For a long time lyrical singing hit her vocal and sensitive chords. Especially because of her father’s love for the opera, whose intoxicating fragrances at home were mixed with the more discreet perfume of Brassens or Mouloudji. At age 15, she began studious singing lessons, which led her to the Parisian 7th district conservatory, and then to Enghien where she sculpted her deep voice into grave soprano.
In came theatre mixing it all up - even if it was at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre where she studied with Patrice Chéreau that she met a teacher who specialised in Baroque singing, Beatrice Val, and who still today remains her singing mentor. Her devouring work as an actress, film writer and director took her further and further away from singing repertoire arias. She continued to sing however, for her own pleasure and sometimes in public with the Ensemble Canto Allegre and Lamoureux Orchestra. But Agnes Jaoui never gave up singing entirely, she was simply waiting for the right time, or a revelation – and it came in stages.
Pedro Almodovar’s films and his very opportune way of using popular Latino songs were an appealing sign to her. Already among the variety and diversity of her personal collection of music, her attraction for the Latino rhythms and melodies became irrepressible. A trip to Cuba 9 years ago, long before the success of the Buena Vista Social Club convinced her that this way of singing, passionate and euphorically, yet intimate and flamboyant was custom made to fit her. That is where she began, slowly but surely, tracing her musical chart across the continents and oceans of music that she discovered along the way: Son, bolero, bossa, fado, flamenco, Cuba, Brazil, Portugal, and Andalusia…. Agnes Jaoui can name that tune, and all you need to do is listen to her album to be immediately convinced.
« Canta » comes from a show « Historias de amor » that Agnes discreetly toured in some French towns during the spring of 2005 as a series of low-key concerts initiated by the producer, Olivier Gluzman. The concerts were a natural continuation of Agnes singing with her Cuban, Bolivian, and Argentinean friends. This touring experience brought a multitude of simple pleasures and it would have been a shame not to create something from it, as if to prolong the moment, and, just as her confidence on stage, she let the idea of an album mature. This CD is a logical continuation of her career as according to her, “the rhythm and perfect tone are already major components for acting, writing screenplays and directing.” Listening to her today, it’s as if Agnes Jaoui has sung like this forever. She is not using acting skills as she glides into the skin of a fado passionaria, a carioca or a cubanita – beautifully enthroned by her two idols: Brazilian, Maria Bethania and Portuguese, Misia, who both accepted to sing with her on Samba em preludio and Fado de retorno, two breath-takers.
« Canta » is mostly the result of many crossed encounters with Agnes in the middle – and while listening it becomes obvious that her goal was not to constantly be at the forefront. She shares the microphone with Marcos Arieta, a Peruvian friend with a beautiful scratchy voice and composer of two original songs on the album. The Spanish group from Elbicho who saved flamenco from arthritis by whipping up its blood, and who made Agnes stop dead in her tracks when she saw them in concert in Valencia, and, two other people who have been with her from the beginning as she turned towards singing, the guitarists, Roberto Gonzalez Hurtado and Dimas Martinez Dubost, all perform on the album.
The latter was in charge of most of the delicate and temperate arrangements on the album, and takes credit for the overwhelming 'Milonga del navigante' where Agnes acts out a gipsy with Samarabalouf, a gipsy band from Toulouse, thus unveiling other parcels of her secret musical garden. And finally, in order to bring some order to all of this musical frenetic joy, and canalise the enthusiasm, an experienced outside vision was needed to give some cohesion to the album. Joining the Tôt ou Tard stables, Agnes was introduced to the ideal person for this type of challenge: Vincent Segal, cellist for M and Bumcello, and Jeanne Cherhal’s producer, whose talents for enlightener no longer need proving. The result speaks for itself: twelve vibrant and lively love songs who make you want to invent a new adjective just for them: rejaouiful!
História de un Amor
Agnès Jaoui Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
En el alma solo tengo soledad
Y si ya no te puede verte
Porque Dios me hizo quererte
Para siempre sufrir más
Siempre fuiste la razón de mi existir
Adorarte para mí fue religión
El calor que me brindaba
El amor y la pasión
Es la historia de un amor
Como no hay otro igual
Que me hizo comprender
Todo el bien, todo el mal
Que me dio luz a mi vida
Apagándola después
Ay, qué vida tan oscura
Sin tu amor no viviré
Siempre fuiste la razón de mi existir
Adorarte para mí fue religión
Y en tus besos yo encontraba
El calor que me brindaba
El amor y la pasión
Es la historia de un amor
Como no hay otro igual
Que me hizo comprender
Todo el bien, todo el mal
Que le dio luz a mi vida
Apagándola después
Ay, qué vida tan oscura
Ay, qué vida tan oscura
Sin tu amor no viviré
Sin tu amor no viviré
The song Historia de un Amor, which translates to "A Love Story," is a beautiful and heart-wrenching ballad about the pain of lost love. The singer laments the fact that their lover is no longer by their side and that they are left with nothing but loneliness in their heart. They speak of feeling unable to see their lover anymore, and wonder why God would make them love someone if it only leads to more suffering.
The singer talks about how their lover was the reason for their existence and that loving them was like a religion to them. They found warmth and passion in their lover's kisses, and their love was like no other. The singer reflects on the fact that their love gave them both good and bad experiences but ultimately it brought light to their life, only to leave them in darkness once again.
The song emphasizes the powerful hold that love can have on a person's life, and how the loss of that love can leave a person feeling empty and without purpose. The lyrics are emotive, expressing the depth of the singer's pain and longing for their lost love.
Line by Line Meaning
Ya no estás más a mi lado, corazón
You are no longer by my side, my dear, and my heart is now filled with loneliness.
En el alma solo tengo soledad
My soul is consumed with nothing but solitude.
Y si ya no te puede verte
And if I can no longer see you
Porque Dios me hizo quererte
It's because God made me love you
Para siempre sufrir más
Only to make me suffer for eternity.
Siempre fuiste la razón de mi existir
You were always the reason for my existence.
Adorarte para mí fue religión
Loving and adoring you was my religion.
Y en tus besos yo encontraba
In your kisses, I found
El calor que me brindaba
The warmth that sustains me
El amor y la pasión
Love and passion.
Es la historia de un amor
This is the story of a love
Como no hay otro igual
Like no other
Que me hizo comprender
That made me understand
Todo el bien, todo el mal
All the good and bad things in life.
Que me dio luz a mi vida
You brought light to my life
Apagándola después
Only to extinguish it later on.
Ay, qué vida tan oscura
Oh, what a dark life
Sin tu amor no viviré
I cannot live without your love.
Writer(s): Carlos Eleta Almaran
Contributed by Scarlett F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.