Since 1992, Deep Forest has devoted itself to making us discover the world's treasure of ethnic chants. Their latest album "Comparsa" proves Deep Forest's extraordinary mastery of the sampling technique.

It's no surprise if the names Eric Mouquet or Michel Sanchez don't sound familiar to you: Deep Forest is more famous abroad than in France, with about three million albums sold throughout the world! Nevertheless, six years of hard work and sample collecting has attracted attention to the northern duo. Big stars like Peter Gabriel, David Byrne and Ryuishi Sakamoto showed their admiration for Deep Forest. Still, the discretion that honors them remains unaltered, and it is with much kindness and simplicity that they accommodated us to touch upon the subject of "Comparsa", their new sun-coloured album.


Keyboard: After Africa for the first album and Eastern Europe with "Bohème", you turned your sight towards new horizons for the new album?
Eric Mouquet: We have been traveling a lot the last two years: together as part of our world tour, but also separately. These peregrinations lead us to Cuba, Mexico, Madagascar... Actually a world tour! "Comparsa" is a conclusion to that journey, with a strong emphasis on sunny music.

Michel Sanchez: Most of the tracks are duos between ethnic singers from Cuba and Madagascar. During our journeys, we found a great similarity between chants of those regions, both conveying ideas of joy, rhythm and dance. The idea to mix them forced itself upon us.


Keyboard: This album is rich in meetings.
EM: I think there are more than 40 contributors to "Comparsa", people that are more or less famous and that talk with their heart. In Belize, a small country of Central America, I met and recorded Marsella Lewis, an extraordinary old woman: big moments of emotion in her pile house! On the album there are several unknown artists but also more famous people like Anna Toroja, singer of the band Mecano -she sings in duo with Abed Azrie-, Joe Zawinul, Wes Madiko. The link between all those people are music, whatever notoriety they have.

MS: I went to Cuba with a friend who is drummer and who knows many local artists. Thanks to his contacts, I met a lot of happy people, living for music and willing to share their culture. Right away, I made them aware of what we were going to do with the samples. I feared some reluctance, but didn't encounter any!

EM: In Mexico, I also met Jorge Reyes, the famous drummer. Given his perfect knowledge of studio work, the idea of having him in our place in France was natural. Obviously, we didn't proceed that way for all the people. The result would have been too artificial. To record them in their environment seemed more judicious.


Keyboard: What about your collaboration with Joe Zawinul, a musician that you seem to like a lot?
EM: It was like a dream! Since he was passing through Lille for a concert, we went to see him. Enthusiastic about his performance, we tried to meet him at the end of the show. After a few minutes of hard negotiations with security and the management staff, we were granted access to the cabins. Big surprise! Joe Zawinul warmly welcomed us and he was forever praising our music! The situation was quite embarrassing... Well, at the end of this idyllic meeting, we shared phone numbers. The same evening, at the restaurant, the idea of having him on "Comparsa" appeared. The following day, this suggestion was sent via fax to his hotel. He answered very quickly: given his world tour, he was not able to come to our studio but he suggested to us sending him the tape in New York, so that he could take care of it. We build the track for him and Joe added a synthesizer solo at the end. We are very proud!

MS: What is crazy is that Joe doesn't want any remuneration! He just wants us to be on his next album!


Keyboard: "Comparsa" sounds more "world music" than the first two albums. Did you use more ethnic instruments?
EM: We worked the same way, but since this sunny music called for different sonorities, like accordion or latin drums for example, all this may give a more acoustic touch on the whole.

MS: Compared to "Bohème", the tracks are more built like songs: voices are omnipresent, maybe at the expense of the instruments.


Keyboard: How did you sort the samples?
EM: As for the chants that we recorded ourselves, no problem, we knew where to find the good samples. But for the voices from Madagascar, we had to listen to the numerous tapes we were sent.

MS: Timbre takes first place over all other aspects! I remember having some problems in Cuba. I had recorded a singer with a magic and deep voice, but that was not always matching the melody. Back at the studio, I asked myself what I was going to do with it. Finally I worked with the best sample and reworked it. The result turned out to be great: the timbre of the voice and the emotion that sustains it are definitely there! We often have to find compromises.


Keyboard: What devices did you use?
EM: For the voices, the choirs and rhythms, we obviously used samplers: the S3000 and S3200 from Akai. We also use a lot of synthesizers. Actually, as soon as a device comes out, we test it and keep it if we are convinced. We made big use of the Yamaha VLI, and VPI (borrowed for the album), but also the Korg Trinity -since the Z1 was not out at that time- the Clavia Nordlead II, the Hammond B3... and even vocoders from the DigiTech Vocalist or the EMS.

MS: I have a fault that costs me quite a lot. Since a don't like to use a synth in a multitimbral mode (I prefer to keep the Preset's original effects, rather than to add external post processing on the performance), i need a lot of devices....


Keyboard: What are your expectations concerning electronic instruments?
MS: I am very curious about the next improvements of keyboards like the Yamaha VLI or the Korg Trinity. I love modeling! I think that research should be carried out on new expression possibilities. For example, to be able to use several wheels and pedals simultaneously, or be able to program wheelstrokes on some pushbuttons, or have a spread of one second for one note, and a bar further for a quintuplet if needed.

