Mar 18, 2012

Sundaze 1212

Hello, this week the world once more unites as our bi-annual equinox is coming up, it has been an important date for thousands of years in many different cultures, it was part of their awareness of nature/the Earth. Something we seem to have lost these days despite the availability of great nature documentaries, how often do we celebrate nature ? Our lives on this blue/green speck of iron/dust ? Religion usurped those moments forcing the people to celebrate and worship their idols like the Irish just did, however their St Patrick's primary motives for moving to Ireland were most likely to escape the poisoned chalice of his inherited position as tax collector in Roman Britain.' He didn't come to spread the gospel that came later as a man accustomed to power sought to establish himself. But i digress we humans need a global holiday to express our love of nature, of all life, the equinox would suit that.

As for todays music, as you know I love music in it's many facets and from all parts of the globe, todays artists did their part in bringing some global awareness to us and even if it's not exactly Sundaze all the time, in spirit their ethno-introspective ambient world music brings colour and sunshine and the perfect background music to a contemplative life on the beach..

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Michel Sanchez came up with the idea of mixing the native Baka pygmy spoken word with modern music after hearing on-site recordings of these tribes conversing. Along with Eric Mouquet they created the project Deep Forest. Their first self-titled album (nominated for a Grammy) was released in 1992, with "Sweet Lullaby" being the smash single which would put Deep Forest on the musical map (UK Top 10 hit). The song "Sweet Lullaby" is adapted from a traditional song from the Solomon Islands. The album Deep Forest was dance-driven and the samples were heavily digitised and edited. It was re-released on a limited edition in 1994 as World Mix.

For their second album Boheme, Eric and Michel left behind the sounds of the forest and ventured into Eastern Europe bringing tender, lonesome Hungarian and Gypsy chants with upbeat, yet sad, music. Due to this shift, Dan Lacksman (from Telex, producer and sound-engineer of the first album) decided to go his separate way and continued working on other projects like Pangea. The chants were no longer brief, instead extended phrases had been sampled from Hungarian, and Russian. Hungarian singer Márta Sebestyén and Kate Petrova performed on this album.

The follow-up third album, Comparsa, contained Spanish chants and sounds. The music is often upbeat and celebratory. The last song from the album Media Luna, which was also released as a single, features a duet of Syrian and Spanish singers Abed Azrei and Ana Torroja.The duo collaborated with Joe Zawinul on the song Deep Weather during the recording of the album. Also Jorge Reyes (late Mexican musician), collaborated in this album with percussion, vocals and the flute.

A recording of their live concert in Japan was also released on a CD called Made in Japan. Although all the songs featured in the show are from the previous three albums, they have new often-longer arrangements and all the chants are performed and reinterpreted by live performers. In December 2000, Deep Forest composed a soundtrack for the French film Le Prince du Pacifique. The album, entitled Pacifique, is a return to a more ambient and melancholy sound, with piano themes riding above moody synth textures, Pacific Island chants, scratchy synth-leads and electronic drumming.

Music Detected was the title of their fifth much-anticipated official Deep Forest album which saw the duo turn its attention to the Far East and the Orient for inspiration. It also signalled a change in musical style for Deep Forest, from dance to a more rock-influence. In 2004 the duo composed a soundtrack for the Japanese film Kusa No Ran. A remix of "Sweet Lullaby" was also used for the viral hit "Where the Hell is Matt?"

In 2003 Deep Forest released a compilation album Essence of the Forest, with some remastered tracks. In 2004 Eric Mouquet collaborated with Josh Groban, he composed and produced 2 songs on the album Closer. In 2006 Eric Mouquet and Josh Groban collaborated on the Josh's album Awake. In 2008 Eric Mouquet released the album Deep Brasil, a collaboration with Brazilian artist Flavio Dell Isola

Both Sanchez and Mouquet have worked over a variety of side-projects and solo albums. Sanchez has two solo albums out and produced Wes' successful debut album; while Mouquet created the group Dao Dezi, collaborated with Catherine Lara and arranged Thorgal, he composed and produced songs for Ana Torroja (Mecano), Jean Sebastien Lavoie, and composed and produced songs for Josh Groban. In 2008, while Michel Sanchez decided to run his own career as a singer, Eric Mouquet decided to continue to compose and to keep Deep Forest alive. He is now preparing three albums in the Deep Forest first album style, Deep Brasil (2008), Deep Africa and Deep China. All these albums are grouped under the generic name of Deep Projects.

