Calogero in concert on January 20 at the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier: “It’s my life, the stage!”
Montpellier, Narbonne, Nîmes, Ruoms, Port-Barcarès… les rendez-vous avec Calogero sont nombreux et attendus ! MARCEL HARTMANN
Since the start of his solo career twenty-five years ago, Calogero has gone from success to success without ever having stolen a single one! When launching his "A.M.O.U.R. Tower" (who makes several stops in the region; starting with January 20 at the Sud de France Arena!), the singer who undoubtedly proves to be one of the most worthy successors of Michel Berger in the ;#39;delicate art of the French pop variety, has agreed to provide some keys to his work.
There's something cheeky about calling today's album, as you did, 'A.M.O.U.R.' !
I see what you mean, indeed! It’s not trivial, but it’s complex, love. To talk only about the title song, the message about love that it contains is not smooth, it's not “flower power” ; : he says that society sometimes teaches us love in reverse. We live in a world ruled by money, unfortunately, by envy, and, in this tension, this organized confusion, love must find its place. Not easy.
In fact, your album depicts this throughout the songs: the struggle between feelings and all forms of social, economic, political obstacles…
Because this is what we are experiencing today: we all want to love and be loved, but everything has become very complicated in our society focused on appearance and on the credit. Especially since social networks paradoxically tend to make us withdraw into ourselves: everyone photographs themselves, everyone scrutinizes the image of the other, a very controlled, and at the same time we hope for love; which is not the same thing at all!
In this era of mastery, of control, You dare, in a certain way, to lay bare…
In any case, there is this desire not necessarily to go against the grain but to make counter-proposals, modestly. If I am not on social networks, it is not because of a question of generation but because it is not my nature.
Feelings, emotions, run through this entire disc…
Some songs try to revisit the classic pattern of love, for example Rien comme les autres which says that' ;we can live a love story that is unlike any other, and why not ? It’s also a text by Dominique A.
Precisely, in addition to Dominique A, you called on Bruno Guglielmi, Paul Ecole, Marie Poulain… and yet we would swear this very personal recording, perhaps the most of your career…
That's true. But basically, I've always worked like that, always had several authors. What makes the link is the way in which I orient the authors in relation to my melodies: I compose my songs beforehand so they come and put their words on my melodies, my rhythms , my sounds…
As if there was already a text printed as a watermark on the score ?
Exactly ! And then these are authors with whom I have worked for a long time, an acquaintance, a habit has necessarily been created over time. But also a writing style that would be common to us.
The youngest of your feathers, Marie Poulain, 25 years old, surprises… by not being out of place: what maturity!
I am very proud to have discovered this young talent. This is an incredible feather! She wrote to me Happy ending, The departure hall, Hide and seek and If you pass by there, always with great maturity. She also has a voice, a presence… She is currently preparing her personal project, and I am convinced that she will be talked about.
Musically, you alternate between ultra epic pop and hyper intimate songs: you like to provide strong emotions ?
Yes, it's a bit my trademark: I balance between these two opposites. I still love piano-vocal songs, and I still have a taste for the pop-rock aesthetic. I know my amps by heart, I know how to adjust them around my voice so that it sounds, but I also enjoy taking care of the arrangements to orchestrate for the violins, the cellos, the English horns… I don't direct them but I orchestrate them, and it fascinates me more and more!
Some of your songs are clearly designed to galvanize stadiums!
I've always been like a fish to water on stage and I can't wait to go back because I have a great band, there are eight of us and it plays in all directions! Going back on tour is always an extra special moment for me, preparing my guitars, thinking about the venues (at home at the Sud de France Arena and at the Nîmes arenas ?… but it's always a special moment for me). is great, I love these places!). It’s my life, the stage! My album was designed for the stage, to find my audience, because it's been a while since we last saw each other, they and we miss it. In this profession, the hardest thing is to last (in all professions, in fact) but I am lucky that my songs have entered the lives of certain people, part of their family, accompanied them… As a result, the concerts are real meetings of friendship, almost of love too, and this album is made to respond to that! From the intro, A.M.O.U.R., the word spelled, we come back to it, it says something.