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Deep Forest
French electronic music group From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Deep Forest is a French music project that originally began as a duo consisting of Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet,[2] who create a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance or chillout beats. Deep Forest's sound has been described as an "ethno-introspective ambient world music".[3]
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The project's self-titled debut album was nominated in 1994 for the Best World Music Album Grammy, and in 1995, they won the same award for Boheme.[4] Deep Forest's albums have sold over ten million copies. Sanchez left the project in 2005 to focus on a solo career, while Mouquet continued working under the band's original name.[1] As of 2025, the project has released 13 studio albums as well as a number of live records and several soundtracks and compilations.
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History
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In 1992, French musician Michel Sanchez came up with the idea of combining Baka-language spoken words with modern music after hearing onsite recordings of the tribespeople conversing. Along with his compatriot Eric Mouquet, he created the project Deep Forest. According to Mouquet, the name stems from a combination of Deep Purple and "rainforest".[5]
The group's debut, self-titled album was released in 1992, with the single "Sweet Lullaby" reaching the UK Top 10 chart.[citation needed] The track is an adaptation of a traditional song from the Solomon Islands.[6][7][8][9] The album was dance-driven, and the samples were heavily digitised and edited. It was nominated for the Best World Music Album Grammy in 1994[10] and re-released as a limited edition the same year, under the name World Mix.
On their second album, Boheme (1995), Sanchez and Mouquet ventured into Eastern Europe, sampling Hungarian and Romani music, with input from Hungarian singer Márta Sebestyén and the Bulgarian Kate Petrova. The record also includes the track "While the Earth Sleeps", a collaboration with Peter Gabriel that was included on the soundtrack to the film Strange Days, to which Deep Forest also contributed the song "Coral Lounge".[11]
The project's third album, Comparsa (1997), pivots toward Latin American music, with the title referencing carnival comparsas. It includes contributions from Abed Azrie,[citation needed] Ana Torroja, Joe Zawinul, and Jorge Reyes.
In 1999, Deep Forest released their first live album, titled Made in Japan. That year, the duo worked with Algerian singer Cheb Mami and French musician Catherine Lara on the song "L'Enfant Fleur", which was included on the Sol En Si charity album Solidarité Enfants Sida.[12]
In 2000, Deep Forest released their fourth album, Pacifique. This album was composed to support the movie "Le prince du Pacifique" It mixes Pacific and island beats with electronic music.
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. They collaborated with Indonesian pop musician Anggun on the bilingual song Deep Blue Sea which served as the lead single.
In 2003 Deep Forest released a compilation album Essence of the Forest, with some remastered tracks. In 2004 Deep Forest collaborated with Josh Groban, he composed and produced 2 songs on the album Closer. In 2006 Deep Forest collaborated with Josh Groban on the album Awake. In 2008 Deep Forest released the album Deep Brasil, a collaboration with Brazilian artist Flavio Dell Isola. During 2009-2010 Deep Forest went with a new band formula on stage and Deep Forest performed in different countries and continents (China, Africa, the United States, Japan, France...). In 2014 Deep Forest Released the Album "Deep Africa"
In 2013 Sony music India released Deep India, a Deep Forest and Rahul Sharma collaboration.
In 2017, the band collaborated with Ukrainian folk project Onuka on the song "VSESVIT". The track is part of Onuka's second studio album "MOZAїKA"
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Music for films
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In 1994, Deep Forest appeared on the soundtrack for Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter with the song "Martha".
Deep Forest was hired to provide a full original score for the 1995 movie Strange Days[13] and their credit appears on early advertising for the film. In the end, the score was instead composed by Graeme Revell. One cue from Deep Forest's original music remains in the film, titled "Coral Lounge". Deep Forest also teamed with Peter Gabriel to write an original song, "While the Earth Sleeps", for the film's end credits. In addition, two tracks from Deep Forest's album "Boheme" were featured in the film - "Anasthasia" and "Bohemian Ballet. The two new Deep Forest tracks, "Coral Lounge" and "While the Earth Sleeps", were included on the film's soundtrack album. The version of "While the Earth Sleeps" on the album is an edited version. The complete film version was released by Columbia as a CD single in Austria and Japan.
One of Deep Forest's songs, "Night Bird", was used in the 1996 film version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
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.
In 2004 the duo composed a soundtrack for the Japanese film Kusa No Ran. A remix of "Sweet Lullaby" was also used for Matt Harding's viral hit "Where the Hell is Matt?"
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Side projects
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.
Live performances
Deep Forest had their first live concert in 1996 at the G7 Summit in Lyon, France. They continued from there on to the Deep Forest '96 world tour. During the 1996 tour, Deep Forest performed a number of shows in France, Hungary, Greece, Australia, Japan, Poland and US. After the completion of Comparsa there was a '98 world tour. Since '98 there have been numerous live performances, including the Image Concerts, which took place in Japan. The concerts were based around the 'Image' album (similar to Pure Moods) and featured a number of famous Japanese artists, also including Deep Forest.
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Donations
A percentage of proceeds from Deep Forest's debut album sales went to the Pygmy Fund, set up to aid the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Efe pygmies in the transition from nomadic to agrarian subsistence, and to provide appropriate health care. However, music of the Efe people was not included on the record, and so the musicians sampled on the record would not have benefited.[14] A portion of the proceeds from 'Boheme' go to the György Martin Foundation, which aids in protecting the Roma culture of Hungary. Deep Forest also actively supports the Sana Madagascar Association starting with 'Comparsa'. "The aim of the Sana Madagascar Association is to contribute protecting the environment, to collect instruments and precious recordings in order to allow the Malagasy man to save his culture, his nature and his traditional music."[15]
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Controversy
The song "Freedom Cry" from the album Boheme caused controversy when it was revealed that the Hungarian Roma singer, Károly Rostás ("Huttyán"), never received any monetary compensation from the song, and neither did his family after he died in 1986. His singing, archived by Claude Flagel, was sampled by Deep Forest. Flagel allegedly paid Huttyán 1,500 Ft (about US$30 in 1986) for the recording. The case was later documented in a movie entitled Huttyán, released in 1996.[16] The relatives did succeed to some extent in getting compensation from Deep Forest.[17]
Deep Forest's signature song "Sweet Lullaby" centres on an uncredited recording of ancestral Baegu lullaby "Rorogwela", from Malaita, sung by a woman named Afunakwa, and recorded by ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp. The recording was used without authorization from Afunakwa, Zemp, label UNESCO discs or distributor Auvidis, although Zemp had earlier reluctantly given oral permission for an unrelated recording to be used.[18] The Deep Forest project has since become a cause celèbre as an example of primitivist caricature and cultural appropriation.[19][20][21]
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Influences
Mouquet was influenced by his interests in house and techno music.[3]
Awards
Nominations in France and the US
- 1993: MTV Awards Best Video - "Sweet Lullaby"
- 1993: Victoires de la Musique Best Album - World Music
- 1993: Victoires de la Musique Best Group of the Year
- 1995: World Music Awards Winner - French group with the highest 1995 world sales
- 1995: Grammy Awards Winner - Best Album - World Music
- 1996: Victoires de la Musique - Best Group of the Year
- 1996: Victoires de la Musique - Best Album - World Music
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Discography
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Albums
Singles
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Other releases
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See also
References
External links
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