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DEEP FOREST

Sony - 550 Music 

Media Relations

With worldwide sales of more than 3.5 million albums to date, the Paris-based group known as Deep Forest has become for many listeners the group that personifies World Music--blending traditional ethnic musical styles from around the globe with state-of-the-art production values and cutting-edge technology.  In the US, Deep Forest's three acclaimed studio albums have sold nearly two million records combined.  Now, the Paris-based group presents its latest 550 Music/Epic Records release, Made in Japan--a triumphant summation of Deep Forest's musical journey, recorded live before an ecstatic Tokyo audience.

Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez are the two French partners who founded and today comprise Deep Forest.  Their self-titled debut album, drawing upon the music of Africa and featuring the smash single "Sweet Lullaby," was released in May of 1993.  Deep Forest met with almost immediate global acclaim.  The album sold over 800,000 copies and was certified gold in the US, one of the first world music recordings to accomplish such a feat; and went gold or platinum in five other countries including England, France, and Australia.  The icing on the cake was a Grammy Award nomination for Best World Music Album; and an MTV Music Video Award nomination for the striking "Sweet Lullaby" video, directed by Tarsem.

Nineteen ninety-five brought Deep Forest another worldwide hit with Bohême, their second 550 Music release.  This collection drew its principal inspiration from the music of Eastern Europe--Hungary, Bulgaria, and Byelorussia--and featured the beautiful quicksilver voice of Marta Sebestyen, lead singer of the Hungarian traditional group Muzsikas.  But Bohême also contained Gypsy songs; echoes of Inuit (Eskimo), Mongolian, and Balinese voices; and Marta Sebestyen singing alone with Michel's piano, or in a duet with second vocalist Katalyn.  This album also went gold in the US and reached gold and/or platinum in five other countries.  With Bohême, Deep Forest won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album; the track "Marta's Song" was featured in the Robert Attman film Pret-a-Porter.

"We come back from our travels with a number of pieces or songs," said Michel Sanchez in describing the partners' creative process.  "We both shut ourselves away in our houses, which are 30 km apart, still in northern France, and start to listen to them, sample them and mix them in our respective studios.  Then we meet up to work together to finish off our music.  We are searching for the emotion which will be released at a precise moment from a sample of a voice, a melody or a rhythm and which will spark the rest.  We try to surprise ourselves."

Such is the process which begat Comparsa.  Deep Forest's third album (released February 1998) and yet another international success.  Incorporating sounds from Cuba, Mexico, and Madagascar, the warm and festive Comparsa dispelled any doubts about Deep Forest's continuing mass appeal and provided the springboard for a world tour which brought forth Made in Japan.  

Featuring 12 of Deep Forest's most popular songs, Made in Japan was recorded on July 9th, 1998 at Tokyo's Koseinenkin Hallon, on a very special night for the band.  "From the beginning of the concert," says Eric Mouquet, "we felt that it would be exceptional--that we were all going to give our best."

Unlike their studio records, which are created by Mouquet and Sanchez, Made in Japan finds the two partners leading a versatile nine-piece band.  With three singers, and six instrumentalists, the live album documents the alchemy with which the group creates its singular sound, while displaying the improvisational skills essential to a great live recording.  And while neither Eric or Michel sing on Deep Forest's studio albums, Made in Japan features Mouquet on a vocoder; a microphone connected to a synthesizer which distorts the voice--without which, he says, he would never have sung on stage.

Featuring such highlights as the graceful "Ekue Ekue" and the soaring "Freedom Cry" as well as the beloved hit "Sweet Lullaby," Made in Japan is a showcase for Deep Forest's skill in blending disparate global sounds in wondrous harmony that has become their trademark.  As technology makes the world smaller, Deep Forest's vision of a new world music is primed to reach an even bigger and more receptive audience.

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