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'Deep Forest' is a musical group consisting of two French musicians, Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez. They compose world music, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds. They were nominated for a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best World Music Album, and in 1996 they won the Award for the album ''Boheme''. Some of the proceeds from their album sales (over 10 million copies) have been donated to charity.

Contents

History

Side projects

Live performances

Donations

Discography

Albums

Singles

External links

History

Michel Sanchez came up with the idea of mixing Baka Pygmy chants with modern music after hearing on-site recordings of these tribes. Along with Eric Mouquet they created the project Deep Forest. Their first self-titled album (nominted for Grammy) was released in 1992, with Sweet Lullaby being the smash single which would put Deep Forest on the musical map (UK Top 10 hit). The song "Sweet Lullaby" is adapted from a traditional song from the Solomon Islands. The album "Deep Forest" was dance-driven and the samples were heavily digitised and edited. It was re-released as a limited edition in 1994 under the name "World Mix".
Dan Lacksman, producer of the debut album, wanted the group to remain focused on African chants but instead on the second album Boheme, Eric and Michel left behind the sounds of the forest and ventured into Eastern Europe bringing tender, lonesome Hungarian and Gypsy chants with upbeat, yet sad, music. Due to this shift, Lacksman decided to go his separate way and continue his idea with projects like Pangea. However it is fortunate Deep Forest considered changing focus as Boheme, arguably their best album to date (won Grammy), is a more mature and impressive album. The chants were no longer brief, instead extended phrases had been sampled from Hungarian and Transylvanian sample CD's. The duo collaborated with Joe Zawinul during the recording of the album.
The duo also performed and produced the remixes for the Youssou N'Dour single Undecided in 1994, with guest vocals by Neneh Cherry (who featured on n'Dour's break-through single Seven Seconds). That same year Deep Forest made remixes for Jon Anderson's "Deseo", Apollo 440's Liquid Cool and Cesária Évora's "My Fatigue is Endless". In 1996 Deep Forest collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the song "While the Earth Sleeps" which was written for the film "Strange Days".
The follow-up third album, Comparsa contained Spanish chants and sounds. The music is often times upbeat and celebratory. The last song from the album "Media Luna", which was also released as a single, features a duet of Syrian and Spanish singers Abed Azrei and Ana Torroja. A recording of their live concert in Japan was also released on a CD called "Made in Japan". Although all the songs featured in the show are from the previous three albums, they have new often-longer arrangements and all the chants are performed and reinterpreted by live performers.
In 1999 Deep Forest worked with Cheb Mami and Catherine Lara on the song L'Enfant Fleur which had been composed for Sol En Si (a French charity, who help HIV families).
In December 2000, Deep Forest composed a soundtrack for a film. The album is entitled Pacifique and accompanies the French film "Le Prince du Pacifique". It is a return to a more ambient and melancholy sound, with piano themes riding above moody synth textures, Pacific Island chants, scratchy synth-leads and electronic drumming.
Music Detected was the title of their fourth much-anticipated official Deep Forest album which saw the duo turn its attention to the Far East and the Orient for inspiration. It also signalled a change in musical style for Deep Forest, from dance to a more rock-influence. The album features
In 2003 Deep Forest released a compilation album "Essence of the Forest", with some remastered tracks.
In 2004 the duo composed a soundtrack for a Japanese movie "Kusa No Ran".

Side projects

Bothe Sanchez and Mouquet have worked over a variety of side-projects and solo albums. Sanchez has two solo albums out and produced Wes's successful debut album; while Mouquet created the group Dao Dezi, collaborated with Catherine Lara and arranged Thorgal.

Live performances

Deep Forest had their first live concert in 1996 at the G7 Summit in Lyon, France. They continued from there on to the Deep Forest 96' world tour. During the 96' tour, Deep Forest performed a number of shows in France, Hungary, Greece, Australia, Japan, Poland and USA.
After the completion of Comparsa there was a 98' world tour. Since 98' there have been numerous live performances, including the Image Concerts. The 'Image' concerts took place in Japan. The concerts were based around the 'Image' album (similar to Pure Moods), and featured a number of famous Japanese artists, also including Deep Forest.

Donations

A percentage of proceeds from Deep Forest's debut album sales went to the Pygmy Fund, set up to aid Zaire's pygmies in the transition from nomadic to agrarian subsistence, and to provide appropriate health care.
A portion of the proceeds from 'Boheme' go to the Gyoörgy Martin Foundation, which aids in protecting the Romany (Gypsy) culture of Hungary.
Deep Forest also actively supports the Sana Madagascar Association starting with 'Comparsa'. "The aim of the Sana Madagascar Association is to contribute protecting the environment, to collect instruments and precious recordings in order to allow the Malgasy man to save his culture, his nature and his traditional music."[1]

Discography

Albums

★ 1992 – ''Deep Forest'' (over 3 millions album sales)

★ 1994 – ''World Mix''

★ 1995 – ''Boheme'' (over 4 million album sales)

★ 1998 – ''Comparsa'' (over 1 million album sales)

★ 1999 – ''Made in Japan''

★ 2000 – ''Pacifique''

★ 2002 – ''Music Detected''

★ 2003/2004 – ''Essence of (Deep Forest) the Forest''

★ 2004 – ''Kusa No Ran'' (Japan market only)

Singles

★ 1992 – "Deep Forest" / UK #20

★ 1992 – "Sweet Lullaby" / UK #10

★ 1992 – "White Whisper"

★ 1993 – "Forest Hymn"

★ 1994 – "Savana Dance" / UK #28

★ 1995 – "Boheme"

★ 1995 – "Boheme (The Remixes)"

★ 1995 – "Marta's Song" / UK #26

★ 1995 – "Marta's Song (The Remixes)"

★ 1996 – "While the Earth Sleeps" (Collaboration with Peter Gabriel)

★ 1996 – "Bohemian Ballet (Promo)"

★ 1997 – "Freedom Cry"

★ 1997 – "Madazulu"

★ 1998 – "Media Luna"

★ 1998 – "Noonday Sun"

★ 1999 – "Hunting (Live)"

★ 1999 – "Sweet Lullaby (Live)"

★ 2000 – "Pacifique"

★ 2002 – "Endangered Species"

★ 2002 – "Will You Be Ready (Promo)"

External links

★ Official site

★ Official site of Michel Sanchez

★ Official site of Eric Mouquet

★ Official site of Dan Lacksman & Synsound Studios