Rfi Musique: L'une des siens, is very much in keeping with the nomadic spirit which runs through the rest of Lo'Jo's music. In fact, the album includes everything from chanson neo-réaliste to Spanish influences and desert vibes. How do you go about creating your rich musical melting pot?
Denis Péan: Well, I have to say, we've never sat down and asked ourselves how we come up with such a hybrid sound! I think it's because, right from the word go, we've opened ourselves up to all kinds of influences and absorbed them into our work. So today it's hard to say whether we're the 'musical heirs' of Nina Simon, Don Cherry, Fela or Ravel!
It just so happens that as a group we've travelled the four corners of the world and experienced a lot of musical 'situations' that have all been radically different from one another. We really have performed everywhere - from tiny country towns and isolated mountain villages in France to sprawling urban metropolises across Europe and the United States!
So what are we made of? Everything we've come across on our travels really - all the different influences we've absorbed and transformed into our roots. We come from Anjou, a region where traditional music culture has all but died out these days. So we've had to open our ears, look further afield and create our own musical universe. In other words, we've had to draw on the resources of our own fantasy and imagination to express our emotions! It's become second nature to us really to amplify and exaggerate whatever we come across on our travels, whether it be music, philosophy or poetry…

Rfi Musique: In the course of your travels you've made several trips to Africa and this has had an evident influence on tracks such as Le poème de Japonais. Is this song linked to your recent experiences in the Sahara?
Denis Péan: Yes, I think it's true to say that Africa, and particularly west Africa, has always held a certain fascination for us… We've been lucky enough to make seveal trips to the African continent and we've made some wonderful friends there. This time round we worked with a host of amazing groups like the "Acte-Sept" theatre from Bamako and the Gangbe Brass Band from Benin - to name but two! And then after that we went off into the Sahara with a group called Tinariwen who come from the desert region of Tin-Essako. Tin-Essako is amazing. It's a forsaken place which suffers from devastating drought but that doesn't stop it from being a bastion of Tuareg rebellion!
Anyway, our friendship with the group Tinariwen led to us creating Le poème de Japonais together. Mohamed Ag-Illale - one of the greatest living poets in the Tamachek language - whom everyone knows locally as the "Japanese man", provides guest vocals on the song. And his hoarse, rasping voice sounds particularly haunting with the traditional desert instruments and youyous. Collaborating with Tinariwen and Mohamed Ag-Illale was a very rewarding experience. It really made us sit back and think about the world and the way we lead our lives. Our experience in the desert made a great impact on our lifestyle and our way of thinking as well as our music.

Rfi Musique: Traditional African instruments such as the kora, the n'goni and the balafon feature heavily on Lo'Jo albums. Why did you decide to play these instruments yourselves rather than working with guest musicians from the respective cultures? Aren't you 'usurping' someone else's traditional heritage in a way?
Denis Péan: Well, the way I see it, human beings have always shared their instruments with one another. Take the saxophone, for instance! I discovered it through the African star Fela, but the saxophone was actually invented by a Belgian guy called Adolphe Sax. But no-one's ever been shocked by the fact that an African musician made the instrument his own. Besides, there are a lot of Afro-American musicians working with hi-tech equipment today and creating really cutting-edge techno and hip hop sounds. So why shouldn't white musicians play the kora? After all, Africa isn't so far from France as all that - even though history could have ended up separating the two countries for ever after all the terrible things we've done.
I believe music is capable of transcending problematic relationships between nations though and helping men and women from different cultures get on. Music encourages people to talk! I've noticed that a lot of Africans are actually very flattered that one of Lo'Jo's musicians, Richard Bourreau, has taken up the kora. Richard plays the instrument his own way - and he'd never claim to equal the virtuoso performances of the great Malian kora players. He recently brought an imzad back from the desert too. It's this little Tuareg violin with one string. All these basic instruments made of strings, wood and animal skin produce amazing sounds. And I think any human being with a brain and ten fingers is capable of producing an interesting sound from them. The sound made by resonating wood belongs to everyone. It's something we all share through music. And that's a positive thing, don't you think?

