Bruno Blum
Encyclopedia
Bruno Blum is a singer songwriter, guitar player and music producer nicknamed "Doc Reggae." Born in Vichy, France on October 4, 1960, he is mostly known for his work in the reggae
music field, and also works as a comic book artist, illustrator, painter, photographer, writer and speaker.
He was the first French musician to record and release dub
music, as well as afrobeat
sung in French, and has released several French songs albums in a wide variety of styles. He is known, among other things, for his work with the press-acclaimed Asmara All Stars and on Serge Gainsbourg
's three reggae albums, which he has produced new mixes of, as well as dub
and deejay versions in 2003. He completed a new mix of Serge Gainsbourg
's Gainsbourg Et Cætera Palace live album in 2006. Blum performs steadily with his rock and reggae
bands as a singer and lead guitar player, and speaks worldwide on the history of reggae
music, African music and other rock and blues culture-related subjects. His reggae
lectures come with his reggae
photography exhibition. Written in a lively style, several of his books on music history give him an authority status in the French-speaking world. His successful French (Guerre) and English versions of Bob Marley
's War
recorded with The Wailers, as well as his work on major Bob Marley
& the Wailers reissues with U.S. partner Roger Steffens
gave him some international recognition. He has also directed several documentaries for television, and Tenor Saw's classic Ring the Alarm reggae
video.
Fully bilingual, he occasionally records 'updated' pastiches of well-known songs in both English and French, including I Feel-Like-I'm-A-Fixin'-To-Die Rag, and satirical songs such as Ça Bouge (sur la place Rouge). His own French songs output often displays puzzling double-entendre lyrics. His abounding, dense world often includes a touch of humour, and his art complements his Jamaica, Nigeria and USA-inspired music.
Influenced by the electric, genuine analog sound, and militant spirit of the 1970s, his wide array of works melt into a coherent whole, where different styles are approached in true eclectic fashion. Alternatively playing blues, dub (which he often mixes himself on analog sound boards), rock, jazz, afrobeat, reggae, etc., he is playing Organic music guaranteed to be played without machines by live, free-range musicians. A vegetarian and ecologist, he has lived without drugs or alcohol for over twenty years. An independent polymath thriving on passion, he always funded his own recordings, which put forward his individual, idiosyncratic lyric style. He also creates a vinyl record label in Jamaica. Originally renowned as a rock critic Bruno Blum gradually embodies an adventurer-musician globe-trotter figure, an astute lyric writer and a remarkable guitar player, as well as a historian of English-speaking popular music and graphic artist.
A prolific artist, besides photography, illustration and comic strips, he has also always produced graphic work meant to be exhibited. He often draws a blurry line between plastic arts and comic strip, as in the "Don't Drink and Drive, Smoke and Fly" series (see picture above) where the story jumps out of the pages to become a series of pictures, before going back to its initial, former frame.
weekly reader and André Franquin (Spirou
, Marsupilami
, Gaston Lagaffe
) fan, the song Les Élucubrations d’Antoine is a revelation for him at an early age. When advertising is permitted on French television from October 1, 1968, his parents of humble origins Nicole and Tony Blum start producing commercials. Their success is immediate. Their company, named FBI (Falby Blum International) has already produced several films by young director Jean-Jacques Annaud
when they are awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Advertising Film Festival in 1972 for Annaud’s Crackers Belin film. The company has opened offices in five countries as Tony Blum moves to Toronto in Canada, where his son joins him during the 1974 and 1975 summers. Aged fifteen, he is already bilingual after several stays in the UK, U.S.A. and Canada. His father produces the first feature film by Jerome Savary
Le boucher, la star et l'orpheline (1975). Bruno Blum gets to meet and know his parents’ colleagues and friends, including various directors and actors such as Pierre Desproges
and Jerry Lewis
, but he is not interested in advertising. A dedicated comic strip reader, as early as twelve he is the founder of several amateur college comic magazines with his classmates. After an encounter with Asterix
author René Goscinny
, he creates a magazine named ‘’Klaus’’ in the Paris art school Les Arts Appliqués where he is studying comic book art with Georges Pichard, Jacques Lob and Yves Got. In 1974-1975, the very young editor has gathered a team of talented artists that would all become professionals, including Bernar, Fernand Zacot, Gilles Hurtebize, Jean Teulé
and classmate Jean-Marie Blanche, son of the famous French comedian and humorist Francis Blanche, an inspiration to both friends. Failing all studies, Blum is being evicted out of three colleges, including two art schools. Self taught from then on, he would build teams following the same pattern, being the prime mover in many of his future projects.
). He lives in a North London Jamaican neighbourhood, where he discovers reggae sound systems and dub
music. Going through straits, he is staying in London squats, sharing houses with punk musicians including Private Vices and The Electric Chairs. A precocious, gifted person, he has already formed a rock group when he starts writing for glossy magazine Best, a rock monthly for which he is London correspondent from 1977 to 1981 as chronicler, reporter, illustrator and photographer. He would then work for years with a small team comprising Christian Lebrun, Francis Dordor and Patrick Eudeline, travelling (and recording) to the UK, U.S.A. and Jamaica as a reporter.
His successful In The City column, in which he publishes accounts of the very influential British music scene of the time, is written in lively, vivid gonzo style and leaves its mark on the French youth. He meets several reggae artists, including Linton Kwesi Johnson
, Steel Pulse
, Peter Tosh
, Bob Marley
and widely contributes to promoting reggae music among the French youth with his stories in popular Best Magazine. He also interviews rock artists, including Lou Reed
, Johnny Thunders
and the Heartbreakers, The Clash
, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney
and Fela Kuti
. By 1978, he has become a daily contributor as London correspondent and chronickler to nationwide French radio station Europe 1
’s Monde de la Musique show hosted by Pierre Lescure. He is recording and touring the UK in 1978-1979 with British punk group Private Vices, which he founded in 1977 with Christophe Ruhn. He was to be the first French journalist to write about The Pretenders
, Devo
, Linton Kwesi Johnson
, Madness
, Motörhead and the then-unknown Stray Cats
, which he put up in his London squat as they first arrived from New York City. He also drew their original logo (as seen on the original Runaway Boys single cover), and drummer Slim Jim Phantom
’s tattoo showing a drum set bearing his name.
, he went vegetarian like her, a theme he would later sing about in his song Les Andouilles. Blum then becomes an occasional DJ at the London Marquee Club. Initially published in Best, his fiction comic strip Rock Commando staging Motörhead is published in New Music News in London then by the band as a comic book in the UK.. He then creates the Nutty Boys comic book for pop group Madness
, drawing their biopic in issue #1. Blum comes back to live in Paris after a busking episode in Nice in the summer of 1982 with Nice-born photographer Youri Lenquette on second guitar. In 1983 he forms Les Amours, an eight-piece vocal group which records and tours in 1984. In 1984-85 Blum then begins a side career as fashion model, posing for several advertising pictures, including for France Inter
radio. Still writing for Best in the 1980s, for a time he does contribute to the Les Enfants du Rock rock TV show as a reporter and publishes cartoons in the magazines Rigolo, Best and Zoulou, an Actuel magazine offshoot.
