WINEFOODMUSIC LIVE - MICHEL FUGAIN

Gérard Bertrand : Hello everyone, it's Friday, it's 7pm, we are faithful to the live Wine Food Music meeting, we are with Chef Laurent Chabert. Welcome Chef

Chef Laurent Chabert : Hello everyone!

Gérard Bertrand : And we have the privilege this evening of welcoming our friend Michel Fugain.

Michel Fugain : And Hop There

Gérard Bertrand : Good evening Michel.

Michel Fugain : Hello friends, how are you?

Gérard Bertrand : How are you?

Michel Fugain : Magnificently good! With you it can only go well Gérard.

Gérard Bertrand : I'm jealous because I know you're even closer to the sea than I am. We're not far away but you're right next door, I think you're in Corsica.

Michel Fugain : I've been living here for quite a few years now. I'm in Corsica, I was confined in Corsica, I spent two months, already two and a half months even on this island which is itself a kind of confinement so everything went well I don't risk much here because I have a bit of land so everything is fine.

Gérard Bertrand : You look good! Our friend Chef Laurent Chabert. Where have you been Laurent?

Chef Laurent Chabert : I was in Cap Corse

Michel Fugain : Yes, it’s the start of Cap Corse, just after Bastia.

Chef Laurent Chabert : And then I also spent 9 months in Porto Vecchio, in the bay of Santa Julia.

Michel Fugain : This area is magnificent, the bay of Porto Vecchio is very beautiful.

Chef Laurent Chabert : This evening we are going to revisit Corsican products, lobster and dentex.

Gérard Bertrand : What are you going to cook for us tonight?

Chef Laurent Chabert : For the first dish, for the first wine, it will be the lobster, I have already cooked it just before, so that it is simpler during the live and of course the dentex.

Gérard Bertrand : It's a fish from Corsica, I didn't know.

Michel Fugain : It's called that because it has two teeth in front like that which makes it very recognizable, Laurent don't hold it against me but the best dentex I've ever eaten in my life I ate it because the fishermen of Ile Rousse invited us to the rocks on which there is a red lighthouse and it's very recognizable that's why we call it Ile Rousse, and they simply boiled a dentex in a fish kettle in sea water and it was a pure marvel, there was nothing else but fish and sea water.

Gérard Bertrand : It's fabulous and at the same time it's 7pm here and everyone watching us is starting to salivate. And then what are we going to have?

Chef Laurent Chabert : And after a duckling, I worked it whole just now, it comes from a producer here near Carcassonne, the thigh we will confit it in addition and then pan-fry served with a small pesto salad with garlic flower.

Gérard Bertrand : So Michel, he's working, I'm like you, I'm going to have a drink so what I suggest Michel is that we have a quiet drink, we're going to drink Clos du Temple, a rosé. I have some great news to tell you, the new vintage has just been voted the best wine in the world by Drinks Business, which is the largest magazine that makes roses in the world and which is based in London, there is a jury of experts who ranked it number 1 in the world so we are very happy because it really is a great rosé, in a bottle in the shape of a temple, we are lucky because we will be able to toast even if it's virtual Michel, we will taste it together, and for all those who are watching us, cheers if you have a drink we are happy that you are here to deconfinement.

Michel Fugain : It’s a wine for men.

Gérard Bertrand : In fact it is multidimensional, because in fact it is powerful and at the same time it is vibrant, that is to say it has horizontality, verticality and depth which is not easy for a rosé and because it is a rosé vinified in barrels, and therefore which is vinified in the same conditions as a great white, it is a great terroir with small yields in Cabrières, it is a magnificent terroir of both schist and limestone it is a collusion which gives this unique taste that we salivate in the mouth. It is exciting because we put the rosés in the world of great wines and it was a challenge for us.

Michel Fugain : It tastes magnificent, it’s splendid!

Gérard Bertrand : I saw that there was still some news for you because you did, we'll look at it soon but, you did something special called "Les Chevaux Sauvages", can you tell us a few words about it?

Michel Fugain : Listen, it's something we did as soon as we were confined with my whole team with my friends who I miss in a way that you can't even imagine, we said to ourselves, well then, fuck it, we're going to do something, we're going to do something, and then we saw all our friends, all our colleagues who said thank you, well done to the caregivers, and I said, well we're going to...

Musical moment

Michel Fugain : We do it and we realize that there are songs that talk about life from beginning to end and for me that's great.

Gérard Bertrand : So Michel, we're going to watch it and for all those who are watching us, enjoy these few minutes that you're going to see in preview, we're watching!

Musical moment

Gérard Bertrand : So were you carried away like Michel because there who were confined but with the energy that you sent it sends these are really wild horses!

