Lefel's mother was from French Guiana and her father from the island of Martinique. She moved with her parents to Martinique when she was three. It was there that she was exposed to the rich musical traditions of the Caribbean. During the 1970s, when Lefel was growing up, creative young artists with Haitian bands were just beginning to create the zouk sound. Groups such as Les Frères Déjean, Le Ska Shah Number One and Tabou Combo drew on a combination of traditional African, Caribbean and European rhythms, including belair, biguine and mazurka, to produce their unique music which became another global phenomenon in the decades following the death of Bob Marley.
In her 14th year, Lefel and her mother left for France, settling in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. There she continued her studies in law, occasionally singing with her brother's folk rock group, and, in 1984, launched her career as a professional singer. The turning point in her career came when she met the Maffia band leader Jean-Michel Cambrimol. He invited her to accompany the band on a tour of the French Antilles, and recorded the hit single "My doudou" with her. Lefel's success on that tour led to more offers, including one from Jean-Luc Lazair of Lazair, with whom she recorded the single "Ich Maman". In 1987, she accepted an offer from the famous Martinican group Malavoi, appearing as a chorus singer on their album La case à Lucie. She earned her nickname "la sirène" by singing a song of that title on Malavoi's 1993 album Matebis. During the same period she met the arranger and producer Ronald Rubinel, whom she later married and with whom she had twin sons.
The year after Lefel first appeared with Malavoi she recorded her first solo album, La klé (The Key), which won the Prix de la SACEM for its producer, Georges Debs, in 1988. The album included a duet between Lefel and "Latin Crooner" Ralph Thamar - one of many collaborations Lefel recorded during her career with famous musicians, including Gilles Voyer, Dominique Zorobabel, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Sylviane Cédia and Mario Canonge. She explained to an interviewer for the RFI Musique website that when she hosted a house party she invited the people she loved the most, and she felt there was no reason why a recording session should be any different.
By 1992, Lefel had become well-known throughout the Caribbean and her reputation had spread to Mozambique. In that year she released her second album,Mèci (Thanks), which was honored with the Sacem trophy for the best female singer of the year. Mèci broke records for Afro-Caribbean independent artists, selling in excess of 40,000 units. Her third album Rendez-vous, released in 1996, continued to build her reputation as one of the leading female interpreters of Afro-Caribbean genres.
But that same year Lefel took her career in quite a different direction, with a live recording made at the famed Olympia theater in Paris. In Edith Lefel a l'Olympia, the artist expanded her repertoire to include French and English language material, including some of the Parisian street songs that had been popularized by Edith Piaf. She explained that her parents had listened to Piaf when she was young (along with other classic French-language chanteurs like Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour), and that she had often imitated Piaf at home for their entertainment. On the evening of the Olympia concert, May 11, 1996, Lefel impressed the audience with her immense talent, supported by her friends Ralph Thamar and Jean-Luc Alger, and her husband and children.
A very attractive woman whose likeness graced the covers of many prominent French magazines, Lefel died at the height of her powers and popularity[1] in January 2003, at only age 39. She died in her sleep. Autopsy results revealed a combination of smoking and birth control pills as the cause of her death. Edith Lefel is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Contents
[hide] 1 Discography 1.1 Albums
2 References
3 External links
Illusions perdues
Edith Lefel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Qui s'écoulait comme une ancienne chanson
Qu'un jour fredonne tous les amants
Qui n'ont plus l'air, ni même plus le son d'avant
Tu m'as blessée mais, qans le faire exprès
Et sans savoir, que plus jamais
Plus d'autres mains, ne feront briller
Ce que j'ai, de plus sacré au fonds de moi
Ce qui se dit la nuit
Ne voit jamais le jour
A quoi bon se mentir, toujours
Ce qui se dit la nuit
Ne voit jamais le jour
Illusion perdues pour toujours
Tu le sauras bien, un jour prochain
La mort n'éteint jamais un bel amour
Mais quand la vie, sourit un peu
A coups de pioches, fautes de mieux
Merci et tant pis
{au Refrain}
On n'est souvent jamais au bon moment
Au bon endroit pendant longtemps
On est toujours, forcément là
Le jour où l'amour n'y est pas
C'est comme ça, mais pourquoi?
Refrain {x3}
The lyrics to Edith Lefel's song Illusions perdues, which translates to "Lost Illusions" in English, describe a broken heart that has been drained of all its emotions and feelings, leaving behind an empty shell of a person. The singer's heart has been depleted, drained of all its blood, which has been flowing out of her like an "ancient song." She equates this to the feeling that all lovers experience when they have lost that initial spark and connection that once existed between them. The singer acknowledges that the person who hurt her did not do so intentionally and probably doesn't even realize the harm they caused. Nevertheless, she laments that she can never love again in the same way, as her heart's most treasured aspects have been taken away from her.
The lyrics also speak to the idea that what people say in the darkness of night will never see the light of day. In other words, the things said in secret will remain a secret. The singer reflects that lost illusions, once they are gone, are gone forever. She also alludes to the fact that love does not necessarily die when the loved one passes away, but instead continues to live on. The final verse acknowledges that sometimes, love just doesn't work out, and there's no explanation for it. However, the singer accepts this fact and moves on, thanking and letting go of her past love.
Line by Line Meaning
Tu as épuisé mon coeur jusqu'au sang
You exhausted my heart until it bled out like an old song that lovers once sang, now devoid of its former sound and allure
Qu'un jour fredonne tous les amants
A song that lovers once sang
Qui n'ont plus l'air, ni même plus le son d'avant
A song that has lost its essence and allure over time
Tu m'as blessée mais, qans le faire exprès
You hurt me unintentionally
Et sans savoir, que plus jamais
And without realizing that never again
Plus d'autres mains, ne feront briller
Will any other hands make shine
Ce que j'ai, de plus sacré au fonds de moi
That which is most sacred to me deep down
Ce qui se dit la nuit
What is said at night
Ne voit jamais le jour
Never sees the light of day
A quoi bon se mentir, toujours
What's the point of always lying to ourselves
Illusion perdues pour toujours
Lost illusions forever
Tu le sauras bien, un jour prochain
You will know this soon enough
La mort n'éteint jamais un bel amour
Death never extinguishes a beautiful love
Mais quand la vie, sourit un peu
But when life smiles a little
A coups de pioches, fautes de mieux
With a few thrusts, lacking in alternatives
Merci et tant pis
Thank you and too bad
On n'est souvent jamais au bon moment
We are often never in the right moment
Au bon endroit pendant longtemps
Or in the right place for a long time
On est toujours, forcément là
We are always necessarily there
Le jour où l'amour n'y est pas
On the day when love is absent
C'est comme ça, mais pourquoi?
That's just the way it is, but why?
Refrain {x3}
Chorus repeated 3 times
Contributed by Miles Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.