In 1985, as seen in several TV shows, including Michel Drucker
’s, he is featured live in Catherine Ferry
’s rock backing band produced by French pop star Daniel Balavoine
. Blum then records a few of his compositions in 1986 with a four-piece version of Les Amours not including the vocal group. After treating some personal problems reported in his Cultures Cannabis book, he has since abstained from using any legal (alcohol, tobacco) or illegal drug. In 1989 he records with some of Ziggy Marley
’s musicians in Kingston, Jamaica where he presses his ‘’Des Couleurs’’ vinyl single. In late 1989, he records and releases Ça Bouge (Sur la Place Rouge) in Paris, coinciding with the fall of the Berlin wall
. His first album Bruno Blum (1990) assembles these various recordings. He becomes the first French musician to have played, produced and released a dub
record. A video of his rock song L’Histoire de ma Guitare taken from the album is broadcasted several times on M6 television in France.
, and joins Bo Diddley
live at Le Casino de Paris. A noted singer and guitar player, in 1990-1994 he leads a rock cover band featuring John Weeks and other American musicians named The Sexy Frogs, with whom he records the original ‘’J’aime les blondes’’ as well as various songs.
In 1994 he is the editor of a Best special reggae issue for which, among others, he has interviewed Lee "Scratch" Perry. With the help of Patrick Zerbib and Léon Mercadet he then edits in 1995 a special Bob Marley issue for one-shot new magazine Radio Nova Collector that was soon to become Nova Magazine. He draws several album covers and publishes artwork in Backstage, Actuel (Kronik le Kritik), Best (Scud le Rok Kritik Sourd), Hara Kiri Hebdo (weekly comic strips on vegetarian culture), L’Environnement Magazine, Panda Magazine, hosts a short, daily radio show on Radio Nova and directs the documentary film Get Up, Stand Up – L’Histoire du Reggae produced by Jean-François Bizot
for the Canal + channel. Legendary Jamaican producer Clement Dodd produces two of his original songs at Studio One
in Kingston, Jamaica. As Dodd aka Coxsone saw Blum’s Best of Reggae special issue, he nicknamed him « Doc Reggae », which has stuck since.
In partnership with American specialist Roger Steffens
he conceives and produces a series of ten Bob Marley & the Wailers
albums that include around a hundred rare or previously unreleased recordings (he also mixes eight of them), time period photographs and much previously unheard of 1967-1972 information. In 1997-2003 Blum revives the original Danny Sims-owned JAD American label in Paris at this occasion, and successfully releases the albums in several countries.
Doc Reggae then creates the Jamaican label Human Race Records and its European incarnation Rastafari Records, through which he releases several reggae vinyl singles featuring the voices of Haile Selassie I, Marcus Garvey
, Big Youth
, King Stitt
, Buffalo Bill and Doc Reggae himself, also playing the guitar on all tracks. A version of Bob Marley
’s War
is recorded using the voice of the lyrics’ creator himself, Haile Selassie I and surviving members of the Wailers. A vinyl single featuring Bob Marley
and Haile Selassie I reaches the #1 spot in the April 1998 of British magazine Echoes
charts. The War Album is then recorded with Big Youth
and Buffalo Bill.
In Jamaica he directs videos for Tenor Saw
’s Ring the Alarm and Buffalo Bill’s Perfect Woman, as well as several TV reports for the Tracks show broadcasted on the Arte
channel. After the demise of Best in 1995 he joins competitor Rock & Folk magazine until 1999, then gives up all journalism work, excepting for a few stories published in Les Inrockuptibles, which he leaves in 2002.
• Le Reggae
• Bob Marley, le Reggae et les Rastas as well as his travel chronicles, fully illustrated with his photographs and artwork Jamaïque, sur la Piste du Reggae where he tells the story of his Jamaican adventures. He also co-signs Le Dictionnaire du Rock as a main contributor with Michka Assayas.
Still performing live through the decade, after the 2001 The War Album recorded with The Wailers, where he can be heard playing the guitar and voicing two tracks, he is noted as a lyric writer on his second solo album Nuage d’Éthiopie, also in 2001. Released on his own De Luxe label, this reggae album includes the single Si Je Reste (adapted in French from The Clash
’s Should I Stay or Should I Go), a duet with Annabelle Mouloudji. Nuage d’Éthiopie gets good reviews. To Yves Bigot « French reggae has found its songwriter ». Backed by The Wailers on Avis aux Amateurs, he puts to music the letter in which Arthur Rimbaud
breaks the news on his mother that he will remain in Africa. Going against the grain of fashionable electronic music, he forwards in a 1970s-influenced style where lyrics and skilled electric instruments players are pivotal. He refers to Boris Vian
, Alain Bashung
, Linton Kwesi Johnson
, Jacques Dutronc
(he has recorded a parody of Dutronc’s Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi) and Serge Gainsbourg
of whom he recorded a version of L’Appareil à Sous (originally recorded by Brigitte Bardot
) - and soon an English version of Lola Rastaquouère.
Think Different, his third album of original compositions, was recorded in a wide array of styles and released in 2002, followed by Welikom 2 Lay-Gh-Us ! recorded in Lagos
(Nigeria
) with a 20-piece band from Fela Kuti’s group, and released by BMG, which also reissued his Bob Marley
1967-1972 twelve-album series. JAD Records suddenly signed a distribution deal with Universal, and BMG was compelled to retrieve the entire JAD stock from the shops. The JAD delivery included two previously unreleased Peter Tosh albums, a Buffalo Bill album as well as Amala & Blum’s Welikom 2 Lay-Gh-Us ! album which, although just released, was also retrieved from the shops by mistake (as it had nothing to do with JAD Records) in spite of getting daily airplay on José Artur’s Pop Club show on France Inter
. Nevertheless, Blum remains the first French musician to release an afrobeat
album – destroyed shortly after its release, it only reached about a hundred journalists.
In 2003 Universal Music releases two double Serge Gainsbourg
CD albums, Aux Armes Et Cætera
and Mauvaises Nouvelles des Étoiles in a new 1970s style Kingston mix produced by Bruno Blum, featuring veteran Jamaican sound engineer Soljie Hamilton. Also included on the album are dub
and deejay versions (including Lisa Dainjah, Big Youth
, King Stitt
, Lone Ranger). The two press-acclaimed albums unveil several previously unreleased recordings, among which the Gainsbourg composition Ecce Homo Et Cætera. Blum also voices one track himself, an English rendition of Lola Rastaquouère, and plays guitar on his new arrangement of Marilou Reggae, recorded with Horsemouth Wallace on drums and Flabba Holt on bass.
