Prix Joséphine 2023
mini documentaries (70mn) 2023
Directors : Rebecca Obadia & Mimi Robert
Production : Avalon
Executive Production : Maison Femme & Bad Taste Bros
Producer : William Chiche
- Director of photography : Victor Zyński
- B camera operator : Mimi Robert
- Sound recorder : Rebecca Obadia
- Editor : Grégory Campenet
- Sound mixer : Gabriel Chiche
- Colorist : Clément Le Fouest
Prince Waly
“I made this album for myself. I made no compromises, I made it with my heart: it is me, one hundred per cent.”
In the first episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Prince Waly opens up about how the landmark album “Moussa” came about.
Zaho de Sagazan
“La symphonie des éclairs is the story of this album: discovering music, finding faith in my emotions again and embracing them.”
In the second episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, discover the creative process of the second of ten essential artists on the move. Zaho de Sagazan and her creative circle tell the story behind a first album that brings together the fire and the assurance of its lyrics with the drive of refined electronic arrangements.
Flavien Berger
“This album is an exploration, into the occult, into what we do not know about ourselves .. how music can help explore the unconscious.”
In the third episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Flavien Berger presents “Dans cent ans”, the third part of a trilogy, an incursion into the finitude of beings and of life, and a discreet record of the traces that resurface in life as it carries on. A layering of forms and arrangements, the album finds a creative echo in the collaborations Flavien builds with those close by: graphic design, music videos and soap, a utopia made accessible and real.
Blick Bassy
“What I really love, when building a song, is to start from the images that are clear in my mind, and to write and build from those images, little by little.”
In the fourth episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Blick Bassy presents “Mádibá”, his fifth album, which he chose to steep in the pressing subject of water. His many collaborations and his constant self-questioning result in a considered manifesto of a record, with arrangements that aim for the spare.
Eesah Yasuke
“From the very beginning, in everything I create, I am in that energy where I take stock of certain difficult, hard things. I also like to bring to light the fact that there is one, at the end.”
In the fifth episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Eesah Yasuke presents PROPHÉTIE. It marks a new stage in a bold career, a record of keenly felt references and inspirations, a deep and cutting voice tinged with introspection.
Acid Arab
“At the beginning there was something literal about it: Acid Arab was acid house with Arabic music … but very quickly we allowed ourselves to move through a lot of genres, techno, trap, singers from the diaspora or from the Maghreb.”
In the sixth episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Acid Arab present ٣ (Trois). The French-Algerian collective delivers ten composite gems that play with borders and musical territories. Algerian gasba, Anatolian trance, synthetic dabkeh or bionic raï: as many settings for exceptional guests and for a musical fusion rooted in the present.
Tuerie
“Some people have no access to conservatories, to music theory. The voice is the instrument you make do with, it is the thing I am most attached to. When several of us sing together, in unison, it goes straight to the heart.”
In the seventh episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Tuerie presents “Papillon Monarque”. A goldsmith of lyrics delivered unadorned, Tuerie shares personal wounds in a voice tinged with soul and gospel feeling, while an earlier identity as a rapper resurfaces along tracks kicked with style and assurance.
BlauBird
“I embodied myself in this album, I set myself no limits (…) I want the door to open, I want people to hear everything that inspires me. There is this relationship to the sacred that I wanted to bring out: being someone who is vulnerable and at the same time filled with great emotions.”
In the eighth episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, BlauBird presents “Le ciel est partout”. On an album of raw-nerve sensitivity, BlauBird sings her surrender to herself. It is a daring reinvention, drawing at the crossroads of traditional folk, classical music and synthetic textures. That singularity (poetry, a sense of harmony, an openness to the world) is not unlike the great Barbara. Her deep voice, trained in the lyric tradition, unfolds a nocturnal, magnetic charm: singing in French, English, Yiddish, Arabic and Spanish, towards her roots, towards the sky.
Voyou
“Music whispers images to me, landscapes, seasons, temperatures, colours. It is like a painting: you do the background, the sky is blue or greyish, then characters come to live in it, and once I have all that, it tells me what I wanted to talk about.”
In the ninth episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Voyou presents “Les royaumes minuscules”. Voyou takes us along on a pop odyssey, surprising and delicate. A story whose steady set is made of percussion, bass and guitars, among which move instruments so expressive, brass, violins, flutes and pianos, that each seems to have a face of its own. The lyrics, for their part, have the air of miniature films, thanks to a playful prosody and an inventive metre. Like contemporary news in brief, where animals, plants and humans keep company and inspire one another, where every line always seems to want to say more.
Benjamin Epps
“I want to make music at a level where it influences people, where it helps people live. And for that, I need to make it as a community.”
In the final episode of an original collection of short documentaries devoted to the world of each artist in the 2023 Prix Joséphine top ten, Benjamin Epps presents “La grande désillusion”. Between ego-trip bravado, powerful punchlines and substantial features, Benjamin Epps invites us into a personal version of the “American dream” by way of Bellevue, the neighbourhood where it all began. The places, the collective, the encounters: everything counts, everything makes sense.
