Jarre banishes the ghosts of his past with first US tour

ELECTRONIC music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre ( left), who has performed at some of history’s largest concerts over a four-decade career, is finally touring the United States.

The French artiste, who sees music as a form of ‘emotional counterforce’ in a turbulent era, played at Radio City Music Hall in his first full-fledged concert in New York last Saturday.

He closes his North America tour in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Jarre recalls fantasising about playing the storied venue from his first trip to New York but traces a reluctance towards the US to his father, Maurice Jarre, a giant of Hollywood music who scored classic films including Lawrence of Arabia.

“I had a difficult relationship with my father,” the 68-year-old told AFP in New York. His father had split with Jarre’s mother when he was a child.

“He lived in the United States for 60 years, in Los Angeles, and it was difficult for me to go to California because I always thought it was my father’s territory,” said Jarre.

“Probably, psychologically, this is the real reason ... why I didn’t tour here early.”

With his father’s death in 2009, that issue is gone. “I have the feeling that coming here is a continuation of what he [his father] was doing,” Jarre said. “I feel, in a strange way, a bit at home now.”

Four decades into Jarre’s career, electronic music – particularly popdriven dance music – tops charts and festival lineups.

The mainstreaming of electronica is no surprise to Jarre, who said he always knew that electronic music “wasn’t a genre in itself, but another approach to musical composition”.

Looking ahead, Jarre said the future was artificial intelligence, dismissing the dangers.

He recalls that before the advent of train travel some feared that riding at fast speeds would blow up passengers’ hearts.

“I think the great revolution is ahead of us,” he said. “The moment will come in a generation or two.

“And I don’t think we need to be afraid, when machines or robots are capable of creating music, films, stories and books. And our role will need to be rethought.” – AFPRelaxnews