After contributing to slam
shows in his Ménilmontant neighborhood, he records slammer Nada’s Live at the Olympic Café (2001) album. He also supplies artwork for the CD cover as well as the follow-up Ultrash, which he produces and plays on as Nada recites his lyrics over newly recorded instrumental versions of Velvet Underground songs. Two other ex-members of Best magazine’s team participate to the album : Gilles Riberolles and Patrick Eudeline, who contributes with several short songs on Ultrash.
Gainsbourg… Et Cætera, a new Blum-produced mix (Thierry Bertomeu, engineer) of the poorly mixed, original Serge Gainsbourg live album Enregistrement Public au Théâtre Le Palace is released in 2006. This double CD includes five previously unreleased versions and an interview with Serge Gainsbourg
.
A new album entitled Doc Reggae (partially recorded in Jamaica on the ‘’Marilou Reggae’’ sessions with Horsemouth Wallace and Flabba Holt) is coming together with his group Dub De Luxe. Blum keeps performing live with Dub De Luxe as well as, from 2006 in an American group playing classic 1930s/1960s R&B covers sometimes featuring pianist Gilbert Shelton
, the well-known Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic book artist. Blum also produces an album by Shelton.
In 2006 he is invited to play a series of shows in Asmara
, Eritrea
by the French Ambassador in Eritrea
. It is his first of a series of trips that would lead to producing an anthology album of the best Eritrean singers (released in 2010).
In June 2007, the publication of his book Culture Cannabis leads Bruno Blum to an hour-long clash with Professor Jean Costentin live on national radio France Inter
. In 2008 he obtains a Master in musicology in Paris and publishes Le Rap Est Né en Jamaïque (‘’Rap Was Born in Jamaica’’) in 2009. He also produces the Harry Belafonte - Calypso, Mento & Folk 1954-1957 anthology. Still performing onstage, he MCs dances as deejay and selecter, and speaks regularly in conferences around his country and abroad. In 2009 as he was one of the main writers in Best Magazine he creates the Facebook
group Best, le mensuel du rock. This internet site would eventually lead to Blum directing an anthology book of Bests best stories.
In 2008-2009 he produced the Asmara All Stars Eritrea’s Got Soul (released in 2010) album in Eritrea
, also playing on several songs. The album gathers some of the best musicians and singers from eight ethnic groups, including Faytinga, Sara Teklesenbet, Mahmoud Ahmed Amr, Temasgen Yared, Ibrahim Goret and Adam Faid Amr. The album gets a warm welcome in the press as well as the radio: If you like the Ethiopian soul-funk sound of the early 1970s, you should find much to enjoy in this contemporary take on it. Eritrea is Ethiopia’s neighbour and many of the country’s musicians actually contributed to those classic recordings. The main difference with this contemporary project is the influence of Jamaican reggae. But the dub elements fold erfectly into the sinuous Ethiopian grooves – as our own Dub Colossus have already demonstrated. Vibrant, heady and sensuous stuff (The Independent, London, October 2010). Two album release party shows, including one in the Opera House, take place in Asmara
in October 2010.
In November 2010 Volume 1 of Best of Best, an anthology of rock magazine Best to which he was a major contributor, is published. The 320 pages book was conceived, coordinated and edited by Blum with the support of the original team including Sacha Reins, Patrick Eudeline and Francis Dordor, who wrote a tribute to the late editor Christian Lebrun.
He is also editor of the following Caribbean music anthologies: Jamaica, Mento 1951-1958, Bahamas, Goombay 1951-1959, Trinidad, Calypso 1939-1959 and Calypso for which he writes sizeable, standard reference booklets.
In 2011 he designs and draws both ten-CD Anthologie des musiques de danse du monde (Dance Music Masters) box sets covers as well as each of the twenty album covers they contain. As part of the Festival des Cultures Juives de Paris in June 2011 he speaks on the theme "Bob Marley, culture Rastafari et Judaïsme" in the Paris 4 Town Hall. In 2011 Bruno Blum also translates the Kim Gottlieb-Walker's Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae photo book (as Bob Marley, un portrait inédit en photos) to which director Cameron Crowe
contributed.
An anthology of his Jamaican record label Human Race is released in late 2011. Essentially recorded in Jamaica, the double roots reggae CD Human Race includes The War Album with a bonus track, and features the voices of Haile Selassie I, Marcus Garvey
, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela
as well as Big Youth
, Spectacular, Buffalo Bill, King Stitt
, Brady, Annabelle Mouloudji, Joseph Cotton
, Lady Manuella, Bruno Blum and several previously unreleased tracks. Illustrated by several photographs and original artwork by Blum, the CD booklet is written by renowned U.S. reggae historian Roger Steffens
.
In French:
He has also contributed to the following:
In English:
In French:
Most of Bruno Blum's books are illustrated by his artwork and photographs.
The Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967-1972 series in partnership with Leroy Jodie Pierson and Roger Steffens:
In French:
In partnership with Gilles Verlant
:
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
music field, and also works as a comic book artist, illustrator, painter, photographer, writer and speaker.
He was the first French musician to record and release dub
Dub
Dub or dubbing may refer to:* Accolade, the conferring of knighthood-Arts and entertainment:* Dubbing , the copying of audio recordings from one medium to another...
music, as well as afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...
sung in French, and has released several French songs albums in a wide variety of styles. He is known, among other things, for his work with the press-acclaimed Asmara All Stars and on Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
's three reggae albums, which he has produced new mixes of, as well as dub
Dub
Dub or dubbing may refer to:* Accolade, the conferring of knighthood-Arts and entertainment:* Dubbing , the copying of audio recordings from one medium to another...
and deejay versions in 2003. He completed a new mix of Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
's Gainsbourg Et Cætera Palace live album in 2006. Blum performs steadily with his rock and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
bands as a singer and lead guitar player, and speaks worldwide on the history of reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
music, African music and other rock and blues culture-related subjects. His reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
lectures come with his reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
photography exhibition. Written in a lively style, several of his books on music history give him an authority status in the French-speaking world. His successful French (Guerre) and English versions of Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
's War
War (Bob Marley song)
"War" is a song recorded and made popular by Bob Marley. It first appeared on Bob Marley and the Wailers' 1976 Island Records album, Rastaman Vibration, Marley's only top 10 album in the USA...
recorded with The Wailers, as well as his work on major Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
& the Wailers reissues with U.S. partner Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens is a Brooklyn, New York born actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, producer. Roger is perhaps best known for his reggae archives, in particular his archives of Bob Marley. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house his archives, which include the world's...
gave him some international recognition. He has also directed several documentaries for television, and Tenor Saw's classic Ring the Alarm reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
video.
Fully bilingual, he occasionally records 'updated' pastiches of well-known songs in both English and French, including I Feel-Like-I'm-A-Fixin'-To-Die Rag, and satirical songs such as Ça Bouge (sur la place Rouge). His own French songs output often displays puzzling double-entendre lyrics. His abounding, dense world often includes a touch of humour, and his art complements his Jamaica, Nigeria and USA-inspired music.
