Deep Forest is a French music project that originally began as a duo consisting of Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet. They compose a style of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance beats or chillout beats. Their sound has been described as an "ethno-introspective ambient world music". They were nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 1994 for Best World Music Album, and in 1995 they won the Award for the album '' Boheme''. The group also became World Music Awards Winner – French group with the highest 1995 world sales. Their albums have sold over 10 million copies. Sanchez started his own career as a singer in 2005, while Mouquet continued working under the band's original name.

History

Michel Sanchez came up with the idea of mixing the native Baka pygmy spoken word with modern music after hearing on-site recordings of these tribes conversing. Along with Eric Mouquet they created the project Deep Forest. According to Mouquet, the name 'Deep Forest' originates from a combination of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

and 'rain forest'. The group's first, self-titled, album (nominated for a Grammy) was released in 1992, with "Sweet Lullaby" being the smash single which would put Deep Forest on the musical map (UK Top 10 hit). The song " Sweet Lullaby" is adapted from a traditional song from the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

. A lullaby named "Rorogwela", sung by Afunakwa, a Northern Malaita woman, was used as a vocal sample in the "Sweet Lullaby". The album ''Deep Forest'' was dance-driven and the samples were heavily digitised and edited. It was re-released as a limited edition in 1994 under the name ''World Mix''. "Sweet Lullaby" also uses Baka water drumming in the background. Deep Forest and OYME 03

For their second album ''Boheme'', Eric and Michel left behind the sounds of the forest and ventured into Eastern Europe bringing tender, lonesome Hungarian and Roma chants with upbeat, yet sad, music. Due to this shift, Dan Lacksman (from

Telex Telex is a telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communica ...

, producer and sound-engineer of the first album) decided to go his separate way and continued working on other projects like

Pangea Pangaea or Pangea ( ) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia (continent), Siberia during the Carboniferous period ...

. The chants were no longer brief, instead extended phrases had been sampled from Hungarian, and Russian. Hungarian singer Márta Sebestyén and Bulgarian Kate Petrova performed on this album. The duo also performed and produced the remixes for the

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, ; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' described him as, "perhaps the m ...

single "Undecided" in 1994, with guest vocals by

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

(who featured on n'Dour's break-through single "Seven Seconds"). That same year Deep Forest made remixes for

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

's "Deseo", Apollo 440's "Liquid Cool" and Cesária Évora's "My Fatigue is Endless". In 1996 Deep Forest collaborated with

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

on the song "While the Earth Sleeps" which was written for the film '' Strange Days''. The follow-up third album, ''Comparsa'', contained Spanish chants and sounds. The music is often upbeat and celebratory. The last song from the album, ''Media Luna'', which was also released as a single, features a duet of Syrian and Spanish singers Abed Azrei and Ana Torroja.The duo collaborated with Joe Zawinul on the song Deep Weather during the recording of the album. Also Jorge Reyes (late Mexican musician), collaborated in this album with percussion, vocals and the flute. A recording of their live concert in Japan was also released on a CD called ''Made in Japan''. Although all the songs featured in the show are from the previous three albums, they have new often-longer arrangements and all the chants are performed and reinterpreted by live performers. In 1999 Deep Forest worked with

Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati (; born 11 July 1966), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami (), is an Algerians, Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in Mashriqi Arabic, Eastern Arabic dialects or ...

and Catherine Lara on the song "L'Enfant Fleur" which had been composed for Sol En Si (a French charity which helps HIV families). In 2000, Deep Forest released their fourth album, ''Pacifique''. This album was composed to support the movie "Le prince du Pacifique" It mixes Pacific and island beats with electronic music. ''Music Detected'' was the title of their fifth much-anticipated official Deep Forest album which saw the duo turn its attention to the Far East and the Orient for inspiration. It also signalled a change in musical style for Deep Forest, from dance to a more rock-influence. They collaborated with Indonesian pop musician

Anggun Anggun Cipta Sasmi (; (born 29 April 1974), known mononymously as Anggun, is an Indonesian-French singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of seven and recorded a children's album two yea ...

on the bilingual song ''Deep Blue Sea'' which served as the lead single. In 2003 Deep Forest released a compilation album ''Essence of the Forest'', with some remastered tracks. In 2004 Deep Forest collaborated with Josh Groban, he composed and produced 2 songs on the album Closer. In 2006 Deep Forest collaborated with Josh Groban on the album Awake. In 2008 Deep Forest released the album Deep Brasil, a collaboration with Brazilian artist Flavio Dell Isola. During 2009-2010 Deep Forest went with a new band formula on stage and Deep Forest performed in different countries and continents (China, Africa, the United States, Japan, France...). In 2014 Deep Forest Released the Album "Deep Africa" In 2013 Sony music India released Deep India, a Deep Forest and Rahul Sharma collaboration. In 2017, the band collaborated with Ukrainian folk project Onuka on the song "VSESVIT". The track is part of Onuka's second studio album "MOZAїKA"

Music for films

In 1994, Deep Forest appeared on the soundtrack for

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

's ''

Prêt-à-Porter Ready-to-wear (RTW)also called ''prêt-à-porter'', or off-the-rack or off-the-peg in casual useis the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a parti ...

