Berry

In partnership with the French Music Export Office in New York

Crédits photo : Laurent Askienazy

“This Year’s Sensation” Music Awards, 2009
“Highly Recommended” Charles Cros Academy
Special Regional Prize - France Blue Talent, 2008

“All our colleagues in the press are simply showering this first album with every compliment imaginable. With reason!”
French daily newspaper Le Monde

“The woman with the album with the intriguing name “Mademoiselle” has surged upon the Paris stage, cloaked in mystery. One thing we’re absolutely sure of is this first album of solidly written folk songs and subtle pop tunes is just a delight.”
Rock and culture weekly magazine Les Inrockuptibles

“The name everyone has on the tip of their tongue this season is Berry, who is a young singer with a first album coming out in a few days, titled “Mademoiselle”, is heart-crushingly beautiful.”
French daily newspaper Le Figaro

“A rare poetic talent, a luminous voice, Berry could turn out to be the sensation of the new year.”
French daily newspaper Le Figaro

“Miss Blues Berry . . .  her first album, somewhere between pop and Greco is a revelation.”
French weekly news magazine L’Express

“A pure little jewel with a rough-sounding name.”
French daily newspaper Le Parisien

“Berry simply distills gracious pop folk sounds and sings out, in a word, happiness like nobody else can.”
French magazine Les Echos

The Performer

So what’s with this name Berry, you ask? Some childhood memory? A nod to something so very, very British?  A family name she’s taken refuge in? Maybe all of those at once . . . or maybe not!

At age sixteen, Berry (Elise chose this stage name because of George Sand) had decided to drop out of school, though a teacher convinced her to stay and take theater classes. She appeared on the national stage with accomplished actors and actresses in Poitiers. It was this experience on the boards that taught her to appreciate contemporary authors, the classics and philosophers like Seneca. Recognition came with “Les Femmes Savantes” (Learned Women), a play in the same vein as a Molière comedy directed by Béatrice Agenin, first at Theater 13 and afterwards at the Hébertot Theater.
But even though the theater was what got Berry started on her career as a performer, she had always harbored a secret desire to be a writer. “I always used to write down the stories that came into my head in the form of songs without ever attaching any real importance to them,” she confided. Those writings took shape thanks to the jazz composer Manou. With the participation of Lionel Dudognon who opened his doors to them, together they perfected two, three, then suddenly, twelve pieces accompanied by sounds of them banging on pieces of furniture!

By chance and over the course of informal get-togethers, a saxophone joined the group and also some creatively audible vocals, both of which added more good vibes to the songs.  And just like that, an album was born, “in an atmosphere of total jubilation,” remembers Berry.
The album is entitled “Mademoiselle,” and is a selection of personal compositions, along with verse by Verlaine set to music. The album, which came out from Universal, took off right away, especially in Brussels and parts of Germany.

Having remained independent for a long time in a spirit of carefree insouciance, Berry and the others in the group finally got set up in a studio. They were put in contact with musicians they could have only dreamed of performing with earlier, including Laurent Vernerey (Françoise Hardy, Benjamin Biolay), Clive Deamer (Portishead, Robert Plant), Denis Benarosh (Stephan Eicher, Keren Ann, Nougaro), Eumir Deodato (Bjork, Earth, Wind & Fire, Christophe), Yannick Fonderie (Biolay) and Laurent de Wilde (Ira Coleman, Abd al-Malik). 
Once back in Paris, Berry sang the lead parts for Michel Delpech, Bazbaz and Abd al-Malik.  She worked her magic on stage right from the start, both in France (at the Olympia) and abroad, including performances in South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic.

Bringing to her performances what is clearly her own individual style as well as artistry in juggling words, double meanings and deep feelings, in “Mademoiselle”, she creates a personal universe where darkness and light rub shoulders and where lightness transcends feelings of melancholy.
It’s a surprising alchemy that combines a thousand and one contradictions, such as timelessness and modern horrors, courtly behavior and carnal desires and expressions of both dark and jubilant sentiments.  All of this is made possible through a subtle an elegant pop sound from Manou and a deft use of rhyme schemes that invariably converge and are heart-felt.

 “Mademoiselle” talks strictly of love, whether it’s filial, carnal, tyrannical or unrequited. In its own way, the album maps out tenderness, with torments both big and small.  Because of that, the beauty of it all transports us and makes us better. But, as Berry confesses quite simply, “It’s not all so serious!”

The Program

Length of performance: 1 hour
A trio in concert (songs alternating between French and English)
Repertory: songs from the album “Mademoiselle” with the additional performance of a few older works and exclusive performances of some new works

Berry: voice
Alice Botte: guitar
Lionel Dudognon: guitar and harmonica

From the album Mademoiselle
“Mademoiselle” (Berry / Manou)
“Le Bonheur” (Happiness) (Berry / Manou – Emmanuel Pallueau)
“Las Vegas” (Berry / Manou)
“Belle comme tout” (Pretty as All Get-out) (Berry / Manou)
“Enfant de Salaud” (Bastard Brood) (Berry / Manou)
“Love Affair” (Berry / Manou)
“Plus Loin” (Farther) (Berry / Manou)
“Demain” (Tomorrow) (Berry /Manou)
“Inutiles” (Useless) (Berry / Manou)
“Chéri” (Dear) (Paul Verlaine / Manou)
“Les Heures Bleues” (The Blues) (Berry – Paul Verlaine / Manou)
“Mon Automobile” (My Car)

Links

www.casadeberry.com
http://www.myspace.com/casadeberry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425bVktE9kQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKst64klzxQ&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdak04rzMRs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0HipYXD_Gw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiQ0Akwr4Vo&feature=related
http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/da-silva-berry-les-mots-bleus/2009417389
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x50n0u_berry-invitee-du-journal-de-13h-aco_music
http://sites.radiofrance.fr/chaines/france-bleu/?alias=talents_fb

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