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Deep Forest (Deep Forest album)

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Deep Forest
Studio album by
Deep Forest
Released1992
GenreWorld music, ambient, dance
Length46:49
Label550 Records
ProducerDan Lacksman, Guilain Joncheray
Deep Forest chronology
Deep Forest
(1992) 		World Mix
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Melody Maker(favorable)[2]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[3]

Deep Forest is the first studio album by the musical group Deep Forest, consisting of French duo Éric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez. The album mixes New Age electronics with UNESCO field recordings of music from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Solomon Islands, Burundi, Tibesti, and the Sahel. Deep Forest was nominated for the Grammy Award as Best World Music Album in 1994. For Sanchez and Mouquet, the most important purpose of the album was to express their own fascination with the Efe people, and open the world's ears to the exquisite sound of a quickly vanishing culture. As Mouquet noted, "It's not very often you can hear a Pygmy singing on the radio." Although some critics have gone as far as to argue that this purpose was never realised, for no Efe, or any Pygmy people featured on the album or any of its samples,[4] samples of Pygmy music have indeed been used for the album albeit in a limited degree. The songs “Sweet Lullaby,” “Hunting,” and “Night Bird” feature three samples taken from the albums “Cameroon : Baka Pygmy Music” (1977) and “Polyphony of Deep Rain Forest - The Music of the Pygmy in Ituri” (1986, CD Ethnic Sound Series, vol. 4).

More than 3,5 million units were sold worldwide.[5] The album went gold in the US, France, platinum in Australia, and gold in the UK. The songs "Sweet Lullaby", "Deep Forest", "Forest Hymn" and "Savana Dance" were released as singles, the first two of which became hits worldwide.

The album currently remains out of print, due to copyright and attribution disputes over the sampling of music from indigenous peoples. Though a percentage of the profits from sales of Deep Forest goes to the Pygmy Fund, a California-based organization committed to helping the natives of central Africa cope with environmental threats to their homeland, it has been noted that the indigenous groups featured on the album would not be assisted by the Pygmy Fund[6], and that tax returns submitted by the fund did not show a significant increase in donations.[4]

In 2005 Joni Mitchell included two tracks from this album, "Night Bird" and "The First Twilight", as related to her musical development on her Artist's Choice CD.

Track listing

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All songs by Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez, except where indicated:

  1. "Deep Forest" – 5:34
  2. "Sweet Lullaby" – 3:53
  3. "Hunting" – 3:27
  4. "Night Bird" – 4:18
  5. "The First Twilight" (Cooky Cue, Mouquet, Sanchez) – 3:18
  6. "Savana Dance" (Cue, Mouquet, Sanchez) – 4:25
  7. "Desert Walk" – 5:14
  8. "White Whisper" – 5:45
  9. "The Second Twilight" (Cue, Mouquet, Sanchez) – 1:24 (1994 World Mix re-release length is 3:02)
  10. "Sweet Lullaby (Ambient Mix)" – 3:41
  11. "Forest Hymn" – 5:50 (Japanese bonus track)

On some pressings of the album, an extended version of "The Second Twilight" appears. This version lasts 3:01.

Personnel

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  • Eric Mouquet – arrangement, keyboards, and programming
  • Michel Sanchez – arrangement, keyboards, and programming
  • Cooky Cue – keyboards and programming on "Savana Dance"
  • Michel Villain – vocals

Credits

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  • Composed By – Cue (tracks: 5 6 9), Mouquet, Sanchez
  • Producer – Dan Lacksman

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Chart (1992/93) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[7] 4
UK 15
US Billboard 200 59

Year-end charts

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Chart (1993) Rank
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[7] 18

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[8] 2× Platinum 140,000^
France (SNEP)[9] Gold 100,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[10] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[12] Gold 700,000[11]
Summaries
Worldwide — 3,500,000[5]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ AllMusic review
  2. ^ Stubbs, David (30 January 1993). "Albums". Melody Maker. p. 33. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  3. ^ Wood, Sam (14 September 1993). "Quartet Reinvigorates Bop While Maintaining the Genre's Traditions". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  4. ^ a b Born, Georgina; Hesmondhalgh, David, eds. (2000-10-01). Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-520-22084-3.
  5. ^ a b Dezzani, Mark (29 August 1998). "Some European Acts Being marketed As 'Brands' Instead Of Faces". Billboard. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  6. ^ D Mellor; T Janke, eds. (2001), Valuing art, respecting culture: protocols for working with the Australian Indigenous visual arts and craft sector, Sydney: National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), p. 44
  7. ^ a b Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 77.
  8. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1994 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Les Certifications depuis 1973: Albums". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 27 December 2019. (select "Deep Forest" from drop-down list)
  10. ^ "British album certifications – Deep Forest – Deep Forest". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  11. ^ Legrand, Emmanuel (20 May 1995). "Sony Puts Deep Forest On The World Map" (PDF). Music & Media. p. 12 – via American Radio History.
  12. ^ "American album certifications – Deep Forest – Deep Forest". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
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