o2-arena-Jean-Michel jarre

1983–1989
Musique pour Supermarché / Music for Supermarkets
On 5 July 1983 Jarre auctioned the only existing vinyl print of his newest album Musique pour Supermarché. The music was created for a planned performance at the "Supermarché" art exhibition. The auction was held at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, before he allowed Radio Luxembourg to broadcast the album, uninterrupted, in its entirety. The auction raised about 70,000 francs, and Jarre promised to burn the original tapes in the presence of a bailiff.
Zoolook
A Linn LM-1, the first drum machine to use digital samples of acoustic drums.
Although the master tapes had been destroyed, parts of Musique pour Supermarché were reworked into his 1984 album Zoolook. The album combines analogue synthesis with ethnic and vocal music, and makes heavy use of the sampling capabilities of the Fairlight CMI. Zoolook features samples of words and speech in different languages from around the globe, to create a diverse range of sounds and effects.[3] Laurie Anderson provided the vocals for the track "Diva". With its rock music underpinnings, Zoolook resides amongst a handful of pop and rock albums that make intensive and sometimes exhaustive use of the Fairlight synthesizer. A lengthy list of musicians including Adrian Belew and Marcus Miller also made significant contributions to Zoolook. The album was somewhat less successful than Jarre's previous works, reaching only no.47 in the UK album charts and no.86 in Canada.
I've always been involved in ethnic music, though I thought the way a lot of people have been using ethnic music was a little superficial. Sometimes it works, like the Brian Eno stuff, it worked the first time, but for me what was more interesting was not making a particular statement about recording in Africa or in China, but taking some sounds and having exactly the same attitude as when you were in front of a Moog 55 or a modular system, replacing the oscillators with a bank of actors or people, treating them through the Fairlight or the EMS synth, and establishing an orchestration using only voices
—Jean Michel Jarre,
Rendez-Vous
Rendez-vous Houston, 5 April 1986
In 1985 Jarre was invited by the musical director of the Houston Grand Opera in Texas to perform a concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of the city and its state. Busy with other projects (Jarre was initially unimpressed by the proposal) he eventually acceded and visited the city. He was immediately impressed by the visual grandeur of the city skyline, and agreed to perform. That year also marked the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,and Jarre was contacted by NASA to integrate the anniversary into the concert. The creation of Rendez-Vous took place over a period of two months, and as with Zoolook, contains elements of his 1983 album Musique pour Supermarché. The three movements of the score represent Houston's development from a rural economy, to its role as a leader in space technology. Baroque in style, the album uses a mixture of French horns, Trombones and Violins, and features heavy use of the Elka Synthex, notably so on "Third Rendezvous", a track Jarre often performs using a Laser harp. Jarre worked with several Houston-based astronauts including Bruce McCandless II, and former Jazz musician Ronald McNair, who was to have played the saxophone on "Rendez-Vous VI", recorded in the weightless environment of space. McNair was to have performed at the concert over a live link, but was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on 28 January 1986. Immediately following the accident consideration was given to the cancellation of the concert, but Jarre was contacted by McCandless and urged to proceed, and to mark the event as a tribute to the crew of the Shuttle mission. Following the Challenger disaster, the piece was recorded by Kirk Whalum and retitled "Ron's Piece".


Ronald McNair, a member of the STS-51-L crew killed in the Challenger disaster
I remember just before take-off, Ron calling me in Paris saying "Everything's ready, see you in a week's time, watch me on television for the take-off"...I will really, keep always, the bit of Ron's smile and Ron's face in my heart
—Jean Michel Jarre,
About 2,000 projectors displaying images onto buildings and giant screens up to 1,200 feet (370 m) high transformed the city's skyscrapers into spectacular backdrops, accompanied by an elaborate display of fireworks and lasers. Rendez-vous Houston entered the Guinness Book of Records for its audience of over 1.5 million people, beating his earlier record in 1979. The concert featured large projections of photographic images and laser patterns onto the buildings of downtown Houston. The display was so impressive that passing vehicles blocked a nearby freeway, closing it for the duration of the concert. "Ron's Piece" was performed by Kirk Whalum.
Several months later about one million people watched him perform for a celebration of Pope John Paul II's visit to Jarre's home city of Lyon. The Pope, viewing from Lyon Cathedral, began the concert with a good-night blessing (a recording of which appears on the album Cities In Concert — Houston/Lyon).
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