidat franceinfo
We also recorded live, that is to say that, really, we did the voice from the beginning to the end, three or four takes and period. And it actually gives privacy. It feels like the singer is really in the room with you.
On this album In black and white, notes and words, two instruments: a voice, yours, a piano, Yvan’s. One responds to the other. We feel that you have been jostled, in the good sense of the word, with an emotion that is really on your lips and at your fingertips.
The emotion is, surely, increased tenfold and the interpretation is very different. It’s much simpler. I love arranging my records. I love to put a guitar here, a violin there, but there the specifications were really to be as simple and bare as possible.
It feels good to find the right person, not to say to yourself: “Hey, is he going to be in the back?”
There, for me, it was obvious that it was with him that I had to do it. Besides, I had been offered other pianists and I said: no, I want to do it with him, period. I can be quite opinionated.
There are certain notes from elsewhere which go as far as absorbing, accompanying your breaths. It’s really fusion. It’s obvious and indeed it’s personal, but that’s the strength of this record is that it is not confidential.
We did things in such an instinctive way that we didn’t ask ourselves these kinds of questions. We said to ourselves: “Well, it’s exciting to do this“. Personally, I’ve never done it and I was very excited to do it and revisit the songs. But afterwards, I realized, by playing it… For the moment to a few people etc. ., that there was a kind of emotion going through, which was strong.
The more we listen to this album, the more we realize that neither of them takes precedence over the other. But at the same time, what stands out are the notes on one side and on the other, the words, yours. Have you rediscovered your texts yourself?
Yes, because in fact, I never listen to my songs. There, actually, I didn’t have to, but I had to listen to them again so that we could choose the ones we wanted to do. In general, if you take Anne my sister Anne, I can see what she is saying, but all of a sudden, we plunge back into the body of the song with all the details in the interpretation. And it’s true that having only a piano in your headphones, played extremely well, immediately gives you ideas for interpretation that you wouldn’t necessarily have if there were drums, a thing etc. It’s not the same principle at all.
Pure emotion. An accuracy which cannot leave indifferent to the image, or rather to the sound of the first title, So alone without you. I have the impression that it is also a declaration of love for this profession, to the public. Is the public your driving force?
Yes. You know, when I started a long time ago, in 1973, I made a record called stammering, which I really like because it’s really the starting disc. From time to time I listen to it again.
“All the people of my generation, Souchon, Jonasz, Sheller, we never imagined for a second that we could still be there half a century later. We said to ourselves that we were going to make two or three records and then that “We were going to get thrown out because it’s a job for young people. And we’re still here. It’s crazy stuff.”
Louis Chedidat franceinfo
Why are we still here? It’s because there are people who buy records, come to concerts and follow us. It may also be because we make songs that still interest them. But in any case, here it is, it’s a chance and it’s something that’s almost unreal, it’s surreal. There is also something else, often I am told: “You have nothing more to prove“, on the contrary, the more it goes, the higher the bar is since you have done things that people have liked, a long time ago or more recently and therefore each time it is higher and higher and we always have something to prove. McCartney was once asked: “You had it all, what would make you happy today?And he replied:To make a hit“.
Louis Chedid will soon be on tour: October 5 in Lille, Saint-Jean d’Angely on October 13, Carros on November 28, Marseille on November 2, at the Seine Musicale on November 30, 2022, etc.