After MMM, the Philharmonie de Paris continues its cycle of photography and music exhibitions with Daho Likes It Pop!.
Étienne Dahoʼs musical itinerary and personality are inseparable from the history of French Pop, which he has helped to shape and define. A singer, songwriter, composer and producer, Étienne Daho embodied the modern revival of chanson (the French singer-songwriter tradition) with his albums Mythomane, La notte, la notte and Pop Satori, which ushered in the period of intense creative production of the 1980s, similar to the New Wave of the 1960s. Influenced by the lascivious rock of the Velvet Underground, the psychedelic poetry of Syd Barrett, the surf music of the Beach Boys and the soul pop of Motown, as well as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy and the Yé-Yé wave in France, Étienne Daho found a way to weave together Anglo-Saxon music—melodic and rhythmic—and French chanson—lyric-based, sentimental and literary.
French Pop in photos
Étienne Dahoʼs career has been replete with tributes, covers and collaborations. He is not only an exceptional conveyor of stories and images; unbeknownst to many, he is also a photographer. For some years, he has been documenting the fascinating emergence of todayʼs modern young people, who in turn recognise his influence.
Through his story and his influences, this “godfather of the new generation” offers a unique vision of French Pop. With this exhibition, the Philharmonie presents his previously unpublished portraits of the new inhabitants of the pop planet, within a personal selection of iconic photographs illustrating seven decades in French chanson by photographers including Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Jean-Marie Périer, Pierre & Gilles, Jeanloup Sieff and Antoine Giacomoni.
A story in music
Étienne Dahoʼs photographs evoke the early days of rock in Rennes, 1979, with the group Marquis de Sade, and his encounter with Stinky Toys, the punk band led by Elli Medeiros and Jacno, which marked the beginning of a career studded with popular and critical successes. Presented publicly for the first time, the story that he has composed for the exhibition takes us from the cellar clubs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the bars of Rennes, from Yé-Yé to the New Wave, from Scopitones to televised music videos, and from Charles Trenet to Catherine Deneuve, Vanessa Paradis and Cassius.
Exhibition’s curator: Étienne Daho
Associate curator: Tristan Bera
Scenography: FREAKS
Graphism: Formaboom
