New songs and covers of Gainsbourg are on the agenda for her concert on October 9 at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco.
Now the most Frenchie of English artists wants to go even further in her relationship with the public through her new album “Enfants d’Hiver” for which she wrote the lyrics for the first time. Jane has talent and knows how to surround herself. “Enfants d’Hiver” is a simple and rich album created with the collaboration of composers as talented as Alain and Pierre Souchon as well as Alain Lanty, Hawksley Workman, Pierre-Michel Sivadier, Bertrand Louis, and Franck Eulry.
Jane Birkin shares her thoughts with us through texts evoking life in its simplest form, childhood nostalgia, loves… But Jane Birkin is also a committed woman, and this album reflects her: in one of its songs she refers to the Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, whose plight concerns her.
Jane Birkin has set herself a new challenge: to please and convince with her words… her own words. A brief encounter with the artist before her return to the Principality.
What does this new album bring you with its focus on writing?
Jane Birkin: “In fact, I am showing myself as I am, and not at all embellished by others… So this way of revealing oneself becomes very personal. As a result, it’s both scary and delightful.”
You have started a new and long international tour. What is your relationship with your audience like?
Jane Birkin: I have to announce that this will be the last one for a few years as I have been on the road for seven years in total! Yet I still feel the same joy visiting others in their homes, it’s what I love the most! From Hong Kong to Jakarta, passing through Japan, South America, Palestine, Israel, Wales, Portugal, London, all the small towns of France, modest places… now, back to Monaco, Germany, Ireland, I really love it, but it’s time to put down my suitcases and start again in 2013 with “Arabesque” in Marseille… I want to see my daughters, be available, do theater, write another film, escape the planned days of interviews… basically, give myself a break! On the other hand, I have anxiety about being static or rather I’ve forgotten what vacations and free time were like… The opportunity to be close to people is truly what I love the most about touring, you are not at home but still “at home” and it enchants me. We will finish at the end of January with Africa.
You have already performed in concert at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco in 2003, what memory do you keep of the Principality?
Jane Birkin: It was more fun, more lively than I had imagined! I was afraid to be in front of only chic people, that the emotion wouldn’t come through, but thanks to the audience, it did, the electricity, “the thing,” that makes it magical… it was in a fairy-tale setting!
After this tour, what are your artistic projects?
Jane Birkin: Theater, cinema in addition to the two films that are coming out… I have a lovely life!