Influenced by the electric, genuine analog sound, and militant spirit of the 1970s, his wide array of works melt into a coherent whole, where different styles are approached in true eclectic fashion. Alternatively playing blues, dub (which he often mixes himself on analog sound boards), rock, jazz, afrobeat, reggae, etc., he is playing Organic music guaranteed to be played without machines by live, free-range musicians. A vegetarian and ecologist, he has lived without drugs or alcohol for over twenty years. An independent polymath thriving on passion, he always funded his own recordings, which put forward his individual, idiosyncratic lyric style. He also creates a vinyl record label in Jamaica. Originally renowned as a rock critic Bruno Blum gradually embodies an adventurer-musician globe-trotter figure, an astute lyric writer and a remarkable guitar player, as well as a historian of English-speaking popular music and graphic artist.
A prolific artist, besides photography, illustration and comic strips, he has also always produced graphic work meant to be exhibited. He often draws a blurry line between plastic arts and comic strip, as in the "Don't Drink and Drive, Smoke and Fly" series (see picture above) where the story jumps out of the pages to become a series of pictures, before going back to its initial, former frame.
Early life
A SpirouSpirou
Spirou may refer to:In comics:* Spirou , the eponymous main character of the comics series Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou* Spirou , originally Le Journal de Spirou, Belgian weekly serial comics magazine...
weekly reader and André Franquin (Spirou
Spirou
Spirou may refer to:In comics:* Spirou , the eponymous main character of the comics series Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou* Spirou , originally Le Journal de Spirou, Belgian weekly serial comics magazine...
, Marsupilami
Marsupilami
Marsupilami is a fictional comic book species created by André Franquin, first published on 31 January 1952 in the magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comic book series Spirou et Fantasio until Franquin stopped working on the series in 1968 and the character...
, Gaston Lagaffe
Gaston Lagaffe
Gaston is a comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the comic strip magazine, Spirou. The series focuses on the every-day life of Gaston Lagaffe, a lazy and accident-prone office junior...
) fan, the song Les Élucubrations d’Antoine is a revelation for him at an early age. When advertising is permitted on French television from October 1, 1968, his parents of humble origins Nicole and Tony Blum start producing commercials. Their success is immediate. Their company, named FBI (Falby Blum International) has already produced several films by young director Jean-Jacques Annaud
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Jean-Jacques Annaud is a French film director, film producer and screenwriter.- Biography :Annaud was born in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne...
when they are awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Advertising Film Festival in 1972 for Annaud’s Crackers Belin film. The company has opened offices in five countries as Tony Blum moves to Toronto in Canada, where his son joins him during the 1974 and 1975 summers. Aged fifteen, he is already bilingual after several stays in the UK, U.S.A. and Canada. His father produces the first feature film by Jerome Savary
Jérôme Savary
Jérôme Savary is a French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and musical comedy.- Biography :...
Le boucher, la star et l'orpheline (1975). Bruno Blum gets to meet and know his parents’ colleagues and friends, including various directors and actors such as Pierre Desproges
Pierre Desproges
Pierre Desproges was a French humorist. He was famous for his elaborate, eloquent and above all, virulent diatribes criticizing anything and everything....
and Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, but he is not interested in advertising. A dedicated comic strip reader, as early as twelve he is the founder of several amateur college comic magazines with his classmates. After an encounter with Asterix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
author René Goscinny
René Goscinny
René Goscinny was a French comics editor and writer, who is best known for the comic book Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary.-Early life:Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to a family...
, he creates a magazine named ‘’Klaus’’ in the Paris art school Les Arts Appliqués where he is studying comic book art with Georges Pichard, Jacques Lob and Yves Got. In 1974-1975, the very young editor has gathered a team of talented artists that would all become professionals, including Bernar, Fernand Zacot, Gilles Hurtebize, Jean Teulé
Jean Teulé
Jean Teulé is a French novelist, cartoonist and screenwriter. He is the partner of the actress Miou-Miou.- Works :Books* Bloody Mary, plot by Jean Vautrin, Glénat, 1984* Filles de nuit, Glénat, 1985...
and classmate Jean-Marie Blanche, son of the famous French comedian and humorist Francis Blanche, an inspiration to both friends. Failing all studies, Blum is being evicted out of three colleges, including two art schools. Self taught from then on, he would build teams following the same pattern, being the prime mover in many of his future projects.
Move to London
Following two convictions for record theft, and as his parents’ company goes bankrupt, causing them to lose almost everything, in 1976-1977 the drifting teenager moves to London to study animation film with Oscar Grillo (who directed several animation films for Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
). He lives in a North London Jamaican neighbourhood, where he discovers reggae sound systems and dub
Dub
Dub or dubbing may refer to:* Accolade, the conferring of knighthood-Arts and entertainment:* Dubbing , the copying of audio recordings from one medium to another...
music. Going through straits, he is staying in London squats, sharing houses with punk musicians including Private Vices and The Electric Chairs. A precocious, gifted person, he has already formed a rock group when he starts writing for glossy magazine Best, a rock monthly for which he is London correspondent from 1977 to 1981 as chronicler, reporter, illustrator and photographer. He would then work for years with a small team comprising Christian Lebrun, Francis Dordor and Patrick Eudeline, travelling (and recording) to the UK, U.S.A. and Jamaica as a reporter.
His successful In The City column, in which he publishes accounts of the very influential British music scene of the time, is written in lively, vivid gonzo style and leaves its mark on the French youth. He meets several reggae artists, including Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson is a UK-based dub poet. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British...
, Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a roots reggae musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, in Birmingham, England, composed of David Hinds , Basil Gabbidon , and Ronald McQueen .-History:...
, Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh , was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a core member of the band The Wailers , and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari.Peter Tosh was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica, an illegitimate child to a mother too young...
, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
and widely contributes to promoting reggae music among the French youth with his stories in popular Best Magazine. He also interviews rock artists, including Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...
and the Heartbreakers, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
. By 1978, he has become a daily contributor as London correspondent and chronickler to nationwide French radio station Europe 1
Europe 1
Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio network created in 1955. It is one of the leading French radio broadcasters and heard throughout France...
’s Monde de la Musique show hosted by Pierre Lescure. He is recording and touring the UK in 1978-1979 with British punk group Private Vices, which he founded in 1977 with Christophe Ruhn. He was to be the first French journalist to write about The Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...
, Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
, Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson is a UK-based dub poet. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British...
, Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
, Motörhead and the then-unknown Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
, which he put up in his London squat as they first arrived from New York City. He also drew their original logo (as seen on the original Runaway Boys single cover), and drummer Slim Jim Phantom
Slim Jim Phantom
Slim Jim Phantom is the drummer for Stray Cats. Alongside band mates Brian Setzer and Lee Rocker, he spearheaded the neo-rockabilly movement of the early 1980s.-Biography:...
’s tattoo showing a drum set bearing his name.
1980s
Blum was a militant ecologist since the age of fourteen, and after discussing the matter with Pretenders singer Chrissie HyndeChrissie Hynde
Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an US musician best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band the Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.-Early life and career:Hynde is the daughter of a part-time...