Michel Fugain : I have this image, it's necessarily an artist's vision, but for me the wild horses had become a group of young people with long hair like that who run with their hair floating behind them and I say to myself, damn it, this is the next generation, this is what's coming and who are going to change the world, damn it.

Gérard Bertrand : You know that an idea can change the world and you in the world of creativity you can move people and it's true that, with the emotions that you deliver it's still quite special because there aren't many jobs like that we do it but we do it through interaction that is to say that we can make a wine and we can move people from a distance but we are not necessarily always connected you too but the fact of being on stage like that in front of several thousand people, you transmit an energy that is still quite incredible. I suppose you must be eager to get back on stage?

Michel Fugain : It's terrible, I miss it in an incredible way, but we don't have very different jobs Gérard, they are human jobs, we work for human beings. We used to say off-air, I'm not a guy who goes from gastro restaurant to gastro restaurant, certainly not especially since I live with a vegan so it's not in the bag. But what I like is the purpose of food, a good table, a good meal there is a staging, we do very related work.

Gérard Bertrand : And you know, I remember because when you came to play at Château L'Hospitalet, so I often ask the artists the question, have you ever sung in the middle of the vines? There are very few artists who have played in the middle of the vineyards. I didn't know how much music gives good vibes because in fact it's really very good for the grapes, these positive vibes that you transmit, the wines become better from year to year. I think that at the time of the jazz festival at the end of July when the grapes start to change color, it's very inspiring because you know we often put on music during the winemaking process and often there are a lot of winegrowers who play classical music and it's true that it's still good because the fact that this music and jazz festival is in the middle of the vineyards gives a boost and people are in harmony, so I was also saying earlier that in the world after we will have to respect nature a little more because there we have hit it a little and so we have questions to ask ourselves to know how we are going to be kind to nature.

Michel Fugain : It seems obvious to me and the fight will be just as difficult with I would say global money, that is to say financiers who always want to do things that will cost them the least, but we realize and I am devastated by this that there is also work to be done with citizens who lack a little civic-mindedness, we have seen the number of masks that end up on the ground, lying around and doing filth on top of that. I think there is work to be done there, an awareness that depends on education, maybe a few slaps along the way, who is it?

Gérard Bertrand : The Chef is ready!

Chef Laurent Chabert : Here is the lobster.

Michel Fugain : So Laurent, what should I drink this lobster with? Clos du Temple?

Chef Laurent Chabert : Clos du Temple is the perfect match.

Michel Fugain : With Clos du Temple, it seems obvious to me.

Chef Laurent Chabert : So, we made a carcass juice that we slightly gelled, which is served cold. The lobster that I cooked this morning and then we added a shiso sorbet that will bring a little peppery taste, and the last little thing is the black garlic, marinated in sea water.

Michel Fugain : You offer things around lobster because lobster is not very tasty?

Chef Laurent Chabert : We reduced the carcass juice as much as possible to provide maximum flavor.

Gérard Bertrand : Michel, I'm ready!

Michel Fugain : Gérard, are you the one testing?

Tasting moment

Gérard Bertrand : Delicious!

Michel Fugain : You're the one testing and I'm the one drinking.

Gérard Bertrand : There you go! And so these are dishes that we will find on the menu of Château L'Hospitalet since the restaurant will reopen this evening, we have Dominique Rieux and his band who are doing a jazz dinner concert on site, Michel I have some good news is that we are going to do the jazz festival from July 22 to 26, it will be one of the rare festivals that will take place in the south of France so we have taken precautions, since we have reduced the gauge by 30% and so we are still going to do a festival because I think it is important that life resumes and that in complete safety people can listen to music again.

Michel Fugain : And it's really good that you're doing this because I'm telling you, I'm telling you again, you have to set an example because we can't go back on stage before the start of the 2021 school year, it was September October 2021, that's the official date for producers so if things go well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed if things go well we could maybe start again around January, that would be really good, we're going crazy our job is completely devastated. There are lots of things that change even in people's souls so we want to catch up with them we want to be with them to first provide this kind of emotional support and then to feel them, to feel what's coming.

Gérard Bertrand : And then to live simply because in the end we can't stop living and especially stop doing what we love the most because in fact what we love the most is being together because if we are alone on a desert island we get very bored and the music and the food and wine pairings and living together you said it. We have a dinner a little before then there is the show and then there is the After Jazz so we start at 7 o'clock in the evening and finish at 3 o'clock in the morning and we are happy and we like to share

Gérard Bertrand : I don't know how you do it, I wanted to ask you a question because I'm intrigued, I tell myself that you swim in the source of youth because you have an energy that is always renewed and that is always there, what's your secret?

Michel Fugain : There is no secret Gérard, I necessarily analyzed the statements how you still have the energy like that I will be 80 years old in two years.

