Enlisting Snowden, Jarre brings politics back to electronica

One of the pioneers of electronic music, Jean-Michel Jarre has roused crowds through some of history's biggest concerts. Yet at the root of the genre, he says, lies a political dimension.

For his latest album, Jarre has enlisted major names in music including Cyndi Lauper and Pet Shop Boys but also a more unlikely guest artist -- Edward Snowden, the former US intelligence contractor turned privacy activist.

The French artist traveled to Moscow, where Snowden lives in exile to avoid prosecution in the United States for leaking documents, and recorded with him the song "Exit" which appears on Jarre's new album, "Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise."

"Exit" is driven by a frantic and ominous techno beat before breaking to unaccompanied spoken word by Snowden, who speaks of technology's pernicious effect on privacy.

Jarre described Snowden as a patriot defending US values and said he had a strong interest, if not a background, in electronic music.

"He is for me what the soul of a soldier is," Jarre told AFP on a visit to New York.

In an era of right-wing populists such as Donald Trump in the United States and Marine Le Pen in France, Jarre voiced hope that Snowden instead "could be a very powerful reference for the youth" who reject the political order.

Jarre, a professed admirer of the United States, said Snowden's willingness to take personal risks had reminded him of his own mother, who joined the resistance against Nazi German occupation of France in 1941.

"In those days, people don't want to remember this, but a majority of people were against the resistance. They were considering them troublemakers or even traitors," he said.

- Electronica started as rebellion -

Jarre's 1976 album "Oxygene" ushered in a new mainstream acceptance of electronic music. He has put on several of the biggest concerts ever, including a 1997 show for Moscow's 850th anniversary that drew 3.5 million people and included a message from cosmonauts in space.

Electronic dance music, or EDM, is now a top pull for partying youth the world over, but Jarre, 67, said that initially it had an element of rebellion.

"There is the hedonist part of electronic music, linked to the dance floor and having fun and all this. It is also linked, like all big art and musical forms, to politics," Jarre said.

"When I started electronic music it was during the student revolution in Europe when we were rebelling against the establishment. 

"And in music, electronic music was for me a rebellion against the establishment of classical music -- and even the rock 'n roll establishment because it was already an established style," he said.

His latest album is a companion to "Electronica 1: The Time Machine" last year, in which Jarre returned after an eight-year recording absence to chart the history of the genre through collaborations with artists whom he sees as pivotal.

Jarre also sees the project as reflecting on the era's "ambiguous relationship with technology." While Snowden is the most obvious example, tracks on the latest album include "Swipe to the Right" with Lauper, who delves into the world of smartphone dating sites such as Tinder.

"You know my appetite / With just a moment of a swipe / To the right," the 1980s pop star sings in her sweeping voice over a dance beat.

- New ground in live show -

Jarre said he was especially eager to work with Pet Shop Boys for the duo's influence and signature sound. 
"They have the happy, dynamic club feel with a dark melancholic texture. You hear 15 seconds of the Pet Shop Boys and the vocals and you know it's them and no one else," he said.

The resulting track is "Brick England," in which Neil Tennant sings of the dreary London landscape.

Other collaborators on the second "Electronica" album include the sexually provocative Canadian artist Peaches, prolific film composer Hans Zimmer and dark New Wave singer Gary Numan.

The first volume featured electronic greats such as Tangerine Dream, Moby and Massive Attack but also less obvious choices such as Pete Townshend of The Who, classical pianist Lang Lang and experimental artist Laurie Anderson.

Jarre said he would have happily pursued more "Electronica" albums but instead is focused on a world tour that starts in June.

Jarre said he planned a 3D show -- without glasses. He said he would offer "depth" rather than just playing a series of videos.

He said the visuals would allow each person to "build their own film from what they feel."

"These days lots of the EDM production reminds me of what I was doing 30 years ago -- the same lights and laser things. Now I want, with the technology we have, to propose something else."

Source: AFP