, he went vegetarian like her, a theme he would later sing about in his song Les Andouilles. Blum then becomes an occasional DJ at the London Marquee Club. Initially published in Best, his fiction comic strip Rock Commando staging Motörhead is published in New Music News in London then by the band as a comic book in the UK.. He then creates the Nutty Boys comic book for pop group Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
, drawing their biopic in issue #1. Blum comes back to live in Paris after a busking episode in Nice in the summer of 1982 with Nice-born photographer Youri Lenquette on second guitar. In 1983 he forms Les Amours, an eight-piece vocal group which records and tours in 1984. In 1984-85 Blum then begins a side career as fashion model, posing for several advertising pictures, including for France Inter
France Inter
France Inter is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and intelligent spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of...
radio. Still writing for Best in the 1980s, for a time he does contribute to the Les Enfants du Rock rock TV show as a reporter and publishes cartoons in the magazines Rigolo, Best and Zoulou, an Actuel magazine offshoot.
In 1985, as seen in several TV shows, including Michel Drucker
Michel Drucker
Michel Drucker, CQ is a popular French journalist and TV host.Michel Drucker was born in Vire, Calvados, in Normandy. Jacques Drucker, a doctor, is Michel's younger brother, and Jean Drucker, a TV top executive, is Michel's older brother. He started a journalistic career in 1965 at the ORTF as...
’s, he is featured live in Catherine Ferry
Catherine Ferry (singer)
Catherine Ferry is a French singer.In 1976, at the Eurovision Song Contest, Catherine Ferry represented France with the song "1,2,3 " . She ranked second in the contest...
’s rock backing band produced by French pop star Daniel Balavoine
Daniel Balavoine
Daniel Balavoine was a French singer and songwriter. He was hugely popular in the French-speaking world, and inspired many singers in the 1980s, such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, and Michel Berger, his closest friend...
. Blum then records a few of his compositions in 1986 with a four-piece version of Les Amours not including the vocal group. After treating some personal problems reported in his Cultures Cannabis book, he has since abstained from using any legal (alcohol, tobacco) or illegal drug. In 1989 he records with some of Ziggy Marley
Ziggy Marley
David "Ziggy" Marley is a Jamaican musician and leader of the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. He is the oldest son of famed reggae musician Bob Marley...
’s musicians in Kingston, Jamaica where he presses his ‘’Des Couleurs’’ vinyl single. In late 1989, he records and releases Ça Bouge (Sur la Place Rouge) in Paris, coinciding with the fall of the Berlin wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. His first album Bruno Blum (1990) assembles these various recordings. He becomes the first French musician to have played, produced and released a dub
Dub
Dub or dubbing may refer to:* Accolade, the conferring of knighthood-Arts and entertainment:* Dubbing , the copying of audio recordings from one medium to another...
record. A video of his rock song L’Histoire de ma Guitare taken from the album is broadcasted several times on M6 television in France.
1990s
In 1990 Bruno Blum plays onstage with Willy DeVilleWilly DeVille
Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...
, and joins Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
live at Le Casino de Paris. A noted singer and guitar player, in 1990-1994 he leads a rock cover band featuring John Weeks and other American musicians named The Sexy Frogs, with whom he records the original ‘’J’aime les blondes’’ as well as various songs.
In 1994 he is the editor of a Best special reggae issue for which, among others, he has interviewed Lee "Scratch" Perry. With the help of Patrick Zerbib and Léon Mercadet he then edits in 1995 a special Bob Marley issue for one-shot new magazine Radio Nova Collector that was soon to become Nova Magazine. He draws several album covers and publishes artwork in Backstage, Actuel (Kronik le Kritik), Best (Scud le Rok Kritik Sourd), Hara Kiri Hebdo (weekly comic strips on vegetarian culture), L’Environnement Magazine, Panda Magazine, hosts a short, daily radio show on Radio Nova and directs the documentary film Get Up, Stand Up – L’Histoire du Reggae produced by Jean-François Bizot
Jean-François Bizot
Jean-François Bizot was a French journalist and writer.Born in Paris, Bizot was the founder and owner of the Paris based radio station, Radio Nova, which first broadcast in 1981. He was also the creator of the Actuel publication.Bizot died of cancer in Paris, aged 63.-External links:* *...
for the Canal + channel. Legendary Jamaican producer Clement Dodd produces two of his original songs at Studio One
Studio One
Studio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios, having been described as "the Motown of Jamaica." One online review of "Respect to Studio One" released by Heartbeat adds "Stax-Volt" to the American R&B comparison and describes Studio One's founder Clement...
in Kingston, Jamaica. As Dodd aka Coxsone saw Blum’s Best of Reggae special issue, he nicknamed him « Doc Reggae », which has stuck since.
In partnership with American specialist Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens is a Brooklyn, New York born actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, producer. Roger is perhaps best known for his reggae archives, in particular his archives of Bob Marley. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house his archives, which include the world's...
he conceives and produces a series of ten Bob Marley & the Wailers
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Bob Marley & The Wailers were a Jamaican reggae, ska and rocksteady band formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in 1963. Additional members were Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry Smith and Aston and Carlton Barrett...
albums that include around a hundred rare or previously unreleased recordings (he also mixes eight of them), time period photographs and much previously unheard of 1967-1972 information. In 1997-2003 Blum revives the original Danny Sims-owned JAD American label in Paris at this occasion, and successfully releases the albums in several countries.
Doc Reggae then creates the Jamaican label Human Race Records and its European incarnation Rastafari Records, through which he releases several reggae vinyl singles featuring the voices of Haile Selassie I, Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
, Big Youth
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
, King Stitt
King Stitt
King Stitt, born Winston Spark , is a Jamaican DJ.- Biography :King Stitt is the oldest living Jamaican deejay. Sparkes was given the nickname Stitt as a boy and decided to use it as his stage name, becoming King Stitt when he was crowned 'king of the deejays'...
, Buffalo Bill and Doc Reggae himself, also playing the guitar on all tracks. A version of Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
’s War
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
is recorded using the voice of the lyrics’ creator himself, Haile Selassie I and surviving members of the Wailers. A vinyl single featuring Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
and Haile Selassie I reaches the #1 spot in the April 1998 of British magazine Echoes
Echoes
Echoes or echos may refer to:* the plural of Echo -Songs:* "Echoes" , a 1971 Pink Floyd song* "Echoes" by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss...
charts. The War Album is then recorded with Big Youth
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
and Buffalo Bill.
In Jamaica he directs videos for Tenor Saw
Tenor saw
Tenor Saw was a prominent dancehall singer in the 1980s, and one of the most influential singers of the early digital reggae era...
’s Ring the Alarm and Buffalo Bill’s Perfect Woman, as well as several TV reports for the Tracks show broadcasted on the Arte
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
channel. After the demise of Best in 1995 he joins competitor Rock & Folk magazine until 1999, then gives up all journalism work, excepting for a few stories published in Les Inrockuptibles, which he leaves in 2002.
