Yvan Cassar is a composer, pianist, arranger and musical director of many artists. He has been accompanying the greatest French singers for 30 years like Mylène Farmer, Claude Nougaro, Roberto Alagna, Vangelis, Céline Dion, Jacques Dutronc, Florent Pagny and even a certain Johnny Hallyday. Johnny was one of his greatest encounters and human adventures as a musical director. To pay tribute to him, he created the tour Johnny Symphonic Tourwhich will therefore be back in March 2024. And then, there is the album Johnny Symphonic with five new and revisited versions, including Gabrielle with Greg Zlap, I forgot to live or Behind love.
franceinfo: Was Johnny unique?
Yvan Cassar: I believe. Because this vocal strength, this charisma, these possibilities, this instinct, this singing actor, finally, he is truly unique. And it is no coincidence that for five decades, he united all French people, all generations. It’s unique and I’m happy to have crossed paths with him at some point.
There was only one key word in all the work you have just carried out on Johnny Hallyday, and that is the word loyalty. How can we remain faithful to Johnny Hallyday?
This project would have been easier if he had been right next to me. I put so much pressure on myself that it was very hard, and sometimes for everyone. I was into it and I went all the way because I really had it in my head for several years when I was working on all of his vocals and listening to him and discovering all of his wonders. The great thing is that there were a lot of times where a computer, a tape recorder, recorded his performance. We were really lucky, I discovered wonders.
There are a lot of things in common between you, including a love of music. At what age did you encounter music?
I met her around eight, nine years old. From the age of five or six, my parents suspect that I really like it because it calms me down. They say to themselves: “Here, we’ll play some music for him, he’ll be a little calmer“.
“From the age of eight, nine, music fell upon me and there, it never left me.”
Yvan Cassarat franceinfo
Your father was a drummer. Is this the starting point?
Yes, that’s the starting point because they realized that as soon as he played a little drums, I would stand aside, like that, I wouldn’t move and I would observe him. And then I would pick up the drums and do whatever, but he was like, “He has an instinct for music that’s for sure “.
At 21, you will discover composition and writing at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris. Did you understand quite quickly that arranging and composition were indeed going to be two areas in which you were going to be able to flourish?
I am the first to be surprised by that, that is to say that I loved classical music, but I loved jazz, I loved pop, rock, I loved everything and above all I loved more than everything, working with singers.
“I am an unconditional lover of the voice. That’s what transports me.”
Yvan Cassarat franceinfo
I thought about being a conductor, doing film music, working at the opera and then finally, a few songs, an arrangement later, I liked doing that. It was finally, a little in spite of myself, that I abandoned myself to composition and to film music or opera. Now I’m trying to come back to it and direct a little more because it’s catching up with me. But I experienced so many unique things that I was happy to serve these exceptional performers. Of course.
There is another meeting that was extraordinary for you, it was the one with Vangelis. Did this meeting also change the course of your life?
Yes, it is unifying. For me, it is really very important because Vangelis was exactly my opposite, that is to say he was an absolute autodidact who knew classical music well, who was capable of playing it. It also showed me what the strength of the autodidact is, the strength of instinct. All these great personalities have exceptional instincts, they trust their instincts. Me, imbued with all this classical culture, before finding myself good, there is a long way to go. And they are in this gesture, they believe in it, they love it, they go for it, they go all out.
How much instinct is there in you? Do you trust yourself?
I want to tell you that: “No“. Now I know better how to say to myself: “Stop, it’s good.” For years, I was making arrangements and we had the strings session at 10 a.m. and I sent, at the time there was no didn’t have Internet, faxes with my scores to my copyist at 3 a.m. to 4 a.m., because as long as I still had five minutes, I went, I continued. Now, I’m a little more reasonable. J I’ve gotten older. But I still have this stress asking myself: “Can’t I do better?” I have to go further and I think that’s important because we can always go further. Finally, there is always this last take where we say to ourselves: “Well, no, it’s nothing” and you end up with 80% of the recording where it’s the last one. You have to hang on.
With and for Johnny, you notably performed at the Stade de France in 1998, the concert at the Eiffel Tower, the Parc des Princes in 2003. The first time he saw you, he said to you: “You, you’re not very rock ‘n’ roll“. Have you become one?
I don’t know if I became rock ‘n’ roll. I have progressed a little. Anyway, I know rock ‘n’ roll, but actually I’m a little angry and I think angry equals rock ‘n’ roll.
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