0:00 – 0:34 Hervé –
So I received your album. I listened carefully and just like I told you by e-mail, I wanted to talk to 0:00 – 0:34 you directly rather than by short e-mails –
00:42-00:44 I really liked it a lot. I had questions
00:50 I really felt the identity, the Jamaican heritage
00:54-1:00 It didn’t surprise me coming from you, and I really really like the added “Soul“ element.
01:03 1:06 > What I really love about this style of music, is the timeless aspect.
1:08- 1:13` > The production – I’m don’t know whether it’s totally finished or not – but it is really modern. And this, I think, is Gordon’s speciality.
1:17- 1:19 “Has he done all the tracks with you?”
(Dajla)
1:20 > Yes of course, yes yes yes
(Herve
1:21-1:29 > It’s super modern, you get your source from the best Jamaican cultural heritage, so I love this.
0:30 – 0:34 > But so, what’s I really wasn’t expecting, is that you sing it all in French”
1:38 – 1:39 – (Dajla) It’s new!
(Hervé) It’s a new thing.
1:46-1:48 Is this album just for France, or will it be the actual album?
1:50 – 1:56 (Dajla) – Well actually it is new for me although I am French because I had never sung in French before
1:57-2:00 (Hervé) Oh you never ever did that? Even when you were in France?
2:01 – 2:05 (Dajla) (Dajla) No never ! – Hervé – Ok
2:06-2:16 I always sung in English ever since the release of my album “Soul Poetry”/.
2:10-2:15 Gordon had encouraged me a little to do so since I came to work with him in NY.
2:17 – 2:25 I had thought about it, if you will, and it became more obvious for the past two years.
2:26 – 2:32 So we decided to work on a French version of the album for France and for the French speaking audience.
2:34-2:40 (Herve) – So we do have an English version of the album
Dajla – yes, that’s right.
2:41-2:48 Hervé – So it’s going to be interesting for the people who also want the English version, it will be available for them.
2:51-2:56 (Dajla)- For French people I think it’s interesting because people have been asking me to sing in French for a long time.
3:00-3:14 But what I say in my music is so intimate that I wasn’t ready to sing in French.
3:15- 3:31 I had grown up with James, Ray Charles and Bob Marley at home and I wanted to equal or reach what was for me, the optimum level in music.
3:32-3:34 Hervé – It’s very cheeky, it’s a challenge.
3:34 – 3:42 The references that you give and the style in which you are, there aren’t that many of these things in French, so that’s good.
00:42- 3:47 And, that’s the originality of the project, if I get it right, is that there will be two versions.
3:48 – 4:02 The audience, according to their mood, if they want to get into a more intimate perception, in a more personal relationship with your songs, they will go on a digital platform , – because that’s what it is, technology today allows us to do that.
4:03- 4:13 So you can download both versions according to your mood, you can listen to the French version and the next day, if you wanna feel lifted in the subway in the morning, you listen to the same songs you love, but in English, correct?
4:14- 4:22 (Dajla)
– It could be that, for sure, it’s true that we are just at the beginning of our thoughts about how the albums are going to be released but yes, why not.
4:22-4:23 (Hervé) – It’s awesome
4:29 – 4:32 – It’s not bad for those who will understand, so for the french speaking market.
4:34-4:48 “I shouldn’t say France, because there are also all the French territories, the Carribbean and West Africa where French is the official language.
4:49-5:04 Are you going to try release some songs in French over there at home where you are in the USA, in New York, to see how the audience react?
5:05- 5:28 Dajla – ‘yes absolutely because there is also a French diaspora here, and we have received requests from DJs to get the French version for their French speaking audience here, so they are on the waiting list because it’s not out yet, but they are waiting.
5:29 -5:59 It’s also true that, what I do, reggae music, soul music, it’s social music, it corresponds to a commitment.
6:00 -6:07 My vision is that the French are also waiting for something deeper. Deeper than what they are given (bling, in pop and rap music).
6:08- 6:15 (Hervé) Yeah. That’s right.
6:17 – 6:43 Every time I go home I have people telling me Dajla you should write songs i French because it’s great how your voice is, it moves people even if they don’t understand all the words, but imagine how great it would be if you sung in French.
6:44-6:52 And I think that circumstances have brought this all together so that these things are supposed to happen for us now, rather than earlier on.
6:53 – 7:13 And like you mentioned, you know, the trips to Africa, I went to Gabon, to North Africa, I have friends all over Africa, and it’s true that you want them to understand, you want to share with them so they can identity .
7:14 – 7:55 Hervé Yes and the result is different, because I am also fortunate to travel a lot and the first thing I do when I arrive in any hotel room, before I even unpack my suitcase, is turn the local radio on, and listen to what they play. And how do I know I’m gonna like this place is when I hear something else than all the international hits that we hear everywhere. Al;though we are all fans of Beyonce, it sounds even better when you hear the song in another language, in Italian, in French, in Arabic.
8:00- 8:44 The whole part about Celine Dion being the biggest star in Jamaica today
8:45 – 9:12: Jamaicans love the classic song format.
9:13- 9:28 Dajla It inspired me too in what I write, further from my beginnings when I was doing more electro soul/ spoken word stuff.
9:29 – 9:32 I drew closer to the classic song structure.
9:36 – 9:39 For the timeless aspect of it.
Hervé Yes that’s it.
9:43 – 9:47Dajla When a song is well written, you can simply play it on the guitar, acoustic.
9:55 – 10:25 When I met Gordon I suggested songs written on the piano and he heard the style differently sometimes that what I had brought, but that’s the producer’s job, but when the song is well written, nice chords, good structure, it just works.
