Jane, live

Now, some things are better left unexplained. But one mystery that haunted me ever since the power of husky singing French females put its gentle arms around me, was: why do they sing like that? Jane Birkin herself, godmother of all filles fragiles (and with that million dollar smile of hers, les filles sourires as well), explained it to me yesterday. "Serge made Isabelle, Catherine, Brigitte and all other actresses ("Like yourself", i intervened) sing like himself. Very close to the microphone." A-ha! Thát is why you hear the breathing, why it's husky and whispery - you don't need big lungs when you treat the mike like a big popsickle. Ofcourse, lyrics, atmosphere and technical inabilatiy had a lot to do with it too, but I never thought of Serge making les girls sing like himself. Merci Jane. Now I only have to find out why the French (and you and me) are all ga-ga over this singing style. I asked Emily Simon before, she had no answer. Charlotte Gainsbourg, same. Jane? No explanation.
But like I said, some things are better left unexplained.

Interview with Jane was way too short, but okay. I asked her about the rumour I heard that her youngest daughter Lou Doillon is making an album. Jane was surprised, said that Lou is reading poems and letters on stage (that I knew), and I wasn't able to ask Lou herself when she brushed past me in the Paradiso corridor. Have to wait & see, then. Talked to Jane about her daughters mostly. Charlotte's health is fine now, she's a bit bored because she gets send boring screenplays, and Birkin said that Charlotte should've gone on tour with Air longer, or maybe even with her own band. Hear hear. Jane bragged about her girls a lot, as a mother should do. What a talented, intelligent, beautiful family. Jane's fun to talk to, ofcourse Serge was mentioned a lot. Like Charlotte, Jane's torn between the grief of his death (of which she's reminded daily) and the joy of so many people still admiring him and his work. A ghost you never can shake off, is how she described him.
She paid tribute to Serge on stage, later that evening, by singing his songs, by mentioning him like he was still around and in a speech of haunting ghosts, inspired by a visit to Anne Frank's house earlier (she said to me that Alice, daughter of Charlotte, looks like a young Anne).
The show was marvellous, way better than I expected. Jane has an ace band, three guys who play multiple instruments. She sang old and new songs, covers (a very funny Caetano Veloso song), did an emotional song she wrote herself about Aung San Suu Kyi and chose not very well known songs from the Gainsbourg-catalogue. Ofcourse she did Fuir le bonheur, Ex-fan de Sixties, Je suis venue and Di Doo Dah, but I did not expect Manon, for instance.
Turns out she did that before, I bought Jane Birkin live (a compilation featuring shows from Bataclan, Olympia and Casino Paris) that has a very orchestral version. Yesterday it was more fragile.

Jane Birkin - Manon (live)

Picture of Jane in Paradiso (c) Roy Tee.