Rfi Musique: Lyrically speaking, Lo'Jo songs have always been characterised by their sensitive poetic approach. Do you consider poetry to be a militant act?
Denis Péan: Well, when we got together as a group around twenty years ago now we tapped into a certain feeling at the time. It's funny, it's almost as if we had a foreboding that society was about to move into this really cynical phase. And that's something we've unfortunately seen come to pass lately in the first round of the French presidential elections (where the far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen was voted through to the second round). As far as we were concerned, it was an instinctive necessity to come up with an antidote to that current of cynicism we felt around us and that's what Lo'Jo has been about from the word go… I have to say, we may have been a bit naïve and ignorant when we first started out, but we felt the negative energy around us and made a conscious effort to set out and fight it.
As far as Lo'Jo's lyrics are concerned, I think it's true to say that our songs often have a fairly dark edge to them. And I have to admit that I actually quite enjoy tapping into sadness as an emotion. The way I see it, experiencing sadness is part of being human. I think we should actually talk more about sadness - and explore the fact that sadness can often bring this great strength with it. It's as if sadness contains the seeds of its own remedy within it somehow. If you don't cry in life, I think you limit yourself to a superficial and ephemeral kind of happiness! I think you miss out on a lot of things, in fact. After all, human beings are made up of torment and despair as well as hope. And if we're completely honest with ourselves we have to take this into account and express it somehow.
Rfi Musique: You gave your first 'concert/performances' in Angers in 1982. How do you feel Lo'Jo's career has evolved over the past twenty years?
Denis Péan: Well, when we first started out it was all a big adventure really. We didn't have any clear idea of where we were going or where we wanted to end up. Things are different these days though. I know singers - even really young ones - actually sit down and make proper career plans now. And that's something we've never done, often to our own detriment, in fact. The way we went about things in the early days of our career meant we often ended up getting into dodgy situations and suffering from errors and misunderstandings. We've had our fair share of lean periods over the past twenty years and plenty of setbacks with record labels and things. But I think we've been lucky in that Lo'Jo's a group which has always taken things one step at a time and built our career on a basis of genuine collaborations and exchange. We've had our antennas waving around everywhere and we've built up genuine friends and contacts in a natural way. I think one of the things we can be most proud of in the course of our career is that we've woven a real web of friends and musical contacts - it's a bit like our own "International" if you like or to take another example closer to home the "Attac" movement (a French organisation campaigning for a 'people's' tax on international financial transactions).
I feel like I managed to put a name on something rather nebulous that existed at the time. I felt this powerful energy emanating from certain people who were not just in rebellion against things, but translating their rebellion into action in their daily lives. And I feel that today we've started to attract a certain following, although I can't say that's necessarily been reflected in huge record sales as yet! We're going out to perform in the U.S. later this year, although our gigs will be in small, local venues not big stadium-sized things or anything! We're booked to play in all these little clubs in Los Angeles so it will be a bit like performing at our local guinguette really!

Rfi Musique: When it comes down to it you're more like a tribe of travelling performers really than a French band forging a reputation on the 'alternative' music scene…
Denis Péan: I'd say music's absolutely at the heart of who Lo'Jo are and what we're trying to do. The way I see it, we're a bunch of musicians bound together by the magic of harmony, rhythm and poetry. It's true that our day-to-day existence is not that different from the life we led as acrobats going round from village to village with our travelling show. Without getting too nostalgic and romantic about things, I think we were a bit like the old travelling theatre/juggler companies who used to wend their way through the countryside spreading a message. I think it's fair to say Lo'Jo are like no other group I've ever seen - although, having said that, we do feel pretty close to the 'alternative' scene on the whole. Our main goal in life is to stay apart from fashions and passing musical fads. All we really want is to be part of the general fabric of humanity, that's good enough for us!

Rfi Musique: I know you're currently on tour promoting your latest album. What kind of audiences do Lo'Jo attract on the road?
Denis Péan: I'd say we attract anonymous individuals from all walks of life. I think the Lo'Jo sound appeals to anyone who's ever picked up a guitar and got a response from an audience of three or four people. We've played to everyone really, from babies in pushchairs to old grannies leaning on a cane, from bourgeois ladies to old hippies and the local village neighbourhood lout… We've played to people at all levels of society and seen how they've lived and got along - or, alternatively, been at each other's throats. When we perform in concert it's as if we engage in a sort of friendship with everyone in the audience. Personally, when we perform I feel like I recognise friends and close acquaintances standing in front of me that I can reach out and love. And I think Lo'Jo's following has evolved in the same spirit; people have understood where we're coming from and what we're trying to do. People who come and see us in concert are basically on our wavelength. Its no coincidence that Lo'Jo's audience are in a way a direct reflection of us!

Interview: Daniel Lieuze
Translation: Julie Street
Photo Home page : P.René-Worms

Lojo L'une des siens Universal Music 2002

Lo'jo concert dates: 7/28 Les bals-concerts de La Villette, Paris - 8/3 Festival Esperanzah Namur, Belgique - 9/13-14-15 Monterey World Music Festival Monterey California (USA) - 9/21-22 World Music Festival Fairfax California (USA) - 9/29 Chicago World Music Festival - Chicago (USA) - 10/2 Johnny D¹s Boston (USA) - 10/5-6-7 octobre CAPACOA Convention Ottawa Canada

Lo'jo on the Net: Lojo