2000s
Pierre Astier publishes his first book, the comprehensive biography Lou Reed – Electric Dandy at Le Serpent à Plumes. A rock and reggae specialist, Blum was to publish a further fifteen books, including some successful ones, among which :• Le Reggae
• Bob Marley, le Reggae et les Rastas as well as his travel chronicles, fully illustrated with his photographs and artwork Jamaïque, sur la Piste du Reggae where he tells the story of his Jamaican adventures. He also co-signs Le Dictionnaire du Rock as a main contributor with Michka Assayas.
Still performing live through the decade, after the 2001 The War Album recorded with The Wailers, where he can be heard playing the guitar and voicing two tracks, he is noted as a lyric writer on his second solo album Nuage d’Éthiopie, also in 2001. Released on his own De Luxe label, this reggae album includes the single Si Je Reste (adapted in French from The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
’s Should I Stay or Should I Go), a duet with Annabelle Mouloudji. Nuage d’Éthiopie gets good reviews. To Yves Bigot « French reggae has found its songwriter ». Backed by The Wailers on Avis aux Amateurs, he puts to music the letter in which Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
breaks the news on his mother that he will remain in Africa. Going against the grain of fashionable electronic music, he forwards in a 1970s-influenced style where lyrics and skilled electric instruments players are pivotal. He refers to Boris Vian
Boris Vian
Boris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their...
, Alain Bashung
Alain Bashung
Alain Bashung was a French singer, songwriter and actor.- Youth :Alain Bashung was the son of a Breton factory worker and French Kabyle father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Strasbourg to live with his new stepfather's parents...
, Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson is a UK-based dub poet. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British...
, Jacques Dutronc
Jacques Dutronc
Jacques Dutronc is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. He has been married to singer Françoise Hardy since 30 March 1981 and the two have a son . He also has been a longtime songwriting collaborator with Jacques Lanzmann...
(he has recorded a parody of Dutronc’s Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi) and Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
of whom he recorded a version of L’Appareil à Sous (originally recorded by Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
) - and soon an English version of Lola Rastaquouère.
Think Different, his third album of original compositions, was recorded in a wide array of styles and released in 2002, followed by Welikom 2 Lay-Gh-Us ! recorded in Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
(Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
) with a 20-piece band from Fela Kuti’s group, and released by BMG, which also reissued his Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
1967-1972 twelve-album series. JAD Records suddenly signed a distribution deal with Universal, and BMG was compelled to retrieve the entire JAD stock from the shops. The JAD delivery included two previously unreleased Peter Tosh albums, a Buffalo Bill album as well as Amala & Blum’s Welikom 2 Lay-Gh-Us ! album which, although just released, was also retrieved from the shops by mistake (as it had nothing to do with JAD Records) in spite of getting daily airplay on José Artur’s Pop Club show on France Inter
France Inter
France Inter is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and intelligent spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of...
. Nevertheless, Blum remains the first French musician to release an afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...
album – destroyed shortly after its release, it only reached about a hundred journalists.
In 2003 Universal Music releases two double Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
CD albums, Aux Armes Et Cætera
Aux armes et cætera (album)
Produced by Philippe Lerichomme, Aux Armes et cætera is the thirteenth album by Serge Gainsbourg, released in the early spring of 1979. It was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with some of the island's best reggae musicians as well as members of the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup chorus which includes...
and Mauvaises Nouvelles des Étoiles in a new 1970s style Kingston mix produced by Bruno Blum, featuring veteran Jamaican sound engineer Soljie Hamilton. Also included on the album are dub
Dub
Dub or dubbing may refer to:* Accolade, the conferring of knighthood-Arts and entertainment:* Dubbing , the copying of audio recordings from one medium to another...
and deejay versions (including Lisa Dainjah, Big Youth
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
, King Stitt
King Stitt
King Stitt, born Winston Spark , is a Jamaican DJ.- Biography :King Stitt is the oldest living Jamaican deejay. Sparkes was given the nickname Stitt as a boy and decided to use it as his stage name, becoming King Stitt when he was crowned 'king of the deejays'...
, Lone Ranger). The two press-acclaimed albums unveil several previously unreleased recordings, among which the Gainsbourg composition Ecce Homo Et Cætera. Blum also voices one track himself, an English rendition of Lola Rastaquouère, and plays guitar on his new arrangement of Marilou Reggae, recorded with Horsemouth Wallace on drums and Flabba Holt on bass.
After contributing to slam
SLAM
Slam or SLAM may refer to:In computer science:* Simultaneous localization and mapping, a technique used by robots and autonomous vehicles* SLAM project, a Microsoft Research project...
shows in his Ménilmontant neighborhood, he records slammer Nada’s Live at the Olympic Café (2001) album. He also supplies artwork for the CD cover as well as the follow-up Ultrash, which he produces and plays on as Nada recites his lyrics over newly recorded instrumental versions of Velvet Underground songs. Two other ex-members of Best magazine’s team participate to the album : Gilles Riberolles and Patrick Eudeline, who contributes with several short songs on Ultrash.
Gainsbourg… Et Cætera, a new Blum-produced mix (Thierry Bertomeu, engineer) of the poorly mixed, original Serge Gainsbourg live album Enregistrement Public au Théâtre Le Palace is released in 2006. This double CD includes five previously unreleased versions and an interview with Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
.
A new album entitled Doc Reggae (partially recorded in Jamaica on the ‘’Marilou Reggae’’ sessions with Horsemouth Wallace and Flabba Holt) is coming together with his group Dub De Luxe. Blum keeps performing live with Dub De Luxe as well as, from 2006 in an American group playing classic 1930s/1960s R&B covers sometimes featuring pianist Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton is an American cartoonist and underground comix artist. He is the creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, Wonder Wart-Hog, Philbert Desanex, Not Quite Dead, and the cover art to The Grateful Dead's 1978 album Shakedown Street.He graduated from Lamar High...
, the well-known Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic book artist. Blum also produces an album by Shelton.
In 2006 he is invited to play a series of shows in Asmara
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
, Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
by the French Ambassador in Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
. It is his first of a series of trips that would lead to producing an anthology album of the best Eritrean singers (released in 2010).
In June 2007, the publication of his book Culture Cannabis leads Bruno Blum to an hour-long clash with Professor Jean Costentin live on national radio France Inter
France Inter
France Inter is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and intelligent spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of...
. In 2008 he obtains a Master in musicology in Paris and publishes Le Rap Est Né en Jamaïque (‘’Rap Was Born in Jamaica’’) in 2009. He also produces the Harry Belafonte - Calypso, Mento & Folk 1954-1957 anthology. Still performing onstage, he MCs dances as deejay and selecter, and speaks regularly in conferences around his country and abroad. In 2009 as he was one of the main writers in Best Magazine he creates the Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
group Best, le mensuel du rock. This internet site would eventually lead to Blum directing an anthology book of Bests best stories.
