Deep Forest (Deep Forest album)

Deep Forest
Studio album by Deep Forest
Released 1992
Genre World music
Ambient
Dance
Length 46:49
Label 550 Records
Producer Dan Lacksman, Guilain Joncheray
Deep Forest chronology

Deep Forest
(1992)		 World Mix
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Deep Forest is the first and eponymous studio album by the musical group Deep Forest: French duo Eric 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 Grammy Award as Best World Music Album in 1994. Sanchez and Mouquet, the most important purpose of the record is 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 notes, "It's not very often you can hear a Pygmy singing on the radio."

More than 3,000,000 copies of the album have been sold. The album became Platinum in the USA, France and New Zealand; Double Platinum in Australia and Greece; and Gold in the UK and Norway. The album was certified 2x Diamond by the SNEP Export Awards in 2002. 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.[2]

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

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
  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 last 3:01.

Personnel

Credits

Chart positions

Album

Singles

USA

UK

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ 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
  3. ↑ "Deep Forest: Deep Forest". discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.

External links