What do you think when some people call you "ethno-musicologists" to describe your work?
Michel: The word is not very appropriate because musicologists do not like us (laughing).
Eric: To us, traditional music is only material. It is the base material that helps us build other things, which help us find new sound textures.

How do describe the evolution of your music throughout your three albums?
E: We developed our own style, trying not to repeat things. Many groups have engulfed themselves in the breach we opened in the early 90's. We don't want to always be producing the same music. Our first album explored the African continent. The second one, "Bohème" was more romantic and nostalgic, focusing on Eastern Europe songs, whereas the third "Comparsa", was more festive. Inspired from Central America and the Caribbean, it corresponded to a will to work with musicians, which is a quite obvious musical evolution.

In what circumstances did you record "Made in Japan"?
E: The recording took place last year, during our tour in Japan, with 9 musicians joining us on the stage. We have recorded several concerts but the one on July 98 was simply the greatest. Something magical was happening on the stage. It's been a long time now that we wanted to drop a live album. On stage, tracks tend to take other shapes, there is an outstanding energy, and that is what made the project interesting. To us, this album sums up everything that happened during our world tour.

Do you think that the confrontation of your music with the public is something important?
M: It's part of our job. At the very beginning, we were confined in our studio and the desire to play live became greater and greater. On stage, we don't want the things to be as fixed and determined as in the studio. We wanted to play the music differently, to surprise the public since everything is possible live!
E: I have always enjoyed live albums like those of Deep Purple (note: also titled "Made in Japan) or Yes.
M: On stage, we often mix the voices of three singers with some samples that we manually trigger. This allows us more flexibility in the rhythm and a longer improvisation. When playing live, we behave like a real group. We try to give a human touch to all that technology that we use, so as not to be overtaken by machines.

What do you think about the expression often used about Deep Forest and its international career: "A prophet has no honor in his own country"?
M: That was true in the beginning, we chose to stand back and not proclaim ourselves artists.
E: Today, people have a better comprehension of conceptual duos in the electronic music, such as Daft Punk, Air or the Chemical Brothers.
M: We try not to ask ourselves too many questions. We make the music we like. It is a real pleasure to spend time in our studio in order to realize projects we are enthusiastic about. We always keep a kind of respect toward the samples we use, because they belong to traditional artists who, to some extent, are also part of Deep Forest. It took us a long time to figure out how we would deal with samples. Our method has made its way into the Trip-hop world since then. People don't hesitate to use samples any more. This technique is now part of the art, which makes us feel more comfortable when using that kind of material.




thanks to C-Real for providing us a copy of this interview