Keren Ann Zeidel
(Hebrew: ??? ?? ?????? born March 10 1974) is a singer-songwriter based largely in Paris, New York City and Israel. She plays guitar, piano and clarinet, engineers and writes choir and musical arrangements. She is descended from Russian Jews on her father's side and is Indo (Javanese and Dutch) on her mother's. She lived in Israel and in the Netherlands until the age of 11, when her family moved to France. She retains her Dutch and Israeli citizenship.
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KEREN ANN TICKETS
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Biography
In 2000 she began her solo career with
La Biographie de Luka Philipsen
—produced by Lionel Gaillardin and
Benjamin Biolay, who also co-produced its follow-up,
La Disparition
(in return, she helped write his debut album,
Rose Kennedy
). The pair also wrote several songs for
Henri Salvador's best-selling, prize-winning 2000 comeback album,
Chambre avec Vue
, including the hit "Jardin d'Hiver".
Her third album
Not Going Anywhere
was released worldwide in 2003, but her American breakthrough came with its follow-up,
Nolita
(2004). Recorded in Paris and New York—it is named for
Nolita, her neighborhood in lower Manhattan—it is sung half in French and half in English.
During the war in Israel and Lebanon in 2006, she travelled Northern Israel, performing for the people who stayed in shelters because of the missile attacks on the North.
Lady & Bird
is a collaboration with
Barði Jóhannson, of the
Icelandic group
Bang Gang.
The Isis Project
is a concept album that she wrote with
Guy Chambers and was sung by
Sophie Hunter.
Keren Ann's eponymous
fifth solo album was released in 2007. In the same year she also did a
Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by
Vincent Moon.
Contemporaries
The musical style of Keren Ann is sometimes referred to by the recently coined buzzword
Nouvelle Chanson, suggesting a musical inheritance from the poetically intense forefathers of French Chanson such as
Jacques Brel,
Charles Aznavour and
Barbara.
[1]. Keren Ann's musical contemporaries - also hailing from France - include artists such as
Benjamin Biolay - with whom she has collaborated,
Coralie Clement,
Olivia Ruiz,
Francoiz Breut, and
Carla Bruni.
Well-known contemporary English speaking artists who might also be termed 'New Chanson', in that their musical style is clearly traceable from this same Chanson lineage can be seen in artists such as New York based
Martha Wainwright (who recently reprised Barbara's song 'Dis, Quand Reviendra Tu?' -
[2],
Regina Spektor (showing French influence in songs such as 'Apres Moi' and 'Ne Me Quitte Pas'),
CocoRosie (originally Canadian, now Paris based) and London-based singer-songwriter
Ana Silvera [3].
Trivia
- Her song "L'Onde Amère" was featured on a 1st season episode of the HBO series Big Love
- Her song "Jardin d'Hiver" was featured on a 5th season episode of the television series Six Feet Under
- Her song "Not Going Anywhere" was featured on a second season episode of Grey's Anatomy
.
- Her song "Right now and right here" was featured in a Korean ad of the Daewoo Group's architectural division, Daewoo Motor Sales
s Iaan.
Discography
- La Biographie de Luka Philipsen
(2000)
- La Disparition
(2002)
- Not Going Anywhere
(2003)
- Lady & Bird
(by Keren Ann and B. Johannsson, 2003)
- Nolita
(2004)
- Keren Ann
(2007)
References
- Interview with Benjamin Biolay
- Martha Wainwright Discography
- Time Out London Review