Au nom de la lune is the first French studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Indonesian singer Anggun

Anggun

Anggun Cipta Sasmi is an Indonesian singer-songwriter. She has released 12 studio albums and one soundtrack album , and her songs have also been included on various compilation albums. Her musical career began in childhood, and she achieved commercial success in Indonesia when she was 12 years old...

. The album was released in France and french-speaking nations on June 24, 1997 under Columbia France

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

. The album was produced by producer/songwriter Erick Benzi

Erick Benzi

Erick Benzi is a French musician, songwriter, composer and record producer.He is the former member of group Canada . Benzi is one of biggest and the most requested Francophone producers...

 and published by Sony Music France.

Album information

The album contains 16 songs which were written by Erick Benzi with two songs ("A la plume de tes doigts" and "Selamanya") co-written by Anggun. Anggun also co-wrote an interlude ("Gita") with Herve Teboul. Lyrics were written entirely by Erick Benzi (except for "A la plume de tes doigts", "De soleil et d'ombres" and "Always" which were written by Jacques Veneruso) while the Indonesian

Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....

 lyrical insertions were written by Anggun herself. The album contains elements of Indonesian traditional sounds mixed with contemporary pop and rock music. Instruments such as kemiri, tambur, percussion and ney

Ney

The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...

 flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 were played by Herve Teboul while Nikki Matheson and Benzi himself provided the backing vocals and Jacques Veneruso played guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s (both electric and acoustic) and also provided the backing vocals. The album received Double Gold Status in France.

Track listing

1. "La neige au Sahara" (Erick Benzi
   Erick Benzi
   Erick Benzi is a French musician, songwriter, composer and record producer.He is the former member of group Canada . Benzi is one of biggest and the most requested Francophone producers...
   
   ) – 4:20
2. "Le depart" (Benzi) – 0:29
3. "Plus fort que les frontieres" (Benzi) – 3:14
4. "A la plume de tes doigts" (Anggun
   Anggun
   Anggun Cipta Sasmi is an Indonesian singer-songwriter. She has released 12 studio albums and one soundtrack album , and her songs have also been included on various compilation albums. Her musical career began in childhood, and she achieved commercial success in Indonesia when she was 12 years old...
   
   , Veneruso) – 3:33
5. "La rose des vents" (Benzi) – 4:27
6. "Gita" (Anggun, Teboul) – 0:27
7. "La memoire des rochers" (Benzi, Mingot) – 4:03
8. "La ligne des sens" (Benzi) – 4:35
9. "Blanca" (Benzi) – 0:41
10. "Valparaiso" (Benzi) – 3:59
11. "Selamanya" (Anggun, Benzi) – 2:24
12. "Au nom de la lune" (Benzi) – 4:07
13. "Pluies" (Veneruso) – 0:57
14. "De soleils et d'ombres" (Veneruso) – 4:01
15. "Always" (Veneruso) – 4:12
16. "Ceria" (Benzi) – 0:49

Singles and Chart Positions

1. La neige au Sahara

• #16 France

2. La rose des vents¹

• #49 France

3. Au nom de la lune

• #60 France

4. La ligne des sens (not charted)

5. La perle noire² (off-album single)

¹La Rose des Vents was the first Anggun single recorded in three different languages - French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 ('A Rose in the Wind') and Indonesian ('Kembali').

²La Perle Noire was recorded for the Les Perles du Mantea documentary.