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Biography
Other usesRefimprove|date=June 2008Infobox musical artist | name = Deep Forest| image = Deep Forest logo.svg | caption = Logo of Deep Forest,| image_size =| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = France | genre = Electronic music|Electronic New Age music|New Age Ambient music|Ambient World music Ethnic electronica | years_active = 1992–present| label =| associated_acts =| website = http://www.deep-forest.fr http://www.deep-forest.fr| current_members = Eric Mouquet (1992 - )| past_members = Michel Sanchez (1992 - 2005)| notable_instruments = Deep Forest is a musical group consisting of two French people|French musicians, Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet . They compose a style of world music , sometimes called ethnic electronica , mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and electronic dance music|dance beats or chillout music|chillout beats . Their sound has been described as an "ethno-introspective ambient world music." http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/deep-forest-biography Deep Forest Biography: Contemporary Musicians They were nominated for a Grammy Award in 1994 for Grammy Award for Best World Music Album|Best World Music Album , http://articles.philly.com/1994-01-07/living/25824842_1_donald-fagen-s-kamakiriad-award-nominations-song-of-the-year-category/8 Grammy Bids Nominations Predictably Conservative and in 1995 they won the Award for the album Boheme . The group also became World Music Awards Winner - French group with the highest 1995 world sales. Their albums have sold over 10 million copies.
History
Michel Sanchez came up with the idea of mixing the native Baka (Cameroon and Gabon)|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 as a limited edition in 1994 under the name 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 folk music|Hungarian and Gypsy chants with upbeat, yet sad, music. Due to this shift, Dan Lacksman (from Telex (band)|Telex , producer and sound-engineer of the first album) decided to go his separate way and continued working on other projects like Pangea Recordings|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 duo also performed and produced the remixes for the Youssou N'Dour single "Undecided" in 1994, with guest vocals by Neneh Cherry (who featured on n'Dour's break-through single "Seven Seconds"). That same year Deep Forest made remixes for Jon Anderson 's "Deseo", Apollo 440 's "Liquid Cool" and Cesária Évora 's "My Fatigue is Endless". In 1996 Deep Forest collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the song "While the Earth Sleeps" which was written for the film Strange Days (film)|Strange Days .
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 1999 Deep Forest worked with Cheb Mami and Catherine Lara on the song "L'Enfant Fleur" which had been composed for Sol En Si (a French charity which helps HIV families).
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.
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. During 2009, 2010 Eric Mouquet went with a new band formula on stage, and Deep Forest performed in different countries and continents,(China, Africa, USA, Japan, France...)
Music for films
In 1994, Deep Forest appeared on the soundtrack for Robert Altman 's Ready to Wear|Pręt-ŕ-Porter with the song "Martha".
Deep Forest has two tracks on the soundtrack for the 1995 movie Strange Days (film)|Strange Days : "Coral Lounge" and " While the Earth Sleeps " (featuring Peter Gabriel ).
One of Deep Forest songs, "Night Bird", was used in the 1996 film version of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)|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 the viral hit "Where the Hell is Matt? "
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. Mouquet is now preparing three albums in the Deep Forest first album style, Deep Brasil, Deep Africa and Deep China. All these albums are grouped under the generic name of Deep Projects.
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. The 'Image' concerts 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.
Controversy
Deep Forest received widespread criticism after their single ‘Sweet Lullaby’ used vocals from UNESCO Musical Sources collection. The vocals, a lullaby named “Rorogwela” sung by Afunakwa, a Northern Malaita woman, were recorded by the ethnomusicology|ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp . Deep Forest’s subsequent claim that the track had UNESCO's approval was found to be a lie. http://publicculture.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/12/1/145.pdf
Legal successors of a Hungarian Gypsy performer, Károly Rostás, claimed some financial compensation for the song "Freedom Cry" performed on the Boheme (album) . Hungarian director András Salamon shot a documentary about their trip to Paris (Huttyán) in 1996. The Relatives of Károly Rostás did succeed to some extent to get money from Deep Forest.Hungarian newspaper articles: http://www.folkradio.hu/hirek/hir_show.php? id=1751 1, http://www.szabadfold.hu/cikk? 6152 2
Donations
A percentage of proceeds from Deep Forest's debut album sales went to the Pygmy Fund, set up to aid Zaire's pygmies in the transition from nomadic to agrarian subsistence, and to provide appropriate health care. A portion of the proceeds from 'Boheme' go to the György Martin Foundation, which aids in protecting the Romani people|Roma (Gypsy) 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." http://deepforestmusic.com/faq01.htm#df_name Deepforestmusic.comDead link|date=March 2011
Influences
Mouquet was influenced by his interests in house and techno music.
Awards
Nominations in France and the US
1993: Grammy Awards Best Album - World Music
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
Discography
Albums
1992 & ndash; Deep Forest (Deep Forest album)|Deep Forest (over 3 million album sales)
1994 & ndash; World Mix (album)|World Mix (re-release of 1992 album)
1995 & ndash; Boheme (album)|Boheme (over 4 million album sales)
1997 & ndash; Comparsa (album)|Comparsa (over 1 million album sales)
1999 & ndash; Made in Japan (Deep Forest album)|Made in Japan (live album, 150 000 copies sold)
2002 & ndash; Music Detected (album)|Music Detected
2003 & ndash; Essence of Deep Forest (best of, released only in Japan)
2004 & ndash; Essence of the Forest (best of, three different editions)
2004 & ndash; Kusa no Ran (soundtrack album, released only in Japan)
2008 & ndash; Deep Brasil (album)
Singles
1992 & ndash; "Deep Forest" / UK Singles Chart|UK #20 cite book
| first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 147
1992 & ndash; " Sweet Lullaby " /UK #10, U.S. #78 - over 1 million copies sold
1992 & ndash; "White Whisper"
1993 & ndash; "Forest Hymn"
1994 & ndash; "Savana Dance" / UK #28
1994 & ndash; "Undecided" (collaboration with Youssou N'dour )
1995 & ndash; "Boheme"
1995 & ndash; "Boheme" (the remixes)
1995 & ndash; "Marta's Song" / UK #26 (collaboration with Márta Sebestyén )
1995 & ndash; "Marta's Song" (the remixes)
1996 & ndash; "While the Earth Sleeps" (collaboration with Peter Gabriel )
Category:New Age musicians Category:World music groups Category:Electronic music Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musical groups established in 1992
