Salvador Brazilian-style

Henri records a new album in Rio

Paris 

18/10/2006 - 

Henri Salvador was tickled at the idea of making a new album – at the age of nearly 90! But even he had not imagined recording it in Brazil, the country where he launched his career in the 1940s. The majority of the tracks on Révérence were recorded in Rio with a host of Brazilian bossa nova stars, a stone's throw from Copacabana. RFI Musique hooks up with the sprightly French crooner, hot back from his travels.

RFI Musique: Why did you call your new album Révérence? Is it because you're thinking you might "tirer votre révérence" (bow out) some time soon?
Henri Salvador: No, no way! It's my way of saying goodbye to live performances, but I certainly won't stop making records! Concerts can be really exhausting, you know, and I'm an elderly gent so I probably shouldn't be overdoing it… I don’t want to leave the public with this image of me as a doddering old man. Can you imagine me getting up on stage and singing propped up on my walking stick – when I get one, that is! (Henri bursts out laughing at the idea). People have always seen me as this upbeat, jovial type, someone very energetic and alert. And I really don't want to destroy that image – especially as I still feel full of energy and optimism. 

What made you want to fly down to Rio to record your new album and flirt with jazz and Brazilian sounds?
A Caetano Veloso concert at the Théâtre de Châtelet (in Paris). Veloso was accompanied on stage by an orchestra that just blew me away! And I sat there and thought to myself, "When I make my next album, I have to have the man in charge of that!" That man happened to be Jaques Morelenbaum, one of the greatest Brazilian bossa nova arrangers of all time! I was terribly lucky that he was actually free when I needed him and that he seemed to be as delighted to work with me as I was with him. To make things easier for him – as he speaks Brazilian Portuguese and knows a stack of bossa nova musicians – I suggested I should fly over and record the album in Brazil. And that's how the whole adventure began!

You ended up recording eight out of the thirteen tracks on Révérence in Brazil. Looking back on it all now, what was your trip like?
It was an amazing experience. I stayed out there for a month. That was last April and I had this room in a hotel that goes right along Copacabana beach… I can imagine worse working conditions! Every morning I'd get up around midday because I have to have twelve hours' sleep a night. Generally, I wouldn't get to the studio before 7pm and when I did I'd listen to what the orchestra had recorded that day. Then if it was good, I'd record my vocals over the top, so that wasn't too difficult…

You certainly ended up working with a very impressive guest list of musicians on the new album…
Jaques Morelenbaum is greatly respected in his country. So I was lucky enough to work with musicians who generally accompany the likes of Carlos Jobim, Chico Buarque, Caetono Veloso and Marisa Monte. They're all very professional, very talented – and very tame! And seeing as there aren't any strikes on the underground over there, they all turned up for work on time! That’s  very valuable when you're making an album.

How come you ended up including Dans mon île, a song you originally wrote in 1957, on Révérence?
That was Jaques Morelenbaum. He insisted on it. To begin with, I wasn't very keen on the idea at all. I told him, "Look, it's an old song and, in case you hadn't realised, I'm making a new album here!" But he said the song had been a really big hit in Brazil and I owed it to myself to re-record it with him on the decks. So I gave in in the end…

One day when I was in the studio singing Cherche la rose, Jaques came in and said Caetano Veloso wanted to do it as a duet with me. So I ended up with this absolute legendary professional in the studio with me! It was great. We'd just finished recording together when Jaques came in, tapped me on the shoulder and announced, "Gilberto Gil would like to sing with you, too!" And I said, "Jaques, are you actually going to let me make my album or not?" (Laughs) No, only joking, I was obviously really touched… But as things worked out, the duet with Gilberto Gil on the album was a virtual recording. He was away abroad all the time, doing the rounds as Brazil's culture minister. So I recorded my bit of the song in my own time and he did his when he could, then we mixed the two together.

You're 89 now and your voice is still incredibly clear. What's your secret?
Well, I had the air conditioning in the studio in Rio turned off for a start. That's so I wouldn't mess my voice up. But the other thing is, I've been doing yoga breathing techniques for the past sixty years and that's taught me not to force my vocal cords. I also know how to use a microphone! When I'm behind the mic I often lower my voice to a whisper to get the emotion across. I give the impression I'm being all romantic, whispering softy into a woman's ear… That's my trick!

You actually wrote most of the music on your new album yourself. Does writing still come easily to you?
Yes, it does. I don't have the slightest problem composing. It's a source of amusement for me. I write all the time, in fact, and I have tons of songs lying dormant in my head. If someone turned round and asked me to make another album tomorrow, I could! But having said that, it's getting harder and harder these days to find good songwriters for the lyrics. When you've worked with an absolute ace like Boris Vian, well, you get a bit demanding… Since I worked with Vian, I've thought of French chanson as this rather grand old lady that you have to treat with respect. When you dress her, it has to be in the utmost luxury! Her beauty deserves a thousand songs! And I'm always ready to write her more – and all the more so as I think it's simply amazing to still be able to write original melodies in 2006!   

Henri Salvador Révérence (V2) 2006

Fleur  de la Haye