10:27 Hervé – Was this French project a good thing according to Gordon or something that might be slowing you down?
10:51 – 10:58 Dajla “It’s been a while that he wanted me to sing in French – even when we started to work together he had already mentioned it” .
10:59 – 11:18 Because he’s worked before with stars around the world, he is used to this process of translating songs.
11:19 – 11:32 For him, it was something natural. So me being French speaking, he had encouraged me from the start, telling me, you know it would be good if you did French versions of the songs.
11:34 – 11:39 it’s taken a while to make its way in my head and for me to be convinced of it!
11:39 – 12:24 And you know there is something else that achieved to convince me, these past two years since I’ve been living in NY, …Gordon – I think I’ve told you – Gordon has a music school which is called “Lalabela Music Academy” which he has founded originally for underprivileged kids , to help them find a place socially, via music, or sound engineering classes etc well I work in this school I teach piano and voice and I have French speaking students, the mom or dad is French.
12:25 – 12:57 The crazy thing is that I have students, a little boy who is 10 years old; I have been working for two years with him…and you’ll never believe who is his favorite singer? His favorite singer is Nino Ferrer!
Herve : Oh really! Wow yes! He was very into black music” Nino ferrer was very ‘Sou;
. He was a French singer who had these roots, yes.
12:58 – 13:51 yes absolutely! And he’s not the only one, you see, I have other little students, between 8 and 10, another one, she is 7 years old, she loves Dalida, another one… Everything is about the Ye Ye movement (60s French Soul) – because it’s what they used to do at the time, they would take US hits and translate into French. And it reminds me of what my mom used to listen to when I was a child, although my main influences were US singers, she used to listen to all these artists, Johnny etc and I have a part of this in me.
13:52 – 13:58 And the children have waken this in me, since I have been in New York. It’s quite paradoxical isn’t it?
(Herve) Oh wow it’s awesome!!!
13:59 – 14:14 It’s really awesome, and I tell myself it was really incredible this whole French soul
And you don’t really find it anymore you know and somehow I had this in mind when we started the French translation with Gordon when we did this French album. I had a little bit of this in mind.
14:18 – It would be quite awesome to try and get a huge hit in the US. A huge hit in French.
14:3 – 14:45 While I’m talking to you, I’m trying to remember but I don’t find any example of a song with most of its lyrics in French that would have been a huge hit in the US. In fact I don’t know if that’s ever happened.
14:46 – 15:17 Mmm I’m not sure, maybe bilingual, maybe duets…I remember in the 60s, Montand did duets…At the time of Sinatra, do you remember? – Yes that’s true, there was Aznavour as well who had done Carnegie Hall…Yes that’s true, that’s true but nothing
since…So there is something to be done here….
(Dajla) yes I guess we’re going to have to take care of that (laughs)
(Herve) That would be awesome!
15:18-15:29 No but I mean with all the things you are saying, it would be amazing if you, in the end, yes people have a choice, but that the version which would really bit a hit in the US would be the French version! It would be great.
15:30 Also, the idea with featurings is that we can absolutely have a US guest star i and have them drop on a verse or hook, everything is possible, and it brings everybody together. And there’s always been this love for French songs here, American people love that.
15:55-16:01 That’s why I say.. I believe in it! It’s a beautiful project.
16:02 -16:12 I can’t wait for the French audiences to discover – you know – I really am looking forward to get their feedback …I think they are going to like it…
16:14-17:08 There is also the social context that we follow here from NY, we see what’s going on in France –
(Herve) of course with the yellow vests – I think there are songs like “Day by Day” which will appeal to people…It’s true that life today is very different from the 60s, that era we were mentioning earlier. Things are very different today.
17:10 -17:13 I was wondering if you feel this shift or change in regards to what the audience wants to hear in France today?
17:14- 17:24 Yes it’s quite complicated because in fact we have the impression that things are very formatted and each time we get counter examples so you’re gonna get something that nobody has foreseen – in fact what I find interesting today is – and that it’s probably the same in the USA – is that you have the huge music industry and the media who format things, marketing has never been as strong and decisive, and at the same time, we feel that the audience decides, so it’s always a bit complicated to know…but that’s what is interesting, but that’s what it is, if they find a big hit that works well, right away the record companies will get to work to reproduce it, so really, record companies copy /reproduce what works, but they take something that became a hit but didn’t come from them. It came from small structures, indie labels,
18:20 -18:32 The marriage that you are doing, it would be hard to say, because there are no examples of it today, but at the same time, it can correspond very well with something that will surprise, and that the audience will want.
18:33- 18:39 And where are you now in terms of production on the album recording? Are you still going?
18:40-18:45 We are still recording new things but we have more or less finished the album, yeah.
We will see if we put a few English titles or not…
19:00 -19:10 Do you have a label? Right now, there is Gordon’s label here. The next step is going to plan the release. (Herve) yes the whole distribution aspect and so on.
19:23-19:31 In any case, we will stay in touch, that’s the main thing, of course. Ok!
19:32 OK that’s great. / We’ll see each other soon. / Yes yes let’s keep each other posted.
It was great to get all this info from you today, that’s what I wanted to see with you.
19:43-19:49 I really find this all very interesting. The whole project and vision, everything I hear..There’s a real thing!
19:50-19:55 I’m happy. / Yes we’re full on! / yeah!
19:55-20:08 If you like this, I think a lot of people will like it! (smile)
(Herve) Oh that’s very kind of you, I don’t know but I hope so I hope so (laughs)
I hope so, yes.
20:10-20:25 Lots of kisses, please send my love to Gordon and tell him what we talked about
he’s going to be interested and we’ll keep e-mailing and talking.
Ok ciao, ciao – Bye bye Ciao!
