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DEEP FOREST EMERGES WITH
A SUNNY SOUND

The Orange County Register, Calif.

By Cary Darling

The English ultra-pop group Swing Out Sister released an album called ``It's Better to Travel'' a few years ago, but it's French musicians Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet who have turned those words into jet-age musical philosophy.

The pair roams the world sampling and recording various rhythms for its world music/pop aural collages released under the name of Deep Forest. The duo's first album, a self-titled effort from 1992, mixed the music of central African pygmies with modern electronics. It spawned a global hit, the sublime and transporting ``Sweet Lullaby,'' and sold more than 1 million copies in the United States, a high-water mark for an album considered world music.

A second set, ``Boheme'' from 1995, which blended Eastern European folk music and contemporary dance beats, wasn't as well-received but managed to go gold (500,000 sold) in the United States. Now, the twosome is back on more familiar territory, blending the music of Africa and Latin America in ``Comparsa'' (Sony/550 Music). If ``Boheme'' possessed the sylvan darkness of a Transylvanian forest, ``Comparsa'' radiates an equatorial sunniness.

``After the second album, we decided to make separate trips,'' Sanchez recalled by phone from New York. ``I went to Cuba, (Eric) went to Mexico and Belize. We did that not only for artistic reasons but for the tourism aspect. We brought with us some DAT recorders.''

However, upon returning to their home base in northern France, they felt something was missing. A musicologist friend happened to pass along a tape of music from Madagascar and they realized it had what they were looking for. Sanchez had been especially intrigued by the strains of Africa evident in Cuban music and when he heard the Madagascar tapes, he could sense the connections.

``We saw common points between Cuba and Madagascar and we felt could make something strong,'' he said. ``We wanted to do something different from the second album.''

The two traveled to Madagascar and ``Comparsa'' includes the presence of Mama Sana, a 100-year-old Malagasy who died before the album was finished, and Bantu griot Wes Madiko. ``I had maybe 25 different tapes and I found them to have an incredible variety of styles,'' Sanchez recalled. ``When I heard Mama Sana, she was very old but had an incredible amount of energy and she was singing like a 50-year-old woman. I really liked the fact that she was singing very uptempo songs and improvising with traditional chants.''

Another guest on the album is better known to Western audiences. Joe Zawinul, keyboardist and driving force behind the groundbreaking jazz fusion group Weather Report, plays on the track ``1716.'' ``He did a concert in the north of France and, after the show, we decided to meet Joe,'' Sanchez said. ``He saw us and said: `Wow! It's Deep Forest. How are you? I like your music. I've been influenced by you guys on my new record, ``My People.'' ' So we asked Joe to participate on a song for our new record. Heagreed to do that. We sent the demo to Joe, and he sent it back with his part. He said, `My fee would be that you would participate on my next record.' I hope he won't forget that.''

Yet for all of Deep Forest's fans in the West, not everyone is so enthused. The pair is constantly accused of rhythmic globe-trotting, plundering from cultures without understanding them, for an audience of would-be yuppie sophisticates which tipples white wine and keeps The Gipsy Kings' bank account full.

England's Q Magazine, in a recent review of ``Comparsa,'' said: ``Here and in Europe, there seems to be an insatiable appetite for this sort of politically correct piffle. Why don't people just send (money) to (humanitarian organization) Oxfam? At least that way the real stars of Deep Forest might get a decent reward for their efforts.''

Even more scathing is Benin-raised, French-based Afro-pop performer Angelique Kidjo. In a 1996 interview with the Register, she lambasted Deep Forest by saying: ``What did they do? Because they are white, they think they can steal sounds from people?''

In his defense, Sanchez says Deep Forest is all about mixing and is not meant to supplant traditional music or culture. ``The more I discover about traditional musicians, the more I'm convinced that a lot of them are willing to share their cultures,'' hesaid. ``We were invited to Bath (England) to Peter Gabriel's studio and there we met hundreds of traditional musicians from all over. Everybody was playing with everybody and improvising songs. It was very moving for me. It's a parallel experience and allows people to discover unusual things and it can help traditional music stay around.''

With each of its albums, Deep Forest donates a portion of its proceeds to charitable organizations that deal with the cultures represented on that disc.

As if to prove Deep Forest isn't only about being sequestered in a studio putting sounds together, Sanchez and Mouquet have put together a touring group and an eight-city American trek should take place in the summer. Two years ago, a swing through Australia and the Far East proved successful. ``We did every song without any sequencers. There are 12 people in the band playing live, and we reconstructed every song to be able to improvise onstage,'' he explained.

In terms of the next album, Sanchez isn't sure where Deep Forest will journey next. ``What is really interesting for us is the common points among cultures,'' he said. ``It's not just a question of finding another country but about mixing. We have some ideas about Asia, but everything can change very quickly.''

Cary Darling can be reached via e-mail at carydar(at)aol.com, by telephone at (714) 953-7866, by fax at (714) 542-5037 and by mail at P.O. Box 1626, Santa Ana, Calif. 92711-1626.

(c) 1998, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).

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