Cathy Renoir and singer Pulchérie Ibilola with the best drummer in the world the late Tony Allen
( the caprices of a river ) directed by Bernard Giraubeau , Inca de Oro of Patrick Grandperret , or " la Nuit des elephants " ( elephantd night ) by ierry Machado , and of course the soundtrack of the TV series Fatou la malienne . Is there a di erence between composing film music and normal albums ? and what approach do you have when tackling a film project ? Cathy Renoir : For films , there is a lot of instrumental music . The story is important to be able to interpret the song ( s ). I then use the training of actress to find the state and to transmit the sensitivity of the text and the melody .
We would be tempted to say that Cathy Renoir is a polyglot , because you have sung in so many di erent languages . How do you sing in languages you don ' t speak fluently ? How do you prepare this kind of vocal project to have a perfect pronunciation ? Cathy Renoir : As a child , my parents made us listen to a lot of world music . From Miriam Makeba to Irish songs , from Caribbean music to songs from South America ,
30 Flashmag ! Issue 128 April 2022
from the choirs of the Red Army to classical music , blues , jazz , French , Alsatian or Maghreb music ... It is the phonetics that we perceive first . I work with the artists to correct , clarify , refine my pronunciation as well as possible . Many singers in these musical styles do the same . Translation helps us with interpretation .
A word about Your Brazilian adventure with the group Tupi Nago , between 1993 and 2000 when you were a percussionist and a backing vocalist ?
Cathy Renoir : After our first trip to Brazil with Ray Lema , I dreamed of playing with a batucada . A few months later , a friend Silvano Michelino suggested that I join Tupi Nagô , which was an electric batucada with guitars and singer Regina Celia Machado . The leader Marcus China was also a capoeirist as well as several percussionist members , and their show mixed music and capoeira , and paid homage to the Tupi , an Amerindian tribe from Brazil and the Nagô , a people from West Africa , deported and enslaved . Their repertoire ranged from songs celebrating the orishas to Carnival rhythms . Tremendous energy .