Gérard Bertrand : It’s incredible!

Michel Fugain : I think that's what our job does. That is to say that as long as you have an eye that is full of energy you have no age, you have the age of your gaze. As soon as you have a blazer gaze or one that no longer has desire or is more greedy and has no desire

Gérard Bertrand : So you say there is no secret?

Michel Fugain : No, there is no secret, no but in fact I lived the life I wanted to live I live in a gang, I live with a gang, that's why I tell you we miss each other. We create and we do in a gang. The world can collapse around us, but you know that well in a case like yours, that is to say suddenly the restaurant of the hotel etc. if you are not a steamroller, you are dead!

Gérard Bertrand : At the same time, you carry the team but the team carries you!

Michel Fugain : But obviously energy plus energy plus energy makes absolutely unstoppable energy.

Gérard Bertrand : So Chef, what energy do we have for the second course?

Chef Laurent Chabert : The tooth!

Gérard Bertrand : The fish that bites, the dentex!

Chef Laurent Chabert : I cooked the dentex on the barbecue. I like the slight taste of barbecue with the fish and especially with the red wine.

Gérard Bertrand : Here is the Or & Azur wine, in fact it is made in Languedoc and it is a wine that is organic and also Bee Friendly, that is to say that we respect the bees, we are even more than organic. It is a red wine from Languedoc that is superb, I toast with you Michel and I think that it will go well with the denti. I like to drink light reds with fish.

Michel Fugain : Yes, I agree with that, the fish that absolutely wants white on the side is not obligatory.

Gérard Bertrand : There are two grape varieties that work well with fish, Pinot Noir of course, and also when it is based on Grenache because these are grape varieties that produce fairly light wines, there is no need to have the flesh of the meat for the red wine to be absorbed by the fat of the meat, whereas here it works well.

Tasting moment

Gérard Bertrand : You have the privilege of eating dentex often and you told me that it was one of the best fish you have ever eaten.

Michel Fugain : No, the capon here in Corsica is very good, I wonder if I don't prefer the capon from elsewhere to the dentex.

Gérard Bertrand : Do you have time to go fishing or not?

Michel Fugain : No. I would have time but it's not my thing, I'm not a fisherman, I'm not a hunter, I'm a dreamer.

Gérard Bertrand : As you said your age, I just want to ask you a question: how do you do it when you, like you, are lucky enough to have, I calculated six decades and the 7th is starting, of experience? What is your view on the periods that have had the most impact, the ones where you have been most in tune with the times?

Michel Fugain : I'm going to answer you with something that might seem obvious because there was success, it was a huge success, it was the time of the seventies because these were years of freedom, that is to say, the years of freedom that today's young people will never be able to know, when we talk to them about it they don't know what it means, they can't imagine. What I remember most is the way in which the society in which we lived evolved because effectively you're talking about 70 years, 65 years of observation, sniffing out a society of I am the son of a doctor, a very humanist doctor, very politically engaged, I have not done anything in my life without thinking about my father's judgment, never, even now when my father is no longer here. I saw this society evolve and it evolved in the opposite direction of everything we could have dreamed of in the 70s which were years of freedom, so from the 80s and 90s which I call the gift-wrapped years because there was nothing in it and everything was in pretty 90s paper not much nothing interesting and from 2000 it became a total mess with problems that intersect with terrorism. So what is left for me is this kind of gap of the 70s which were incredible and creative years since musically, what was done at that time is incredible.

Gérard Bertrand : Today, with the contribution of technology, since I see it in my profession, there have been pendulums if you like and oenology has contributed a lot, then there was standardization and now we are returning to the origin. In music, has technology had a pendulum effect, and do you find today a creative momentum that makes us find a little more purity in what people do, how do you analyze the contribution of all technology, IT, the contribution to music?

Michel Fugain : Apparently technology has brought a lot of things, it has brought, as in your profession, it has brought standardization, that is to say that there is cooking music if you want, it comes out of the factory.

Gérard Bertrand : It’s formatted!

Michel Fugain : What should normally give more value to craftsmanship which is at the same time creative, it does not always do so, because the public has also changed, it is a consumer, it does not know what is being given to it but it takes it.

Gérard Bertrand : And today, if you had to name three artists who inspire you?

Michel Fugain : Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder for the creation that is both melodic, there are improbable voices that I have loved for all time, Michael McDonald, people like that are things that are a little bit on the edges, when you listen to Michael McDonald's voice it is not a beautiful voice, it is a voice that takes your heart because there is an energy and a power, so Paul McCartney is a genius, he is the one who opened the doors and windows for us

Gérard Bertrand : It's fantastic, when we look at your career you have always been avant-garde, because at the same time you compose, you play, you sing and then you were one of the first to put on shows, you did musicals, you made your band etc. So, what does it mean to be avant-garde today?

