The complete story of electronica pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre!
Содержание
Jean-Michel Jarre was a French composer, performer, producer. Visionary, innovator, cultural ambassador... Any of the countless facts about this man inevitably reflect his importance in music history. "JMJ" is a living legend, the "godfather of electronic music" as he is often called... When the musician released his landmark album "OXYGENE" in 1976, he opened a new chapter in music history... The record sold over 18 million copies worldwide! And it was the one that laid the foundation for his exceptional career. His pioneering work created a true cult following and the fastest growing trend the music industry has ever witnessed: namely, the rise of electronic music.
Jean-Michel's music has always been in keeping with his firm belief that progress can only be achieved through bold deviations from the norm. Born into the family of the famous composer and director of film music Maurice Jarre, JMJ studied harmony and counterpoint, became a pupil of the great musicologist Pierre Schaeffer, and began to take his own creative steps, boldly balancing between a spherical-abstract and a very direct melodic framework... The musician has been able to recreate the poetry of encounter and connection: between people, between handwork and high technology, between the organic and the artificial, between wisdom and vision.
Early years...
The musician's early work was largely unsuccessful and gave little indication of what was to come... In an attempt to find his own voice, he wrote for various singers (including Françoise Ardi) and films.
Seeking to push electronic music away from its minimalist foundations as well as the formal abstractions of its most experimental practitioners, he slowly developed the orchestrated melodicism of his 1976 breakthrough work Oxygène, a huge commercial hit that went to number two in Britain. Jean-Michel was born in Lyon, France, in 1948. His father was a popular composer. The man soon left for America, leaving his family behind... So, Jarre was raised by his mother and grandparents. The boy was inspired to build a career in music after watching street performers. Under the guidance of his mother, he began taking music lessons. He was also a skilled artist and as a child, he earned money by selling his paintings!
In 1967, the musician played in The Dustbins: he endeavoured to combine the sound of different instruments, such as electric guitar and flute, adding tape effects... He continued to experiment as a member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales. The first commercial release was La Cage & Erosmachine.
The main stages of creativity...
After setting up a small studio, Jean-Michel released his debut single "La Cage" in 1971. The following year he released his debut studio single "Deserted Palace". However - it did not bring him popularity and had no impact on his career. His second "Les Granges Brûlées", released in 1973, was also not a success. Despite the failure, Jarre continued to struggle. And for good reason! His third "Oxygène" (1976) was a huge hit and made him a popular musician internationally! It reached number one on the French album chart. It also reached the top ten in several countries, as well as the US Billboard 200, where it reached position 78. It was a resounding success, despite mixed reviews from critics....
Two years later, the musician released his fourth studio album, Équinoxe. It also succeeded, although it was not as colossal a success as his previous album... Over the next few years, sales of the third and fourth albums continued to grow strongly around the world....
In the late 70s, the musician entered the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of spectators at an open-air concert: on Bastille Day, more than 1 million people gathered at the Place de la Concorde in Paris... Later, Les Chants Magnétiques was released.
"Musique pour Supermarché" is the title of the next album, which has quite an interesting history... Musique pour Supermarché instantly became one of the most collectible albums in history: it came out in only one copy and was sold at a charity auction for almost $10,000! All the master sheets were deliberately burned, guaranteeing the rarity of the record...
Jarr's next full-length release was 1984's Zoolook, which failed to attract audiences as successfully as its predecessors.
A break and some new work!
A two-year hiatus followed before the musician returned on 5 April 1986 with an extravagant live performance in Houston to celebrate the silver anniversary of NASA: in addition to more than one million spectators, the concert was broadcast on worldwide television. Rendez-Vous came a few weeks later, and after another visual concert in Lyon, France, the musician compiled the best material from these two events in the form of the live LP Cities in Concert: Houston / Lyon 1987. Revolutions, featuring legendary Shadows guitarist Hank B. Marvin, followed in 1988, and a year later a third live LP was released, simply titled Jarre Live... After En attendant Cousteau 1990, Jarre showcased his greatest concert experience to date, drawing more than two and a half million fans to Paris, in honour of Bastille Day...
The decade that followed was surprisingly quiet and, save for occasional live performances, Jarre largely escaped the limelight... In 1993 Chronologie was released, followed four years later by Oxygène 7-13.
At the turn of the millennium he recorded Metamorphoses and then took a break as a flurry of reissues and remixes followed, including Sessions 2000, Les Granges Brulees and Odyssey Through O2. In 2007, after a seven-year recording hiatus, Jarre released a new dance single, Teo and Tea, followed by an angular album of the same name.
In 2016, he released Oxygène 3: all three Oxygène albums were also released as Oxygène Trilogy. November 2018 saw the release of Equinoxe Infinity, the follow-up to his 1978 album Equinoxe...
Live performances ...
Far-sighted creativity is inextricably linked to his pioneering exploration of new technological trends. From the first modular and polyphonic synthesizers and drum machines to digital keyboards, plug-ins and apps, JMJ has always been one step ahead of his peers... He was one of those who popularised the laser harp: he used the Houston skyline at a giant outdoor concert in 1986 as a projection surface for the first ever large-scale laser mapping and established a live video link with the MIR cosmonauts during his epic Moscow performance in 1997. His Millennium concert in Egypt was the first concert to be streamed live on the Internet. He was the first to use 3D audio technology.
Jarre, three times in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest outdoor performances, has always been keen to present his music at one-off events and turn them into an unforgettable memory for those in attendance. He came up with the idea to create a whole new form of live experience: grand and colourful high-tech performances!
Spectacular shows with powerful sound engineering and futuristic laser and light projections: free outdoor concerts that combined iconic urban and natural surroundings into an unforgettable multi-sensory experience. The musician has staged these concerts in some of the most beautiful outdoor venues around the world: the 2000 performance at the Pyramids in Cairo, the first Western live performance in China since Mao, the welcome show for the Pope in Lyon, the NASA Memorial Concert in downtown Houston, performances in Beijing's Forbidden City. He has quickly become a benchmark for outdoor events! He holds the Guinness World Record for the number of 3.5 million guests at his Moscow concert in 1997...
Conclusion...
Although at the forefront of artists utilising new technologies in music, his art has always been accompanied by deep reflections on the role of technology for the future of our planet. The famous 1976 cover of Oxygene, which depicted a polluted mother earth in the shape of a skull, the Equinoxe cover by artist Michel Grainger, which was both mesmerising and disturbing,...
Then the Equinoxe Infinity cover made a stir: the album was released in two versions - one visual depicts a utopian future in which humanity coexists peacefully with nature and technology, while the other paints a bleak picture of fear and distortion....
Optimistic by nature, yet critical in spirit, Jarre has always drawn attention to issues related to nature and technology, and has become a world-renowned expert on these topics. He has been awarded the Stephen Hawking Medal for science communication, collaborated with Edward Snowden, tested artificial intelligence for musical compositions and is constantly invited to share his thoughts in speeches and forums. He has been appointed by the United Nations as UNESCO's representative for environment and education. The musician's expertise is in demand and his contribution is invaluable.