'' with the song "Martha". Deep Forest was hired to provide a full original score for the 1995 movie '' Strange Days'' and their credit appears on early advertising for the film. In the end, the score was instead composed by Graeme Revell. One cue from Deep Forest's original music remains in the film, titled "Coral Lounge". Deep Forest also teamed with

to write an original song, " While the Earth Sleeps", for the film's end credits. In addition, two tracks from Deep Forest's album "Boheme" were featured in the film - "Anasthasia" and "Bohemian Ballet. The two new Deep Forest tracks, "Coral Lounge" and "While the Earth Sleeps", were included on the film's soundtrack album. The version of "While the Earth Sleeps" on the album is an edited version. The complete film version was released by Columbia as a CD single in Austria and Japan. One of Deep Forest's songs, "Night Bird", was used in the 1996 film version of '' The Island of Dr. Moreau''. In December 2000, Deep Forest composed a soundtrack for the French film ''Le Prince du Pacifique''. The album, entitled ''Pacifique'', is a return to a more ambient and melancholy sound, with piano themes riding above moody synth textures, Pacific Island chants, scratchy synth-leads and electronic drumming. In 2004 the duo composed a soundtrack for the Japanese film ''Kusa No Ran''. A remix of "Sweet Lullaby" was also used for Matt Harding's viral hit "Where the Hell is Matt?"

Side projects

Both Sanchez and Mouquet have worked over a variety of side-projects and solo albums. Sanchez has two solo albums out and produced Wes successful debut album; while Mouquet created the group Dao Dezi, collaborated with Catherine Lara and arranged Thorgal, he composed and produced songs for Ana Torroja (Mecano), Jean Sebastien Lavoie, and composed and produced songs for Josh Groban.

Live performances

Deep Forest had their first live concert in 1996 at the G7 Summit in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France. They continued from there on to the Deep Forest '96 world tour. During the 1996 tour, Deep Forest performed a number of shows in France, Hungary, Greece, Australia, Japan, Poland and US. After the completion of Comparsa there was a '98 world tour. Since '98 there have been numerous live performances, including the Image Concerts, which took place in Japan. The concerts were based around the 'Image' album (similar to Pure Moods) and featured a number of famous Japanese artists, also including Deep Forest.

Donations

A percentage of proceeds from Deep Forest's debut album sales went to the Pygmy Fund, set up to aid the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

's Efe pygmies in the transition from nomadic to agrarian subsistence, and to provide appropriate health care. However, music of the Efe people was not included on the record, and so the musicians sampled on the record would not have benefited. A portion of the proceeds from 'Boheme' go to the György Martin Foundation, which aids in protecting the Roma culture of Hungary. Deep Forest also actively supports the Sana Madagascar Association starting with 'Comparsa'. "The aim of the Sana Madagascar Association is to contribute protecting the environment, to collect instruments and precious recordings in order to allow the Malagasy man to save his culture, his nature and his traditional music."

Controversy

The song "Freedom Cry" from the album '' Boheme'' caused controversy when it was revealed that the Hungarian Roma singer, Károly Rostás ("Huttyán"), never received any monetary compensation from the song, and neither did his family after he died in 1986. His singing, archived by Claude Flagel, was sampled by Deep Forest. Flagel allegedly paid Huttyán (about in 1986) for the recording. The case was later documented in a movie entitled '' Huttyán'', released in 1996.Huttyán (NDA@SZTAKI)
/ref> The relatives did succeed to some extent in getting compensation from Deep Forest. Deep Forest's signature song "Sweet Lullaby" centres on an uncredited recording of ancestral Baegu lullaby "Rorogwela", from

Malaita Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...

, sung by a woman named Afunakwa, and recorded by ethnomusicologist

Hugo Zemp Hugo Zemp (born 14 May 1937, Basel, Switzerland) is a Swiss-French ethnomusicologist. A prolific recorder of ethnic music and a writer on the subject, he has also shot a number of films about music of various regions, including 1988 film ''Voix d ...

