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Interview/ Audio
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The World, Interview/ Audio >>
(click on link for audio)
The subjects of today's Global Hit are indicative of French society at this time. Singer Julia Sarr is from Senegal. Patrice Larose's parents came from Spain. Together, they've found a common musical language. And as The World's Marco Werman tells us, Sarr and Larose believe communication could be their message.
To see Julia Sarr and her musical partner Patrice Larose together can be deceptive. They seem exceptionally comfortable in each others' company. But they are not a couple. If they were, they would be France's answer to Tuck and Patti.
Julia Sarr says though they definitely have a connection. Julia: It's not a romance, but it's an encounter, a musical encounter that's important for each of us.
Patrice: I wanted to marry her the first time a saw her on stage.
Julia: But he was not available. Crazy this guy.
Patrice Larose is the guitarist. His parents came to France from Spain. Julia Sarr's family came to France from Senegal. She sings primarily in Senegal's main language, Wolof. Sarr and Larose have both brought elements of their backgrounds into their music. But it was never deliberate they say. Larose doesn't think of himself as a flamenco guitarist.
But he knows that the ornate quality of Mediterranean guitar penetrates his playing. And Julia Sarr says she simply wanted to recapture memories of her native Senegal. My Senegal, I mean the souvenir I have is evening time, griots singing in the street in Dakar, not especially in a village, and all that was coming to me just like uh, an obligation to be close to that.
So close and authentic that Senegalese superstar Youssou N'dour duetted with Julia Sarr and Patrice Larose on the title track to their debut CD Set Luna.
That track, as well as a couple of other tunes on Set Luna deal with nostalgia and displacement.
Julia Sarr came to France when she was 13. Her parents returned to Senegal, but she stayed in France. In the 70s, she was the only black girl in her class in Paris. When she was 20 she became a single mother. These life experiences she says have given her grit and influenced her music more than anything else.
Julia: If you are an immigrant, there becomes a day you feel sick, you feel sick because you can forget your language sometimes because you don't speak it a lot, you can also forget the way you cook your food...
MW: Do you remember that day when it came for you?
Julia: Yeah, it comes. Lots of days. I'm in the suburb and I'm thinking of my country, of what are they doing at this time. What they are listening, what music they are doing, it can be schizophrenia sometimes.
Split personalities aside, the duo feels that music is some kind of cure to the sickness Julia Sarr was talking about...a cure perhaps for all immigrants and for the French.
The single fact to play together it's important for me.
That's guitarist Patrice Larose.
She's black, I'm white, and at this time in France, I think it's important to show to people that we can build a culture together. And we don't have to be afraid to live together. And the addition of our culture could be really interesting.
-Marco Werman. 01/25/06 >> go there
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