2010s
In the summer of 2010 a major Emma Lavigne exhibition on punk rock visual aesthetics and photographs at the Rencontres d’Arles show his collection of rare original punk records. At this occasion he speaks on punk musical aesthetics from 1930s jazz to 1940s-1970s rock music. In September, Doc Reggae performs at the Trois Baudets in Paris. For the first time, he offers a multimedia event where his paintings, artwork, comics trips as well as his Jamaïque sur la Piste du Reggae photo exhibition and video footage are shown before his own reggae show.In 2008-2009 he produced the Asmara All Stars Eritrea’s Got Soul (released in 2010) album in Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
, also playing on several songs. The album gathers some of the best musicians and singers from eight ethnic groups, including Faytinga, Sara Teklesenbet, Mahmoud Ahmed Amr, Temasgen Yared, Ibrahim Goret and Adam Faid Amr. The album gets a warm welcome in the press as well as the radio: If you like the Ethiopian soul-funk sound of the early 1970s, you should find much to enjoy in this contemporary take on it. Eritrea is Ethiopia’s neighbour and many of the country’s musicians actually contributed to those classic recordings. The main difference with this contemporary project is the influence of Jamaican reggae. But the dub elements fold erfectly into the sinuous Ethiopian grooves – as our own Dub Colossus have already demonstrated. Vibrant, heady and sensuous stuff (The Independent, London, October 2010). Two album release party shows, including one in the Opera House, take place in Asmara
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
in October 2010.
In November 2010 Volume 1 of Best of Best, an anthology of rock magazine Best to which he was a major contributor, is published. The 320 pages book was conceived, coordinated and edited by Blum with the support of the original team including Sacha Reins, Patrick Eudeline and Francis Dordor, who wrote a tribute to the late editor Christian Lebrun.
He is also editor of the following Caribbean music anthologies: Jamaica, Mento 1951-1958, Bahamas, Goombay 1951-1959, Trinidad, Calypso 1939-1959 and Calypso for which he writes sizeable, standard reference booklets.
In 2011 he designs and draws both ten-CD Anthologie des musiques de danse du monde (Dance Music Masters) box sets covers as well as each of the twenty album covers they contain. As part of the Festival des Cultures Juives de Paris in June 2011 he speaks on the theme "Bob Marley, culture Rastafari et Judaïsme" in the Paris 4 Town Hall. In 2011 Bruno Blum also translates the Kim Gottlieb-Walker's Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae photo book (as Bob Marley, un portrait inédit en photos) to which director Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....
contributed.
An anthology of his Jamaican record label Human Race is released in late 2011. Essentially recorded in Jamaica, the double roots reggae CD Human Race includes The War Album with a bonus track, and features the voices of Haile Selassie I, Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
as well as Big Youth
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
, Spectacular, Buffalo Bill, King Stitt
King Stitt
King Stitt, born Winston Spark , is a Jamaican DJ.- Biography :King Stitt is the oldest living Jamaican deejay. Sparkes was given the nickname Stitt as a boy and decided to use it as his stage name, becoming King Stitt when he was crowned 'king of the deejays'...
, Brady, Annabelle Mouloudji, Joseph Cotton
Joseph Cotton
Joseph Cotton aka Jah Walton is a reggae deejay active since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
, Lady Manuella, Bruno Blum and several previously unreleased tracks. Illustrated by several photographs and original artwork by Blum, the CD booklet is written by renowned U.S. reggae historian Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens is a Brooklyn, New York born actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, producer. Roger is perhaps best known for his reggae archives, in particular his archives of Bob Marley. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house his archives, which include the world's...
.
Albums
- Bruno Blum (New Rose, 1990)
- Nuage d'Éthiopie (Culture Press, 2001)
- Think Différent (Culture Press, 2002)
- Amala & Blum : Welikom 2 Lay-Gh-Us! (BMG, 2003)
Compilations
- With Private Vices (in 1979): Paris 84 and Total Control on the Les Plus Grands Succès du punk album (Skydog 1984)
- With Les Manches (in 1982): These Boots Are Made for Walking on the Week End à Nice album (Black and White 1983)
- With Les Amours (in 1984): La Tentation (elle est dans ton cœur) (adapted from Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
's Temptation Inside Your Heart) on the Romances 85 album (Romances 1985) - With The Wailers (in 1996): "WarWar (Bob Marley song)"War" is a song recorded and made popular by Bob Marley. It first appeared on Bob Marley and the Wailers' 1976 Island Records album, Rastaman Vibration, Marley's only top 10 album in the USA...
" and "Guerre" on "The War Album" (Rastafari 2001), a Human Race (Jamaica 1997) 45rpm single, and a Rastafari (Europe 2009) 45rpm single. - With Dub De Luxe (in 2003): Viens fumer un p'tit joint on the Libérez Marie-Jeanne, Tolérance Double Zéro Volume III album (Productions Spéciales, 2003)
- With The Revolutionaries (in 2002): Lola rastaquouère (English Version) on the Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
: Aux Armes et Cætera - Dub Style album (Mercury, 2003)
Production
- The War Album featuring the voices of Haile Selassie I, Bob MarleyBob MarleyRobert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, The Wailers, Big YouthBig YouthManley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
, Buffalo Bill and Bruno Blum (Rastafari Records, 2001) - King Stitt : Zoot Suit Hipster (vinyl single, Human Race 2002)
- Big YouthBig YouthManley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
/Spectacular and the voice of Marcus Garvey: Marcus GarveyMarcus GarveyMarcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
(12" 4-track single, Human Race, 2002) - Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
: Aux Armes Et CæteraAux armes et cætera (album)Produced by Philippe Lerichomme, Aux Armes et cætera is the thirteenth album by Serge Gainsbourg, released in the early spring of 1979. It was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with some of the island's best reggae musicians as well as members of the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup chorus which includes...
(Mercury, 2003) - Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
: Mauvaises Nouvelles Des Étoiles (Mercury, 2003) - NadaNadaNada may refer to:*In common English usage, "nothing", Nada may refer to:*In common English usage, "nothing", Nada may refer to:*In common English usage, "nothing", (borrowed from Spanish at least 1867. It comes from the Latin word "nata" (small, insignificant thing; literally (thing)...
: À l'Olympic (live recording, 2003) - NadaNadaNada may refer to:*In common English usage, "nothing", Nada may refer to:*In common English usage, "nothing", Nada may refer to:*In common English usage, "nothing", (borrowed from Spanish at least 1867. It comes from the Latin word "nata" (small, insignificant thing; literally (thing)...
: Ultrash (2004) - Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
: Gainsbourg... et Cætera: Enregistrement Public au Théatre Le Palace (Mercury, 2006) - Joseph Cotton : Conflicts (vinyl single Rastafari, 2008)
- Haile Selassie I, Bob MarleyBob MarleyRobert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, The Wailers, Big Youth, Doc Reggae, Buffalo Bill : WarWar (Bob Marley song)"War" is a song recorded and made popular by Bob Marley. It first appeared on Bob Marley and the Wailers' 1976 Island Records album, Rastaman Vibration, Marley's only top 10 album in the USA...
