Malavoi was a Martinican band consisting of Mano Césaire, Jean-Paul Soïme, … Read Full Bio ↴Malavoi was a Martinican band consisting of Mano Césaire, Jean-Paul Soïme, Christian de Negri, Denis Dantin and Marcel Rémion. They formed in 1972, naming themselves after a kind of sugarcane and a street on Gorée, a Senegalese island. Many of the members were part of the Merry Lads, a band from the Lycée Schoelcher, and many had been students at Colette Franz, a music school.

Malavoi's style mixes French Antillean music with modern influences from across the Americas, especially Caribbean and Brazilian music, as well as jazz. Their early popular singles included "Albé" and "En lè mon là". The band was soon expanded to include saxophonist Bib Monville and pianist Paulo Rosine. The singers alternated and included Raymond Mazarin, Pierre Jabert, Maurice Marie-Louise, Pierre Pastel and Julien Constance.

Malavoi's first album was Malavoi, released in 1978 and featuring singer Ralph Thamar. The band broke up soon after, however, and didn't perform again until re-uniting under Rosine's leadership in 1981. Rosine greatly expanded the fiddle section, first to ten performers, then down to four with Philippe Porry taking over for Dantin, and also added Jean-José Lagier on cello. Malavoi's fame soon spread across the Caribbean and abroad with the 1983 album Zouel, featuring Thamar on vocals along with Marie-José Alie. They played at the Printemps de Bourges in 1983 and at the Caribbean festival in Cartagena, and won the Caribbean music prize, the Maracas d'Or, as well as scoring the film Rue Case Nègres.

They continued touring widely into the late 1980s, in the United States, France, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Ecuador. Thamar was replaced by Pipo Gertrude in 1988. In the early 1990s, the band's popularity continued to grow, and the membership expanded with the addition of singer Tony Chasseur. Their 1992 Matebis included collaborations with numerous Caribbean musicians, including Jocelyne Beroard, Bethova Obas, Kali (musician), Edith Lefel and Tanya Saint-Val.

Malavoi's leader, Paulo Rosine, died in 1993. He was replaced by José Privat, while two French violinists, Jean-Luc Pino and Daniel Dato, also joined; the band's leader became Jean-Paul Soïme.

Chanson d'amour
Malavoi Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Chanson d'amour
Hystérie du moment
Écrans, romans, tout le temps
Des p'tits, des lourds
Des vrais, d'autres du flanc
C'est trop, finissons-en
Ça dégouline
De tous les magasines

Ça colle au doigt, ça colle au cœur, c'est dégoûtant
En vérité
Qui pourrait m'en citer
Un seul qui lui ait donné
Plus de liberté

Des amours propres
Les plus sales, écœurants
J'en ai croisé souvent
Enfants, parents
Photos, sourires charmants
Nés pour venger tous leurs échecs, donnant-donnant
Amour vautour
Ou vitrine, j'en ai vu
Mais des amours tout court
Ça court pas les rues

Chanson d'amour
Chanson d'amour
Chanson d'amour (chanson d'amour)
Chanson d'amour

Abus d'confiance
Vulgaire anesthésique
Inconscience pathétique
Ça peut cacher nos misères un moment
Comme un alcool, comme une drogue, un paravent
Y'a toujours
Un de ces sales matins
Où l'on se dit que l'amour
Ça sert à rien

Chanson d'amour
Chanson d'amour
Chanson d'amour
Chanson d'amour

Trêve de discours
Y'a rien d'pire que l'amour
Sauf de ne pas aimer
Autant le faire

C'est clair et puis se taire
Se taire

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Malavoi's song "Chanson d'amour" speak about the complexities of love in modern society. The song talks about how love is portrayed through various media such as movies and magazines, but in reality, true love is hard to come by. The first stanza talks about different types of love, both real and fake, that we see around us. The imagery of love "dégouline" (dripping) from magazines and "colle au doigt, ça colle au cœur" (sticks to your fingers, sticks to your heart) is used to convey the idea that love is pushed upon us by society and something that we are expected to aspire to. However, in reality, true love is not easy to find.

The second stanza talks about how love can also be dirty and disgusting. The phrase "des amours propres, les plus sales, écœurants" (clean loves, the most dirty and sickening) conveys the idea that even seemingly pure and innocent love can be twisted and corrupted. The idea of love as a "vautour" (vulture) is also used, implying that love can sometimes be self-serving and destructive. The bridge of the song talks about how love can act as a temporary escape from our problems and emotions but ultimately, without true emotional connection, love is useless.

Overall, "Chanson d'amour" is a reflection on the complexities of love in the modern world, and a reminder that true love is hard to come by and requires emotional connection and sincerity.

Line by Line Meaning

Chanson d'amour
This is a song about love

Hystérie du moment
Love is fleeting and can be driven by temporary emotions

Écrans, romans, tout le temps
Love is portrayed and romanticized in media constantly

Des p'tits, des lourds Des vrais, d'autres du flanc
There are various types and intensities of love

C'est trop, finissons-en
It's overwhelming and time to move on

Ça dégouline De tous les magasines Ça colle au doigt, ça colle au cœur, c'est dégoûtant
The overwhelming portrayal of love in media is sickly sweet and hard to escape

En vérité Qui pourrait m'en citer Un seul qui lui ait donné Plus de liberté
In truth, it's hard to think of a single love that truly provides freedom

Des amours propres Les plus sales, écœurants J'en ai croisé souvent Enfants, parents Photos, sourires charmants Nés pour venger tous leurs échecs, donnant-donnant
Some seemingly pure and charming loves can be born out of the desire to seek revenge for past failures, leading to toxic dynamics

Amour vautour Ou vitrine, j'en ai vu Mais des amours tout court Ça court pas les rues
Love can be opportunistic or superficial, but genuine and true love is rare

Abus d'confiance Vulgaire anesthésique Inconscience pathétique Ça peut cacher nos misères un moment Comme un alcool, comme une drogue, un paravent
Love can be an escape or coping mechanism, but ultimately it won't solve our problems

Y'a toujours Un de ces sales matins Où l'on se dit que l'amour Ça sert à rien
There will always be mornings where we question the point of love

Trêve de discours Y'a rien d'pire que l'amour Sauf de ne pas aimer Autant le faire C'est clair et puis se taire Se taire
Enough with the discourse, there's nothing worse than love except for not loving. Might as well do it and be quiet about it.

Writer(s): Jean-jacques Goldman

Contributed by Mateo L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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