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The album mixes New Age electronics with UNESCO field recordings of music from Zaire, the Solomon Islands, Burundi, Tibesti and the Sahel. A percentage of the profits from sales of Deep Forest goes to the Pygmy Fund, a California-based organization committed to helping the natives of central Africa cope with environmental threats to their homeland. But for Sanchez and Mouquet, the most important purpose of the record is to express their own fascination with the Pygmies — and open the world's ears to the exquisite sound of a quickly vanishing culture. As Mouquet notes, "It's not very often you can hear a Pygmy singing on the radio." More than 3,000,000 copies of the album have been sold. It became Platinum in the USA, France and New Zealand; Double Platinum in Australia and Greece. 2 years later it got a limited rerelease in a considerably extended version as World mix.


Deep Forest – World Mix (flac 444mb)

01 Deep Forest 5:34
02 Sweet Lullaby 3:54
03 Hunting 3:27
04 Night Bird 4:18
05 The First Twilight 3:18
06 Savana Dance 4:26
07 Desert Walk 5:14
08 White Whisper 5:46
09 The Second Twilight 3:02
10 Sweet Lullaby (Ambient Mix) 3:44
11 Sweet Lullaby (Round The World Mix) 6:48
12 Sweet Deep Forest (Sunrise At Alcatraz) 7:07
13 Deep Forest (Sunrise At Alcatraz) 7:07
14 Forest Hymn (Apollo 440 Mix) 6:46
15 Forest Hymn 5:49

Deep Forest – World Mix (ogg 181mb)

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Boheme is the Grammy Award Winning (for Best World Music Album) second album of the French duo Deep Forest, released in 35 countries. It mainly sampled Eastern European gypsy songs (e.g. the Bohemians, hence the name of the album) with electronic music. Hit singles included "Marta's Song" (featuring Márta Sebestyén) and "Freedom Cry". The album became the duo's most successful one, selling over 4 million copies and receiving a number of Diamond, Platinum and Gold awards in 15 countries.


Deep Forest - Boheme (flac 263mb)

01 Anasthasia 1:48
02 Bohemian Ballet 5:17
03 Gathering 4:39
04 Gathering 4:39
05 Lament 3:09
06 Bulgarian Melody 3:08
07 Deep Folk Song 1:14
08 Freedom Cry 3:19
09 Twosome 4:07
10 Café Europa 4:17
11 Katharina 2:53
12 Boheme 4:36

Deep Forest - Boheme (ogg 100mb)

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The duo's third album, Comparsa, continues the world music potpourri Deep Forest are known for, though there is a pronounced focus on Latin and Caribbean grooves provided by musicians from Cuba, Belize, Mexico, and Madagascar, among other places. Although the nationalities present are truly global, the actual sound of Deep Forest hasn't changed that much, centering mostly on lush new age music with just a bit more of an edge than is usual, plus several tracks with whispered or restrained vocals.


Deep Forest – Comparsa (flac 337mb)

01 Noonday Sun 4:59
02 Green And Blue 4:53
03 Madazulu 3:23
04 1716 1:03
05 Deep Weather 4:54
06 Comparsa 4:58
07 Earthquake (Transition 1) 0:48
08 Tres Marias 4:53
09 Radio Belize 3:58
10 Ekue Ekue 5:20
11 La Lune Se Bat Avec Les Étoiles (Transition 2) 2:27
12 Forest Power 3:47
13 Media Luna 4:32

Deep Forest – Comparsa (137mb)

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Rho! I've been hearing about and seeing Deep Forest's first album for years but I've never heard anything by them and just kept passing it by. Today, though, I'm not letting it go. It's downloading now. Many thanks.

-Brian