(vinyl 10", Rastafari, 2010) - Spectacular, Big Youth and the voice of Marcus Garvey : Marcus GarveyMarcus GarveyMarcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
(vinyl 10", Rastafari, 2010) - The Asmara All Stars : Eritrea's Got Soul (Out Here, 2010)
- Human Race featuring the voices of Haile Selassie I, Marcus GarveyMarcus GarveyMarcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
, Gandhi, Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, Big YouthBig YouthManley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
, Spectacular, Buffalo Bill, King StittKing StittKing Stitt, born Winston Spark , is a Jamaican DJ.- Biography :King Stitt is the oldest living Jamaican deejay. Sparkes was given the nickname Stitt as a boy and decided to use it as his stage name, becoming King Stitt when he was crowned 'king of the deejays'...
, Brady, Annabelle Mouloudji, Joseph CottonJoseph CottonJoseph Cotton aka Jah Walton is a reggae deejay active since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
, Lady Manuella and Bruno Blum (double CD Rastafari/Patch Work, 2011)
Books
Aside from his songs, booklet notes, writings for Best, Rock & Folk, Actuel, Hara-Kiri, Nova Magazine, Bruno Blum has published several books, often illustrated by his own artwork and photographs:In French:
- Le Reggae (Librio 2000. Revised, augmented and illustrated edition: Le Castor Astral 2010)
- Lou Reed - Electric Dandy (Biography. Le Serpent à Plumes 2001. Updated and illustrated edition with photos by Bob GruenBob GruenBob Gruen is an American photographer known for his rock 'n' roll photographs.Gruen was born in New York City. He began photographing rock stars with Bob Dylan and served as John Lennon's personal photographer during his time in New York City. Gruen is best known for his photograph of Lennon...
: Hors Collection 2008) - Couleurs reggae (photo portfolio, Tana 2001)
- Bob Marley, le reggae et les rastas (Hors Collection 2004. Revised edition, augmented with a discography, foreword by Tiken Jah FakolyTiken Jah FakolyTiken Jah Fakoly is a reggae singer from Côte d'Ivoire.Tiken Jah was born into a family of griots and christened Doumbia Moussa Fakoly on June 23, 1968 in Odienné, north-western Côte d'Ivoire. He discovered reggae at an early age, assembling his first group, Djelys, in 1987...
: Hors Collection 2010) - Le Ragga (Hors Collection 2005)
- John Lennon (Biography. Hors Collection 2006)
- Punk, Sex Pistols, Clash et l'explosion punk (Hors Collection 2007)
- Cultures Cannabis (Scali 2007)
- Jamaïque, sur la piste du reggae (Scali 2007) (narrative, photos and travel drawings)
- De l'art de savoir chanter, danser et jouer la bamboula comme un éminent musicien africain (Scali 2007) (A guide and essay on African music)
- Bob Marley l'Africain (Scali 2008) par Adebayo Ojo, introduction and translation by Bruno Blum
- Les 100 plus grands tubes du reggae à télécharger (Fedjaine 2008)
- Le Rap est né en Jamaïque (Le Castor Astral 2009)
- Bob Marley, un portrait inédit en photos by Kim Gottlieb-Walker, Jeff Walker, Roger SteffensRoger SteffensRoger Steffens is a Brooklyn, New York born actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, producer. Roger is perhaps best known for his reggae archives, in particular his archives of Bob Marley. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house his archives, which include the world's...
and Cameron CroweCameron CroweCameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....
, translation.
He has also contributed to the following:
In English:
- Rebel Music (Genesis Publications, Guildford, Surrey, UK, 2004) by Kate Simon.
In French:
- Best of Blues (1994), special issue of Best, le mensuel du rock.
- Best of Reggae (1994), special issue of Best, le mensuel du rock, edited by Bruno Blum, with contributions by Florent Droguet, Mehdi Boukhelf, Christian Eudeline, Patrick Eudeline, Blaise Ndjehoya, Jean-Pierre Boutellier, Pascale Geoffrois, Awal Mohamadou, Hélène Lee, Steve BarrowSteve BarrowSteve Barrow is a British reggae historian, writer and producer.In 1993 he co-founded Blood and Fire, a UK based record label specialized in reissuing older Jamaican music...
and Roger SteffensRoger SteffensRoger Steffens is a Brooklyn, New York born actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, producer. Roger is perhaps best known for his reggae archives, in particular his archives of Bob Marley. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house his archives, which include the world's...
. - Le Siècle rebelle, dictionnaire de la contestation au XXe siècle (Larousse 1999) edited by Emmanuel de Waresquiel.
- Nova Collector, a special issue magazine devoted to Bob Marley, edited by Bruno Blum, with contributions by Léon Mercadet (the magazine included a CD of Punky Reggae Party and the previously unreleased Is This Dub).
- Le Dictionnaire du rock (Robert Laffont 2000) (contribution: 14% of the texts, edited by Michka Assayas)
- Sur la route avec Bob Marley, un chevalier blanc à Babylone by Mark Miller (Bob Marley'stage manager in 1978-1980), translated and augmented by Bruno Blum (Scali 2007. Revised, augmented and illustrated edition: Le Castor Astral 2010).
- Rock Critics (Don Quichotte, 2010).
- Best of Best, tome 1, 1968-1979 (Le Castor Astral, 2010), an anthology of Best, le mensuel du rock. Conception, coordination and editing: Bruno Blum
As an illustrator
- L’Abécédaire de rien de ce §#ç&%$ de monde du « rock » (Autour du Livre 2007) by Pascal Samain.
Most of Bruno Blum's books are illustrated by his artwork and photographs.
CD booklets
In English and French:The Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967-1972 series in partnership with Leroy Jodie Pierson and Roger Steffens:
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Rock to the Rock (Jad 1997)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Selassie Is the Chapel (Jad 1997)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, The Best of the Wailers (Jad 1997)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Soul Rebels (Jad 1997)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Soul Revolution Part II (Jad 1997)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, More Axe (Jad 1997)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Keep on Skanking (Jad 1998)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Satisfy my Soul Jah Jah (Jad 1998)
- Harry Belafonte, Calypso, Mento & Folk 1956-1957 (Frémeaux et Associés 2009)
- Jamaica, Mento 1951-1958 (Frémeaux et Associés 2010)
- Bahamas, Goombay 1951-1959 (Frémeaux et Associés 2011)
- Anthologie des musiques de danse du monde - Dance Music Masters: Calypso (Frémeaux et Associés 2011)
In French:
- The Very Best of Jamaica (Trojan 1990)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Freedom Time (Jad 2002)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Soul Adventurer (Jad 2002)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Jungle Dub (Jad 2002)
- Bob Marley & the Wailers, Rebel (Jad 2003) (4 CD)
In partnership with Gilles Verlant
Gilles Verlant
- Work :* Verlant publishes regularly in the following magazines:** More ** En Attendant * Verlant has written the following books:** ** ** ** ** - External links :...
:
- Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
: Aux Armes et Cætera - Dub Style (Mercury, 2003) - Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
: Mauvaises Nouvelles Des Étoiles - Dub Style (Mercury, 2003)