Michel Fugain : Being avant-garde today means either you are not heard, or you have been labeled avant-garde, or the beautiful people have labeled you avant-garde, they put an avant-garde label on you, and then enjoy yourself and forget it, that's how it is.

Gérard Bertrand : What I mean, Michel, when I say that, is that you were always a few seconds ahead of what was going to happen and so you created movements because you are one of the people who inspired generations. In fact, there are artists, young artists who have covered your songs recently. What does it do to you when the whole young generation covers your songs? What does it do to you when you see that?

Michel Fugain : My first reaction was that it's stupid, they're not getting into the anthill, I would have liked him to really do something else with something that comes from far away. But a melody has no age, it only depends on how you interpret it, I don't think it's a question of age or period, because if you listen to songs now that are dated, that could be 50 or 60 years old and that are old, and everything I listen to around me I'm waiting for the one that will make me say that we're going to stay for a long time.

Gérard Bertrand : Do you sing polyphonies sometimes?

Michel Fugain : No, that's really cultural, it's really identity-related. If you analyze it, it's not complicated, but it's a way of using your voice that only the Corsicans, the Neapolitans, the Sicilians use, that is to say very timbre voices, you know, polyphonic songs are actually songs that were in churches, it was shepherds who sang them because there was no barley in the churches and they were the ones who did the liturgical songs.

Gérard Bertrand : I really like polyphony and when I watch how he sings, I was recently in Corsica, and when I see my friends singing Gregorian chant it reminds me, it makes a connection because it comes from the insides, it comes from the belly it opens the chakras. It's music that uplifts where your hair grows. Do you feel the same thing?

Michel Fugain : Over time, my hair doesn't grow at all!

Gérard Bertrand : So Chef, what do we have now, because we are going to drink Michel le Château L'Hospitalet 2018.

Michel Fugain : I've already eaten with that.

Gérard Bertrand : I heard you had a good lunch this afternoon.

Chef Laurent Chabert : Here is the duck fillet which was cooked pink just simply the green beans from the garden the first ones which we just cooked crunchy with an apicius sauce, with a few spices

Michel Fugain : What is an apicius sauce?

Chef Laurent Chabert : With some spices with our honey and a little bit of soy sauce and cumin.

Gérard Bertrand : Because at Château L'Hospitalet we make wine but we also make a little honey and olive oil, all biodynamic. And we can't wait to see you again to share all that. We have something else to share with a little song that will be a revolve that will take us back a few years.

Musical moment.

Gérard Bertrand : Life is a good time and it was a good novel? It's a beautiful story and it's true that when we see your enthusiasm because in enthusiasm there is Teos, there is God, and it's important because people don't remember this word, you really embody enthusiasm and everyone has had a journey and when I see you on stage and when I see you there because it's been a while since we last spoke I'm amazed and at the same time it's great to share this with our friends who are here tonight and I hope we'll keep in touch for years to come because you're only at the beginning of your career.

Michel Fugain : I promised myself not to come with a walker.

Gérard Bertrand : That is to say, you came in 2011, so we won't wait another twenty years. Are you still jumping around on stage as much as ever?

Michel Fugain : It can happen to me, but a little less all the same!

Gérard Bertrand : I look at something in artists, it's the supports because I'm a former athlete, as you know, I'm a former rugby player and so you had sneakers when you were on stage and last year there was Greg David and I looked at his thighs, he had the thighs of a top athlete, you see when you dance and sing, there was also the singer Texas who ran all evening on stage from one end to the other and it's a great performance, so you are athletes after all because you have to have energy when you do that every evening, do you do a bit of core strengthening or do you do nothing?

Michel Fugain : I have a garden, it's true that all this exists, we are physically fit, but the fact remains that we cannot escape the rule that from the age of 50 when you get up in the morning and you have no pain anywhere, it's because you are dead.

Gérard Bertrand : But you know that there was a guy here called Antoine Verda who was a figure in the region who was a winemaker who defended the cause of winemakers and who said I want to die but standing up. The best death is to die standing up, isn't it? I would like to give a little nod to our friends from Sodibo because they delivered the wines to you today and they represent us today in Corsica, we thank them for delivering to you, they are all over Corsica. Michel, if you are in the area this summer you are welcome! Do you like it? Michel I wish you a very nice weekend, a great summer and then let me know if you are in the area, and then as soon as you have the new show that is launching let me know.

Michel Fugain : Okay Gérard! I greet everyone, hello Laurent, hello Pierre!

Gérard Bertrand : And thank you to all those who followed us this evening and then see you next Friday for another great evening, see you soon Michel!

Michel Fugain : Thank you and see you soon!

Gerard Bertrand : Chao!