Synthesis and Electronic Music: Context and Jean-Michel Jarre
When the first synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments appeared in the 1960s, a new kind of music emerged — a fusion of several genres (jazz, rock, classical, ethnic music…), but also with its own distinctive characteristics. In its early days it was experimental music, and composers and performers such as Vangelis, Walter Carlos, Isao Tomita, and Jean-Michel Jarre appeared on the scene.
Jean-Michel Jarre is a French composer and performer, born in Lyon in 1948. His father is Maurice Jarre, the well-known composer of film scores for pictures such as Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, and Ghost.
Jean-Michel Jarre’s music is nowadays often classified as New Age, but, for example, the album Oxygène in 1977 reached number 3 on the U.S. jazz charts and also entered the rock top 10. Jarre has stated that his music is not New Age, but electronic music. Jarre comments:
The fact that electronic instruments are used should not in itself be a justification for the originality or value of what is created. We simply use those instruments because they can produce new sounds and certain feelings we want to express. The problem is that many people think of electronic music as something robotic and very cold, but in fact it is not. Indeed, Jean-Michel has combined electronic instruments with a traditional Chinese orchestra (Fishing Junks at Sunset, one of his most moving melodies); string and brass orchestras and choirs (Rendez-Vous II and others); an Arabic ensemble; African choirs and percussionists; and even with the steel drums of a calypso group from Trinidad and Tobago (The Amoco Renegades on Calypso).
Jarre studied piano and guitar from the age of 5 and later studied harmony, counterpoint, and fugue at the Paris Conservatory, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree with a thesis on comparative literature: The Faust of Literature and Music. After being part of several rock groups (inspired by the Beatles) in Paris, in 1968 he joined Pierre Schaeffer’s Musical Research Group, where he had the opportunity to work with one of the first synthesizers in Europe. Jarre left the group three years later and, in 1970, recorded his first album. The following year he became the youngest musician to perform live at the Paris Opera, playing an electronic piece called Light (Aor) that served as the backdrop for a ballet marking the reopening of the Palais Garnier.
After setting up his own recording studio and composing and producing music for films and several French rock groups, in 1976, having signed with a small independent Paris label, Disques Dreyfus, Jarre recorded Oxygène, the first of his great successes. Released worldwide by Polygram, it sold 6 million copies (making it the best-selling album in Europe) that year; it won the French Academy’s Charles Cros Award; and Jarre was named Man of the Year by People magazine. From that album onward, Jarre teamed up with Michel Geiss, a musician and designer of several of the electronic instruments used by Jarre. That same year he met French actress Charlotte Rampling, whom he would marry in 1978.
Later, in 1978, he recorded Équinoxe, and on July 14, 1979, performed the Concert at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, which entered the Guinness World Records for the largest concert attendance (one million people).
Jean-Michel Jarre has since performed most of his concerts outdoors, using the landscape and buildings of each location as a stage, and making extensive use of audiovisual effects: projections on giant screens and buildings; video; lights; laser beams; fireworks; as well as orchestras, choirs, and local artists.
In 1981 he released Magnetic Fields (Les Chants Magnétiques), introducing new techniques (stereo effects, echo separation, and white noise) and instruments (such as the Fairlight digital synthesizers). Following the success of this album, Jarre was named an honorary member of the Beijing Music Conservatory, and in 1981 performed five Concerts in China in Beijing and Shanghai, becoming one of the first contemporary Western music performers to give a concert in the People’s Republic of China. He achieved a success that neither the Rolling Stones nor Pink Floyd had managed before. At these concerts the Laser Harp appeared for the first time, designed by Frenchman Bernard Szajner. This instrument uses low-power laser beams in place of strings, which project vertically from its base in a plane. Each laser “string” can now be programmed via MIDI to correspond to a note on the scale (or to transpositions, etc.).
In 1983, Jarre entered the Guinness Book of Records (French edition) for the sale of the only copy of the album Music for Supermarkets, sold for 69,000 French francs, making it the most expensive album ever sold in that country. Jarre recorded this album as a way of expressing his rejection and disgust with the music business. The album was broadcast on Radio Luxembourg, and Jarre invited people to record the broadcast freely.
After recording Zoolook (November 1984) and Rendez-Vous (1986, dedicated to the Challenger astronauts, one of whom, Ron McNair, would have recorded for this album the first melody from space) — one of Jarre’s most successful albums — he performed the concerts Rendez-Vous Houston: A City in Concert (April 1986, a new Guinness record with an attendance of 1.3 million people) and Rendez-Vous Lyon: Concert for the Pope (October 1986, in honor of John Paul II’s visit to Lyon). He then released Revolutions (1988) and performed two Destination Docklands concerts (1988) on the River Thames in London. These concerts were beset by many weather problems and protests from several neighborhood organizations, and despite attracting the largest paid audience for a concert in England (200,000 people), cost Jarre a loss of 30 million pounds sterling.
In 1990 Jarre recorded Waiting for Cousteau (dedicated to French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau), which includes one of J-MJ’s most unusual compositions: a fully ambient piece 46 minutes long. That year he performed the concert Paris La Défense — Une Ville en Concert, with an attendance of more than 2 million spectators, earning Jarre yet another entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The following year, Jean-Michel came to Mexico to perform Teotihuacán: Concert for the Eclipse (July 11, 1991), but the concert was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute.
In 1992, part of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, was created by Jarre. That year he performed two Swatch the World Events concerts (Switzerland) and three Lost City Concerts in South Africa (commissioned by a hotel company), and the following year launched a successful 15-concert European stadium and outdoor tour, Europe in Concert, following the release of Chronologie (an album dedicated to Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time).
Jean-Michel has received numerous international honors, and in 1993 gained one more, being named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Tolerance and Youth. In 1994, after performing a concert in Hong Kong, plans began for the Concerts for Tolerance (the first of which was held at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on July 14, 1995, with more than 1.2 million spectators). These concerts were to be held in cities on all five continents (including Lyon on June 28, 1996, Brasilia, and Beirut) during 1995–1996 and were to be sponsored by UNESCO as part of the celebrations for the Year of Tolerance. In addition, a new album (tentatively titled Tolerance) was expected to be released in late December 1996 to coincide with this world tour.
In the third week of January 1996 it was announced that the Tolerance Concert in Atlanta, GA, USA, had been cancelled.
1996 was a year of little activity; there was much speculation about the release of a commemorative work marking the 20th anniversary of Oxygène, and fans on the JMJ Internet mailing lists created the Global Jarre Track: Jarreologie, under the direction of Mirai. A remix album of several of his works (Jarremix) also appeared, continuing the long chain of techno, rave, house, and other remixes of JMJ’s works that began with Chronologie.
However, after many postponements, it was not until February 17, 1997, that the new album Oxygène 7–13 was released under the Sony/Epic label for international distribution, and a worldwide indoor concert tour was announced (!) — something Jarre had previously said he would never do. The tour began in May and concluded, in its first leg, in June. This first leg took him to various locations across Europe, including Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium, among other countries. The second leg of the tour took place in October and covered several cities in France.
At these concerts Jarre used analog synthesizers and a somewhat techno style, with neon tube-based lighting, and also used an innovative system called Xpose, which controls video screen projections via MIDI.
To close out that year, Jarre took part in a mega-concert in front of Moscow State University, on the occasion of the city’s 850th anniversary.
I originally published this article on my website dedicated to Jean-Michel Jarre, back in 1995, last updated in 1997. Fans will remember what happened around that time.