''La Violence et l'Ennui'' (English: ''Violence and Boredom'') is an album by

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...

released in 1980 by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

History

Léo Ferré reveals during interviews with French medias the mindset behind this album: for him, in 1980 "the time is pathetic, dismal, flabby, sweating with fear... People let them being scammed far too much. All you want to make them swallow, they swallow; you lead them by the nose. They are not stupid however; but you hammer so many slogans and advertisements in their heads that they end up being impregnated." That's why Ferré puts here his three previous albums' (relative) serenity aside and reintroduces poetic violence, sharp

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

and urgency feel in his work, to counteract artistically and morally what he considers to be a lack of critical thinking from his contemporaries, self-denial and submission he sees all around him. About boredom, he says in 1981, "Never let boredom win over you. If you feel it coming then you must go out, yell, screw up power and millenniums of morality you carry on your shoulders, go far away... get out of that glue." Robert Belleret, ''Léo Ferré, une vie d'artiste'' : ninth part, chap. « Ô ma sœur la violence ô ma sœur lassitude », Actes Sud, 1996. This album is the result of two separate recording sessions: one with the

RAI National Symphony Orchestra The RAI National Symphony Orchestra ( it, italic=no, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI) is an Italian symphony radio orchestra, owned by the public radio and television company RAI. Its primary concert venue is the Auditorium RAI in the Piazz ...

, taken from the recording sessions of the previous album ('' Il est six heures ici et midi à New York'') in February 1979, and the other carried almost alone by Ferré in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, far from his usual collaborators in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(where he lives since 1970).

Track listing

All songs written, composed, arranged and directed by Léo Ferré, except '' Frères humains, l'amour n'a pas d'âge'', written by

François Villon François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ...

and Léo Ferré. ;Original LP

Personnel

- piano, organ * Afonso Vieira - percussions * Guy Lukowski - guitar * Milan Symphonic Orchestra

Production

* Producer: Léo Ferré * Engineer: Paolo Bocchi (tracks 2, 4, 8), Jan Vercauteren (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 7) * Arranger: Léo Ferré * Cover photography: André Villers

References

External links

Album listening & presentation
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Violence et l'Ennui Léo Ferré albums French-language albums 1980 albums RCA Records albums