Toulouse. Michel Jonasz: “A good concert is a shared joy”
Michel Jonasz is back on stage at the Casino Barrière in Toulouse, this Wednesday, November 10 with a new album “La Méouge, le Rhône, la Durance”, accompanied by very good musicians, including Manu Katché on drums.
Michel Jonasz is back on stage at the Casino Barrière in Toulouse, this Wednesday, November 10 with a new album “La Méouge, le Rhône, la Durance”, accompanied by very good musicians, including Manu Katché on drums.
A “monument of French song”, an “inimitable voice”, a “very good actor” … Your audience adores you. Why do you think you are so loved?
I believe the real love story is the stage. For me, what matters is not making albums, but nurturing a repertoire on stage. I did not choose this profession to be known, except at the beginning, because I had to be recognized to earn money. I am really passionate about my job. I think people are feeling it.
Why did you wait 8 years to record a new record?
For lack of time, between film and TV shoots and concerts. But I missed the writing. The confinement forced me to be quiet. When I write, I need to be calm, to dream, to invent, to express emotions.
We saw you recently on the 3 in the TV movie, “Bad Seeds” You never wanted to choose between your two jobs, singer and actor?
I started with the theater. I took drama lessons before doing songs. Besides, I wrote and performed a single-on-stage, “Abraham”, inspired by the life of my grandfather, a Polish Jew. I have a little frustration at not having been able to do more things in the theater, for lack of time. But on stage, I am also an actor. I talk to the public, I tell them stories, I amuse them.
How do you prepare before going on stage?
I have a kind of ritual. I arrive early, around 6 pm, to do the soundcheck with the technicians. Dinner at 7 p.m., a light meal, based on chicken or fish. Then comes the time of makeup, a moment of important concentration.
You don’t have the jitters?
Not really because the show is running well. But having the jitters gives you energy. Fear, on the other hand, is not good. If you observe yourself, if you wonder “how I speak”, “how I sing”, that takes away from the joy of being on stage. We can fight against fear, there are methods.
What is your definition of “groove”, the title of your show?
It’s like a rhythmic wave, a drive that is there to enhance the text. There is groove everywhere, everyone has their own inside.
Your album La Méouge, Le Rhône, la Durance contains “The retirement home”, a poignant song, nominated for the Victoires de la Musique 2021. How was it born?
I wrote this text when I composed the album. It’s a love song. The character, tells his wife that their love has no limit in time, that it lasts beyond the physical aspect, and that they will never go to a retirement home. I hope neither.
What is a good gig for you?
Technical conditions met and a perfect exchange between the public and the artists. My first criterion is not to give people what they expect, for example old hits, but what I want to sing. Because if I don’t want to, if I’m not completely in the present moment, it can’t work. A good concert is a shared joy.
What comes first, the lyrics or the music?
First the text. I have suitcases full of school notebooks that I write on. Sometimes I dig into it. The music comes after, to give rhythm to the words.
Some of your big hits, like “Dites-moi”, are melancholic, others very jazzy, like “The Jazz Box”. How are you in life?
Like everyone else, it depends on the moment. But I am a good living. We are on earth to experience joy.