MUSIC – “Orientée”, the ode to peace by Yara Lapidus, first artist to adapt a David Bowie song into Arabic

28 June 2024 / Jerome Goulon

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Yara Lapidus had to suddenly flee her native country at the age of 18 because of the war. French by adoption, she embraced a career in fashion before fate plunged her into the arms of her lifelong dream: singing. After experiencing success in 2019 with its resumption of How, by John Lennon, Yara released her new EP this year, Oriented, in which the single appears Elli, resumption of The man who sold the world by David Bowie. A small event, because it is the first time that a Bowie song has been adapted into the Arabic language. A song that she performed on June 19 at the Institut du Monde Arabe. On this occasion, the singer spoke in an interview given to Interviews. An interview in which she looks back on her incredible journey, her vision of the current world, disrupted by wars, her love for France, but also her concerns and her hopes for Lebanon. A moving, complete and passionate interview, like his work…

Jérôme Goulon: Hello Yara. You released an EP this year, Oriented. Tell us about this project…
Yara Lapidus: This EP is a bit of a synthesis of my work this year. I went in a pop rock direction, always with oriental influences that punctuate my work. Oriented is a bit of a synthesis of everything. For the first time, I was surrounded by musicians from diverse backgrounds. Half of them were French, the other half came from the Orient. I really wanted to affirm this mix of cultures that characterizes my work. Its important to me. I feel both Lebanese and French. I was born in Lebanon, I left at 18, France adopted me and I owe a lot to this country. It's normal for me to keep my roots, but also to constantly move back and forth between these two cultures that shaped me.

Your EP contains the single Elli, an adaptation of The man who sold the world, by David Bowie. This is the first time that a Bowie song has been adapted into Arabic…
Indeed. I am very happy to have had permission. I got it before the crisis in the Middle East broke out. It is somehow premonitory, since I sing of peace. I listened to this song when I was a child. I liked it, and I could hear oriental influences in it.

It shouldn't be easy to cover Bowie...
I didn't have the ambition to do better than Bowie, so I had to go elsewhere. And for that, I had the chance to collaborate with his bassist, Gail Ann Dorsey. I wanted a completely minimalist version, and that's what we did. We both went for it, Gail Ann Dorsey was very excited about the fact that it was an anthem of peace. We recorded the final version before even having the green light from Bowie's rights holders.

It was bold...
Yes, everyone around me told me that I should not record the title before having the OK from Bowie's rights holders. But I was convinced that I would have it. I still have a crazy horse side, which actually brings me luck.

This title is an ode to peace. You write about him that he is a hymn of hope to your “close Orient, whose resonance is more relevant than ever”…
Indeed. When you are a child of war, as is my case, when you left in spite of yourself, when you were uprooted, torn from your country, even if France was an extraordinary welcoming land for me, you remain this child of war all your life. So much so that sometimes, when I hear a door slam, I'm the only one who jumps. I know what a country at peace is, and I know what a country is falling apart. Some friends, who sometimes watch images of the war like a soap opera, whether they are images from Ukraine, Gaza or Israel, I tell them: “Be careful. When it’s real, it has nothing to do with something you watch with your remote button.” When the war is at home, it has nothing to do with it. This should never be taken lightly. Never, never, never… There is a before and an after. It leaves you with lifelong aftereffects. Every Lebanese, every Lebanese family has experienced its share of misfortunes or deaths in their family. And this is valid for all countries at war. And so, to come back to this David Bowie cover, it had to make sense. I didn't see the point in translating David Bowie, and I wanted to deal with a subject that is closest to my heart: in this case, it's this peace that we all dream of. It was natural for me to go in this direction. I didn't just want to have fun. I wanted this song to have meaning. It also has a real resonance, because I receive messages on Instagram from people I don't know, who tell me that it's very beautiful and that it speaks to them. For an artist, you've won when you receive this kind of reaction...

“I consider France as my mother, and Lebanon as my father. »

You say that Paris has adopted you, but that you keep Lebanon on your shoulder. How do you view your country today? Do you go there frequently?
Yes, I go there every three months, especially since the events of October 7, the economic crisis since 2017 and the bomb that ravaged the country. Since those two dates, I have been there every three months, with my parents, my friends, my family, to mark my presence. It's very important for me not to let them down. When you are lucky enough to live in a country that protects you, like France, you have to be aware of it. And I'm aware of it all the time. I consider France as my mother, and Lebanon as my father. Now I have a realistic outlook. What we see today in Lebanon, I have never experienced, even in the worst moments of the war.

To this extend ?
Yes. This economic war, this economic terrorism, it’s terrible. People's accounts aren't even confiscated, they're just gone. The Lebanese have nothing left in their accounts. It's terrorism, I can't call it anything else. It is another form of war that has reached people. Lebanon's wealth was the middle class, which was the majority before this famous date of October 2017. When a middle class is the majority in a country, it means that the country is doing well. The people had enough to eat, they were prosperous, they had hope, even in a devastated environment. Today, when you land in Lebanon, you see the distress in people's eyes. I never experienced this in Lebanon. It's terrible, I didn't think my country would hit rock bottom at this point, and today we are there. The media no longer talk about it, no one is interested. Lebanon is on one knee. This is a sad observation, even if we must keep the story.