. The recording was used without authorization from Afunakwa, Zemp, label UNESCO discs or distributor Auvidis, although Zemp had earlier reluctantly given oral permission for an unrelated recording to be used. The Deep Forest project has since become a ''cause celèbre'' as an example of primitivist caricature and

cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or cultural identity, identity by members of another culture or identity in a manner perceived as inappropriate or unacknowledged. Such a controversy typically ari ...

Influences

Mouquet was influenced by his interests in

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

and

techno music Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

Awards

Nominations in France and the US

*1993: MTV Awards Best Video - "Sweet Lullaby" *1993: Victoires de la Musique Best Album - ''World Music'' *1993: Victoires de la Musique Best Group of the Year *1995: World Music Awards Winner - French group with the highest 1995 world sales *1995: Grammy Awards Winner - Best Album - ''World Music'' *1996: Victoires de la Musique - Best Group of the Year *1996: Victoires de la Musique - Best Album - ''World Music''

Discography

Albums

; Studio albums * 1992: ''

Deep Forest Deep Forest is a French music project that originally began as a duo consisting of Michel Sanchez (musician), Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electro ...

'' (also known as '' World Mix'') • 3 mil. copies sold * 1995: '' Boheme'' • 4 mil. copies sold * 1997: ''

Comparsa A comparsa is a group of singers, musicians and dancers that take part in carnivals and other festivities in Spain and Latin America. Its precise meaning depends on the specific regional celebration. The most famous comparsas are those that part ...

'' • 1 mil. copies sold * 2002: '' Music Detected'' • 500,000 copies sold * 2008: ''Deep Brasil'' * 2013: ''Deep India'' (with Rahul Sharma) * 2013: '' Deep Africa'' * 2015: ''Evo Devo'' * 2018: ''Epic Circuits'' (with Gaudi) * 2020: ''Deep Symphonic'' * 2021: ''Eponymous'' (a re-recording of

) * 2023: ''Burning'' ; Live albums * 1999: '' Made in Japan'' • 150,000 copies sold ; Soundtracks * 2000: '' Pacifique'' * 2004: ''Kusa no Ran'' • released only in Japan ; Compilations * 2003: ''Essence of Deep Forest'' • released only in Japan * 2004: ''Essence of the Forest'' • three different editions

Singles

* 1992 – "Deep Forest" ( UK #20) Australia #32 * 1992 – " Sweet Lullaby" (UK #10, U.S. #78, Australia #7. Over 1 million copies sold) * 1992 – "White Whisper" * 1993 – "Forest Hymn" * 1994 – "Savana Dance" (UK #28) * 1994 – "Undecided" (collaboration with

Youssou N'dour Youssou N'Dour (, ; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' described him as, "perhaps the m ...

) * 1995 – "Boheme" * 1995 – "Marta's Song" (UK #26 (collaboration with Márta Sebestyén)) * 1996 – " While the Earth Sleeps" (collaboration with

) * 1996 – "Bohemian Ballet" (promo) * 1997 – "Freedom Cry" * 1997 – "Madazulu" * 1998 – "Media Luna" * 1998 – "Noonday Sun" * 1999 – "Hunting" (Live) * 1999 – "Sweet Lullaby" (live) * 2000 – "Pacifique" * 2002 – "Deep Blue Sea" (INA #2 (collaboration with

)) * 2002 – "Endangered Species" * 2002 – "Will You Be Ready" (promo)

Other releases

; Michel Sanchez albums * 1994: ''Windows'' • produced by Dan Lacksman and himself * 2000: ''Hiéroglyphes'' • produced by himself * 2008: ''The Day Of A Paper Bird'' • produced by himself * 2008: ''The Touch'' • produced by himself * 2014: ''Eliott'' • produced by himself * 2015: ''The Man And The Machine'' • produced by himself * 2016: ''Ça Sent L'Jazz'' (EP) • produced by himself * 2016: ''Windows II'' • produced by himself ; Eric Mouquet's albums * 2008: ''Deep Brasil'' • as Deep Projects * 2013: ''Deep India'' • as Deep Forest & Rahul Sharma * 2013: '' Deep Africa'' • as Deep Forest Eric Mouquet ; Collaborations * 1999: ''Aral'' with Catherine Lara * 2003: ''Closer'' with

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, ...

* 2006: ''Awake'' with Josh Groban * 2012: ''Files under Zawinhul'' with Joe Zawinul * 2018: ''Epic Circuits'' with Gaudi

References

{{Deep Forest French new-age music groups French world music groups French electronic musicians Grammy Award winners Musical groups established in 1992 550 Music artists