Long-time collaborators include trumpeter Mark Isham; guitarist Lone Kent; cellist and singer Caroline Lavelle; trumpeter Christian Lechevretel, who has appeared on all of Zazou's albums after Sahara Blue; clarinetist and flutist Renaud Pion, who has appeared on all of Zazou's albums since Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses; drummer Bill Rieflin; and Japanese recording artist Ryuichi Sakamoto.
His discography demonstrates his affinity for cross-cultural collaborations, and incorporating modern techniques and sounds in re-recordings of traditional material. He was influenced by Peter Gabriel's album Passion in his fusion of musical polarities (traditional and modern, electronic and acoustic) on his own album Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses.
Zazou regards his work during the 1980s as his time of apprenticeship in the studio. On his 1986 album, Reivax au Bongo, he experimented with fusing classical vocals with an electronic backdrop. On his 1989 album, Géologies, he combined electronic music with a string quartet.
The albums that he has released under his own name from the 1990s onwards are usually concept albums that draw from literary or folk sources and revolve around a specific theme. The collection of songs on each album assemble contributions from a diverse and global range of pop, folk, world music, avant-garde, and classical recording acts.
Zazou's 1992 offering, Sahara Blue, was based on an idea by Jacques Pasquier. Pasquier suggested Zazou commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of author Arthur Rimbaud by setting music to Rimbaud's poetry. Contributions included spoken word from Gérard Depardieu, and music by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerard of Dead Can Dance, Tim Simenon, and David Sylvian. He even adapted a traditional Ethiopian song.
In 1994, he released the album Chansons des mers froides (called "Songs from the Cold Seas" for the anglophone market). The album was based on ocean-themed traditional folk songs from northern countries, such as Canada, Finland, Iceland, and Japan. It featured vocals by pop and rock artists such as Björk, Suzanne Vega, John Cale, Värttina, Jane Siberry, and Siouxsie Sioux in addition to recordings of shamanic incantations and lullabies from Ainu, Nanai, Inuit, and Yakut singers. Musicians included Mark Isham, Brendan Perry, and the Balanescu Quartet. A cameraman accompanied Zazou on the project and they shot and recorded in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Japan, Scandinavia, and Siberia. The single "The Long Voyage" was the only song to be an original composition from Zazou. He wrote it in gratitude to his record company Sony who gave him complete artistic liberty.
His 1998 album, Lights in the Dark, showcased ancient Celtic music sung by Irish singers.
Zazou's collaborative 2000 album 12 (Las Vegas is Cursed) with Sandy Dillon was regarded as a financial and critical failure. In the book "Sonora Portraits 2", which accompanies the CD Strong Currents, Zazou says that 12 (Las Vegas is Cursed) was his most elaborate album. He describes it as a work of black humour and regards his instrumental composition "Sombre" on the album as one of his best songs ever.
Strong Currents was released in 2003 and featured an all-female vocal cast which included Laurie Anderson, Melanie Gabriel, Lori Carson, Lisa Germano, Irene Grandi, Jane Birkin, and Caroline Lavelle. Musicians included Ryuichi Sakamoto and Archaea Strings. The album took six years to complete.
In 2004 Zazou released a companion CD of sorts, L'absence, which included instrumentals, many of the same female vocalists that were featured on Strong Currents, and one male vocalist, French singer Edo.
Zazou has recently been a member of the musical collective named Slow Music. The line-up also included Robert Fripp and Peter Buck on guitars, Fred Chalenor on bass, Matt Chamberlain on drums, and Bill Rieflin on keyboards and percussion. He contributed electronics to the group's music, and much of his recent work, including a soundtrack for Carl Théodor Dreyer's silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc and the multimedia collaboration released as a CD in 2006, Quadri+Chromies, has focused on electronic sounds produced on computers.
A number of recent projects are documented on the Music Operator interactive multimedia web site (www.musicoperator.com), which graphically documents his recent collaborations while in the background his recent music plays. In january 2008 Hector Zazou released his newest album, Corps électriques, featuring "one of the original riot grrrls" KatieJane Garside, Bill Rieflin, Lone Kent and fusion jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær.