As an artist, is it important for you to talk about all this?
This is what we artists do, although our role is not to talk about politics. We just have to try, each in our own way, to get a message across. Me, for example, I did the Bowie piece. There is also the song Oumi Ya Beirut (Beirut, get up, Editor’s note.), with DJ Little Gulli, present in my EP. All revenues are donated in full to the Lebanese Red Cross. Whatever I can do, I do. But on the level of an artist, what else can we do other than write or offer songs? Now, politicians must be worthy of their functions. This situation is really sad. I meet so many brilliant Lebanese people all over the world. I meet brilliant, hard-working Lebanese people who are the pride of this country. I wonder how we can shine so much internationally, but in our country, not be able to govern it correctly. Maybe too many people left Lebanon because of the war... I'm not going to get into politics, that's not my role, but maybe we need to make a clean slate...

Let’s get back to your journey. Did your taste for music come from when you were little?
I started music at 6 years old, to do like my mother, who is a painter and guitarist. I wanted to be like her, and I took guitar lessons. Then I took up piano. I stopped at 17, at the time of the BAC, but music never left me. I have also always written, I love writing.

Do you compose and write your songs?
I'm a songwriter, but I don't compose for the sake of composing. Either the melody comes naturally, and I keep the music, or I go to a composer who will know how to do it better than me. I don't have the "ego" side of telling myself that I have to do everything from A to Z. That's the problem with some artists. Not everyone is Elton John and has the ability to compose 12 hits for an album. You have to know how to stay humble and know how to delegate.

In 2019, you recorded your first album at Abbey Road studio. How did it feel to work in such a legendary studio?
It was magical. There's still a Beatles tune there. It was quite extraordinary, there were 43 musicians led by Gabriel Yared, who had composed the record. These remain magical recording sessions, which will mark me forever.

“He who denies his origins has no origins. »

You say that today, the Orient follows you everywhere in music, but that at one time, you had a rejection of Arab music. This rejection is no longer relevant, but what caused it?
When I had to suddenly leave my country, particularly because of the bombs and closed schools, I was torn away from my friends and my family, and I then developed a rejection of this language. I didn't want to hear any more about it, like a child angry at someone who rejected him. But it was enough, when I arrived in Paris, that I heard the voice of Fairuz (a great Lebanese singer, Editor’s note.) reason here and there, only to realize that I couldn't get away from this language. Besides, there is a rather extraordinary Arabic proverb which says, if I roughly translate it for you: “He who denies his origins has no origins.” Origins must be embraced and transcended, mixing them with other countries, including your host country.

Before being a 100% musician, you worked in fashion. What was the trigger for changing careers?
Music, writing, it was my secret garden. Deep down, from the age of 6, I already dreamed of being on a stage. I had a very famous uncle in Lebanon, who founded the Théâtre de Dix-Heures, so I dreamed of being like him. He fascinated me, he gave me a taste for the stage. It was my hidden dream, but I very quickly understood that my parents didn't dream of that for me, it didn't reassure them. When I talked to them about fashion, they told me it was OK. So I pursued a career in fashion, even though at the same time I took theater classes, because I always knew that one day I would be on a stage. And then fashion stopped very suddenly for me because of an accident. I had surgery that went very wrong, as a nerve was severed and I was left without the use of my left arm with permanent paralysis. As I could no longer continue my job as a stylist or model maker, I had to move towards the only other thing that I really knew how to do and which I was passionate about, namely writing songs, even if I could no longer play songs. guitar.

Which was quite successful for you. We were talking about David Bowie earlier, but in 2019, you were the first artist to have received authorization from the Lennon family to adapt one of his songs, How, in Arabic. And it worked pretty well!
Yes, that was the magic of the United States. The song was ranked in the Top 5 of the Billboard/New Age Chart for two months.

We were talking about your connection between France and Lebanon. Who are the French artists who inspire you?
I really like Camille, her audacity, her fantasy. It is very important to me that a French artist knows how to write French correctly. In recent years, there has been a tendency to put texts aside. I don't know if it's because I have foreign origins that I attach a lot of importance to it, but for me, this language is sacred, and we have no right to touch it except is to beautify it. And Camille does that very well. In the younger generation, I would say that Zaho de Sagazan does it very well too. These are the kinds of artists I like. Artists a little apart and freewheeling. Free artists, who don't care what works or what doesn't.

Moreover, this is what also characterizes you, since you want to stay in your world and never deny yourself...
Exactly ! What do we look like when we want to look like others? We lose a lot of ourselves. I like this phrase: “People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it…” That is to say that when you do something with the heart, for a real reason, it will work. So it might not work right away, it might not be the shortest route, but who cares! The important thing is that one day there will be a sounding board. And then the life of an artist is never a long, quiet river. So if sometimes there are flashes, immediate successes, then great, but that's not the basic rule of the game.

I imagine you already have new projects in the works…
Completely ! I already know in broad terms what my next record will be. I started writing it, I know who I want to work with, but it's still too early to say more! (Laughs)

What would be your consecration, your ultimate dream?
Maybe my songs get played on the radio even more. Today, as I am an independent artist, I don't have the same resonance as if I were signed to a big major. And so, I have to do everything with my hands. There are of course radio stations that support me, but I think I have a few songs that deserve to have a more assertive presence. And that's probably when I'll be the happiest. For the moment, and that's already a lot, I have the respect of the profession: Télérama, Le Figaro, Inrocks, Rolling Stone, it is very good. I am very happy and grateful for that. But now I would like to expand my audience. This is my dream…