EM: I am very interested in the VLI as well, especially since the release of the VL Visual Editor: right from the start, it's possible to get interesting sonorities that can be refined in the synthesizers. Obviously, it is monophonic, and we would appreciate to have the same features in stereo... The new arpegiators are also very charming, but given their complexity, they are not very easy to use and their programming lacks user-friendliness.


Keyboard: Do computers have a great role in your music?
EM: Since we do not use multitrack mode, the Macintosh is the heart of our system. We build or songs with MIDI, with one machine per channel, multitimbral mode is banned!! This allows us to change a sound, a tempo, add or remove a bar, up until the very last minute. We sometimes use Pro Tools for editing.


Keyboard: What do you think about the new generation of musicians, passionately interested in electronic experimentations?
EM: I think that techno music has been the most creative phenomenon the last few years. Initially meant for non musicians, the DJ, techno definitely introduced a different approach... Today, attracted by the strong commercial capabilities of that music, producers and labels recovered part of it. But fortunately, there are still talented artists, like the Chemical Brothers who have no limits…

MS: Further more, this new wave has big influence: the musical ideas, sometimes a bit extreme, are re-used by all kind of musicians. We see singers and bands change their sounds, adding some saturation to their voices... showing their will to leave the beaten tracks of rock and international variety!

EM: This experimental aspect reminds me of the 60's.


Keyboard: Can you picture yourselves doing an album without electronics?
EM: Maybe during a live concert. Last year, we had a lot of instruments on the stage. It should be possible. We then would need more musicians. As for studio work, it is not very easy, since Deep Forest has a great dependency on sampling, which is impossible to replace with the traditional technique of a singer.

MS: I think we have to insist on the fact that we are synth players, especially now that many artists want to go back to more acoustic stuff. Technology will offer us such wonderful instruments that, if we can be the first to use them, we will not miss the chance!


Keyboard: The universal language of your music helped you to cross borders. But, in concrete terms, how is your musical philosophy judged throughout the world?
EM: The best feedback was our tour. This experience, which involved twelve musicians and five singers, without adding sequencers or samples, compelled us to rework the orchestrations and find a way to adapt our music to the stage - it was out of the question to be only two musicians with sequencers and devices... It was a surprise for the public. People who came and saw us in the cabins said "You make us travel". Travels are what we do the whole year, and these concerts were the perfect transcription of them.

MS: Before this live experience, people often talk about the relaxing music of Deep Forest. But as we started the tour, we quickly noticed that the public was moving and dancing! I think that people enjoy that alternation between rhythmic techno where dynamics are exploding, and some more acoustic and melodic moments that are more intimate.

EM: We had a lot of success everywhere. The craziest concert was definitely the one in Japan!


Keyboard: So you have been touring everywhere but not in France. Why?
EM: There was some skepticism in France about Deep Forest live, even from the label. We had to convince them. We also had to test the live performance, which we did in Australia. Given the crowd of people attending the show, the disc sales and the press reactions, we had to continue! We did not forget France, it is just a matter of timing... But for this new album, we will begin a tour this summer, in Australia, Japan, the USA, in Europe...and France.


Keyboard: You are interested in film Soundtracks. Why did you not follow in this direction?
EM: As ill luck would have it. Three years ago, a project with a German film maker failed because of "timing" problems on our side and budget problems on his. But recently, we met a famous French producer who would like to entrust us with the soundtrack of his new film, expected next fall. It will be a whole OST, not only some songs like we did for "Prêt à Porter", "Strange Days" or "The Island of Doctor Moreau".


Keyboard: Do you have any solo projects?
MS: I produced my first album with Wes Madiko. Released in February/March, it did not receive the expected success - a stranger who is not singing in french...- until TF1 (big TV channel in France) took part in the promotion. Every summer TF1 promotes some artists. Wes Madiko and Brazilian singer Carlinhos Brown were pre-selected and Wes was finally chosen. You know how it then went. Currently, I am working on a solo project with music genres I really enjoy: jazz, classical... This album will not make any concessions, with a lot of fantasy, a bit like what was done in the 70's when there were no barriers.

EM: Currently, I am working on the new album of Abed Azrie, a Syrian singer with a beautiful deep voice. He would like to record in my studio. This acoustic project involves western musicians - a string quintet - and eastern artists - an Egyptian drummer, and an oud player... I have two or three more projects but only dealing with production.


Keyboard: For each album release, you make a generous gesture for a charity. Which one did you choose for "Comparsa"?
EM: It's the "Sana de Madagascar". The name of this association refers to Mama Sana, a Malagasy centenarian - unfortunately, she died during the recording of the album -, the so-called favorite musician of the Queen. Besides, you can hear her on many tracks of the album, more particularly in "Noonday Sun". The Malagasy singers who introduced us to her, and who came to our studio for some choirs and to harmonize some phrases of Mama Sana, wanted to create an association to safeguard the Malagasy culture and heritage. We decided to help them by giving them a share of the sales of the new album.



thanks to C-Real for providing us a copy of this interview, to Florian Seka for the translation, and Pierre Jacquot for giving us a scan of the magazine cover.