Hector Zazou died on the 8th of September 2008 at the age of 60 in a hospital in Paris after serious illness.
Caoineadh Na Dtrí Muire
Hector Zazou Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A Pheadair, a Aspail, an bhfaca tú mo Ghrá geal?
Ochón is ochón ó!
Do chonaic mé ar ball é i lár a namhad Ochón is ochón ó!
2.
Cé hé an fear breá sin ar Chrann na Páise?
Ochón is ochón ó!
An é nach n-aithnír tu do Mhac, a Mháthair?
An é sin an Maicín a d'iompair mé trí ráithe?
Ochón agus ochón ó!
Nó ‘n é sin an Maicín a rugadh sa stábla?
Ochón is ochón ó!
3 Nó an é sin an Maicín a hoileadh in ucht Mháire?
Ochón is ochón ó!
Nó ‘n í sin an tsleá a chuaigh trí Do lár geal Ochón is ochón ó!
4 Éist a Mháthair is ná bí cráite Ochone is ochone o!" "
Iompruiodh gach einne a chrosa, a Mhaithrin." "
Ochone is ochone o!" Tá mná mo chaointe le breith fós, a Mháithrín.
the women who will mourn for me have yet to be born.' ...
1.
O Peter, apostle, have you seen my love so bright? "
Alas and woe to me" I saw him in
the midst of his enemies a while ago. "
Alas and woe to me"
2 Who is that fine man upon the passion tree?
Alas and woe to me!
It is your son, O Mother, don't you recognize me?
Alas and woe to me!
3 That was born in a stable when no one would give us room?
Alas and woe to me!
Or is that the wee Son that was nourished at Mary's breast?
Alas and woe to me!
Or is that the spear that pierced Your pure heart through?
Alas and woe to me!
Listen, mother, and do not be sorrowful.
Alas and woe to me!
Little mother, we each must carry our own cross.
Alas and woe to me!
the women who will mourn for me me have yet to be born.'
The song is best understood as a conversation between a number of
participants including Peter, Jesus,
the Blessed Virgin, and the Roman soldiers.
This device advances the story with the greatest possible economy,
allowing us to focus on the emotional intensity of each moment,
from the viciousness of the soldiers to the disbelief and distress of
Mary and finally to the quiet stoicism of
Jesus, offering comfort to his distraught mother.
The first stanza of the song laments the loss of a loved one, who has been seen in the midst of their enemies by Peter. The second stanza is a conversation between Jesus and Mary, where Mary fails to recognize her son on the cross. She is then presented with a series of possibilities as to who the man on the cross could be, including Jesus himself, the son that was born in the stable, or the spear that pierced his heart. Jesus then offers words of comfort to his mother. The final stanza speaks to the idea that everyone has their own cross to bear, and that sorrow must be borne with quiet stoicism.
Line by Line Meaning
O Peter, apostle, have you seen my love so bright?
The singer is asking Peter if he has seen their beloved who is very bright.
I saw him in the midst of his enemies a while ago.
The singer saw their beloved in the midst of their enemies a while ago.
Who is that fine man upon the passion tree?
The singer is asking who the man on the passion tree is.
It is your son, O Mother, don't you recognize me?
The man on the passion tree is Jesus, who is Mary's son, and he is asking if she recognizes him.
That was born in a stable when no one would give us room?
The artist is asking if the man born in a stable when no one would give them room is Jesus.
Or is that the wee Son that was nourished at Mary's breast?
The singer is asking if the man on the passion tree is the little Son that was nourished at Mary's breast.
Or is that the spear that pierced Your pure heart through?
The singer is asking if the object that went through Mary's pure heart is the spear.
Listen, mother, and do not be sorrowful.
Jesus tells Mary to listen and not be sorrowful.
Little mother, we each must carry our own cross.
Jesus tells Mary that they each have to carry their own cross.
The women who will mourn for me have yet to be born.
Jesus says that the women who will mourn for him have not been born yet.
Contributed by John Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@michaelziegler21
Thoroughly unique production . . . I can’t help but listen again ❤️