French veteran guitarist and vocalist Louis Bertignac once made music with Carla Bruni. He is now singing a different tune.
If Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards had a French avatar, it would have loosely resembled Louis Bertignac. One of France’s leading guitarist/vocalist — Bertignac — who recently worked up a heady mix of old world rock-pop, pop-rock and rock-n-roll for a Delhi audience, has plenty to say. “I’m so jealous of sitar players in India,” the 55-year-old says half-jokingly, “they can do so much with their strings that I cannot do with my guitar!” But he consoles himself the next minute with the thought that only a guitar can be swung with the gusto essential for rock stars of any generation.
The music that Bertignac plays at performances is classic — a steady flow of Rolling Stones, Prince, The Who, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin and a generous amount of The Beatles. His own compositions, powerfully influenced by these music greats, have their own charm. But the stopover at the Indian capital, says Bertignac, was almost incidental. They are on their way to Kathmandu, to jam with good friend Bijaya Vaidya, a well-known sitar player in Nepal. But an invitation to play in India from Alliance Française tempted Bertignac to return to a country he has fond memories of, having spent some time here 15 years ago.
If there’s one question Bertignac has been asked a number of times on this world tour — and doesn’t mind answering again — it is his link with French first lady Carla Bruni. As her former beau, he produced and played the guitar for her debut record Quelqu’un m’a dit in 2004 (which turned out to be a moderate success, selling two million copies), and in exchange, the following year, she wrote lyrics for 10 of the 12 songs for his solo album Longtemps. Was he surprised when Bruni started dating President Nicolas Sarkozy? “Yes, I was very surprised. Carla and I have remained friends after we split up.
In fact, my wife and she speak quite often. So when she started dating the President, my wife came and told me, ‘Do you know, she is dating the President, and he has asked her to marry him?’” he laughs. “You know, if you are dating the President, you need to get married quickly,” he adds conspirationally. “After their wedding, they called us over and we hung out. I can’t believe how much I liked his company. Imagine, being in love with the President!” He continues, “To me, all the politicians are the same. But Nicolas is really nice on a personal level, he’s like a normal guy and easy to be around.” On a different note, he says, “I would love to work with Carla again. There is something about her voice. It’s so quiet. She says she is ready to sing again. So why not?”
It was 1976 when Bertignac founded French band Téléphone, which, in the ‘80s, rose to be the French equivalent of The Rolling Stones, and Bertignac was consequently called the Gallic version of Keith Richards. Thirty-five years after, he currently leads a trio with drummer Felic Sabal-Lecco from Cameroon, and fellow Frenchman, bassist Cyril Dennis. Felix Sabal-Lecco has only recently joined Bertignac, and in the past has accompanied Sting, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Paul Simon and Janet Jackson in concert, and — he proudly declares — “I have played with Zakir Hussain too.” Dennis, meanwhile, is more low-key about his collaborations; in his spare time he teaches as part of Le Club De Musique, a non-formal music school for young children, in Paris.
What strings the trio together is their love for music made before 1975. “After the 1970s, there have been a few interesting bands and musicians like U2 and Lenny Kravitz but the rest do not compare,” says Dennis. So are they only reinventing old classics? “Our techniques are new and more precise. The other option today as a musician is to get sucked into the business of record labels. Else, there’s the rubbish on reality TV. Rock-n-roll today is dead. Our best option is to take what we love from the past and play it like it also belongs to today.” After all, there is nothing quite like reliving that golden era of music, and The Beatles’ “Yesterday” and John Lennon’s “Imagine” remain on their list of favourites. After the trio’s concert in Nepal along with their sitar player friend, it’s Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and the Honduras before they land in New York towards the end of the year.
