''C'était ici'' is the second live album of French

Avant-Garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

musician and composer

Yann Tiersen Yann Pierre Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical ...

. It was recorded during three concerts performed on 15, 16, and 17 February 2002, at the Cité de la Musique in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The album is noteworthy because of the many collaborators appearing in the performances such as the 35-member orchestral group Synaxis, conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne, Claire Pichet, Christine Ott, Christian Quermalet, Marc Sens, Nicolas Stevens, Jean-François Assy, Renaud Lhoest, Olivier Tilkin, Ronan le bars, Les Têtes Raides,

Dominique A Dominique Ané (born 6 October 1968), better known as "Dominique A", is a French songwriter and singer. Early life Born on 6 October 1968 in Provins, France, Dominique Ané is the only child of a teacher and a homemaker. He was passionate about ...

and Lisa Germano. On this album, the track entitled "La Noyée" is actually a piece by

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

featured on the original soundtrack of the 1970 film ''Le Roman d'un voleur de chevaux'', a 1970 film directed by Abraham Polonsky and Fedor Hanzekovic starring

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach ( ; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. Known for his character actor roles, his entertainment career spanned over six decades. He received a British Aca ...

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin ( ; 14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British and French actress, singer, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema. A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, ...

among many others. Yann Tiersen's piece with the same title, "La Noyée II", is the track number five of the second disc.

Reception

Heather Fares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

commended the album's showcase of Tiersen's musical versatility, and its balanced representation of Tiersen's repertoire. She praised the album for giving equal attention to the different facets of Tiersen's music, including vocal pieces such as the eerie and beautiful "La Rupture," and tracks influenced by French pop, rock, and folk, like "La Terrasse," "Déjà Loin," and "Sur le Fil." Fares described the album as a comprehensive introduction to Tiersen's work for newcomers and a celebration of his talent for existing fans.

Track listing

;CD 1 # "Intro" - 0:25 # "La valse d'Amélie" - 2:05 # "C'était ici" - 1:53 # "Rue des cascades" - 5:41 (Sung by Claire Pichet) # "La rupture" - 2:43 (Sung by Claire Pichet) # "La terrasse" - 3:57 (Sung by Yann Tiersen) # "Déjà loin" - 3:02 # "Sur le fil" - 3:38 # "Le jour d'avant" - 4:19 # "Le banquet" - 2:55 # "Les jours tristes" - 3:41 (Sung by Christian Quermalet) # "La noyée" - 3:24 (Sung by Yann Tiersen) # "Le moulin" - 4:03 # "Le fromveur" - 2:11 # "L'homme aux bras ballants" - 6:04 # "L'autre valse d'Amélie" - 2:50 ;CD 2 # "Bagatelle" - 4:17 (Sung by

) # "Le méridien" - 3:58 (Sung by Lisa Germano) # "L'absente" - 3:25 # "La parade" - 3:34 (Sung by Lisa Germano and Claire Pichet) # "La noyée II" - 2:39 # "Monochrome" - 3:46 (Sung by Dominique A) # "Plus au sud" - 2:53 # "Les bras de mer" - 4:03 (Sung by Dominique A) # "Comptine d'un autre été : L'après-midi" - 2:24 # "Le quartier" - 1:45 # "La crise" - 3:05 # "Février" - 12:57 # "La valse des monstres" - 7:15

Credits

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

on "La Valse d'Amélie", "C'était ici", "Rue des cascades", "Le Jour d'avant", "Le Banquet", and "La Noyée II";

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

on "Rue des cascades", "La Rupture", "La Terrasse", "Déjà loin", "Les Jours tristes", "La Noyée", "Le Moulin", "L'Absente", "La Parade", "Monochrome", "Les Bras de mer", and "Comptine d'un autre été: l'après midi";

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

on "Sur le fil", "Le Fromveur", "L'Homme aux bras ballants", "Bagatelle", "Le Quartier", "La Crise", and "Février";

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

on "Le Moulin";

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

on "L'Autre Valse d'Amélie";

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

on "Le Méridien";

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

on "Plus au Sud";

toy piano The toy piano, also known as the ( in German), is a small piano-like musical instrument. Most modern toy pianos use round metal rods, as opposed to strings in a regular piano, to produce sound. The U.S. Library of Congress recognizes the toy pia ...

on "La Valse des monstres" *Ensemble Orchestral Synaxis on "La Valse d'Amélie", "C'était ici", "La Rupture", "La Terrasse", "Déjà loin", "Les Jours tristes", "Le Fromveur", "L'Homme aux bras ballants", "Bagatelle", "Le Méridien", "Monochrome", "Plus au Sud", and "Les Bras de mer" *Christian Quermalet - bass on "La Valse d'Amélie" and "C'était ici";

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

on "Le Banquet", "Bagatelle", "Le Méridien", "Monochrome", "Plus au Sud", "Le Quartier", "La Crise", and "Février"; guitar on "La Rupture", "La Terrasse", "La Noyée", and "Les Bras de mer" *Marc Sens - guitar on "La Rupture", "La Terrasse", "La Noyée", "Bagatelle", "Le Méridien", "Plus au Sud", "Les Bras de mer", "La Crise", and "Février" * Christine Ott -

ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...

on "La Rupture", "La Terrasse", "Les Jours tristes", "La Noyée", "L'Autre Valse d'Amélie", "Bagatelle", "La Parade", "Les Bras de mer", "La Crise", and "Février". * Claire Pichet - toy piano on "La Noyée";

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

on "Bagatelle"; melodica and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

s on "Plus au Sud" *Ronan Le Bars -

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ), also known as Union pipes and sometimes called Irish pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the ...

on "Le Fromveur" and "L'Homme aux bras ballants" *

- guitar on "Plus au Sud" *Jean-François Assy - bass on "Plus au Sud" and "Février" * Têtes Raides on "Le Jour d'avant" et "La Noyée II" *Iso (Têtes Raides) -

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

on "Février" *Quatuor à cordes on "C'était ici", "La Rupture", "La Terrasse", "Déjà Loin", "Les Jours tristes", "Le Fromveur", "Bagatelle", "Monochrome", "Plus au Sud", and "Les Bras de mer".

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Yann Tiersen's official homepage
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:C'etait Ici 2002 live albums Yann Tiersen albums