Élancourt – Music decoded humorously with Alex Jaffray
Alex’s voice. This is the title of Alex Jaffray’s current tour, which will be played at Prisme in Elancourt on January 28th at 8:30pm. The first performance of this composer who talks about music and analyzes the lyrics with humor. A show born in 2019, when he was already writing a column on Télématin on France 2. “A long version of Alex’s Sound on stage. […] takes the tone of his interventions, mixing anecdotes, bad intentions, good humor, parts of his life and, above all, music,” the show said in a press release.
A show that originated after the TedX conference
The show, which initially took root when the composer attended a TedX conference, says Alex Jaffray, who contacted La Gazette: “A few years ago, I was offered to do a TedX conference and I said yes. I thought it was a five-minute talk and realized it was actually 20 minutes. . 20 minutes to talk about music is a bit of work. So I came up with the idea of using a sampler to play many different musical extracts and not just connect to a piano. That was the beginning of the adventure because later I found a producer who He told me that maybe we could make a show out of it.”
He turned to the composer of film music, pubs or even the credits of TV shows, then the only one on stage to convey his passion for music. “I’ve never done it, I was sure you had a show and you were playing it,” he admits. Other than that, no, it’s evolved, it should be version 6 or 7. It’s the principle of live performance, you write something that makes you laugh in your office, it’s not what makes you laugh when you go to play it, it’s what comes before or after. “After the first performances in Paris, like all artists, he slowed down with a health crisis, “then he became very strong, almost everywhere was full,” he said.
The public was quickly drawn to this show, which allowed for bursts of laughter and cultivation. “I’m lucky enough to write music, it’s my job,” says Alex Jaffray. To avoid “I like it, I don’t like it”, I have spent 20 years explaining why this music, these notes, respond to this or that feeling, this or that value. And then I realized that it makes people interested, it’s a good arrow to talk about music. We all have our favorite songs, etc., but we don’t always know how it’s done. The idea was to listen to music you’ve never heard before, without going through a musicology course that would piss everyone off. It’s not a conference, it’s a show where people laugh. You have fun and learn something at the same time. »
Thus, from the teaser video of the show, we learn that the Rolling Stones “add up their ages” to 294 years, and the Eiffel Tower is 130 years old and has played 2,470 concerts. Alex Jaffrey, who also uses his faithful sampler, isolates the parts of the songs, which the audience deciphers under bursts of laughter from childhood, with a love for music. “I grew up in Val-d’Oise with my grandparents and there were three records, he recalls. He had a steam engine sound effects record […], a twisted classical music record so it was pretty funny to listen to, and an Ennio Morricone record. I heard it when I was little and I said to myself: “I want to do this, it’s fascinating to me.” »
“I like the idea that a show is born and dies on stage. »
So he made it his business and is a hit on the scene today. While warning that his first performance could also be his last: “It’s not my job (he still continues composing in parallel, ed.), I have great pleasure in doing it, but I think it’s in the beauty of the gesture. maybe it only exists once. […] I have dates until 2024, another short year of surgery and it will be over after that. I like the idea of a show being born and dying on stage. However, he doesn’t rule out changing his mind, but if he doesn’t, it gives you even better reasons to go and discover him on stage. Plus, as the press release for the show states, Le son d’Alex is “1/3 music, 1/3 valves, and 1/3 ‘you have to come and see it’.” That’s why it exists. Tickets for his visit to Élancourt cost between €8 and €20, reservations at kiosq.sqy. Fr.
PHOTO CREDIT: Stephane_Kerrad
