Desireless – Voyage Voyage
#quotefromthe80s
Voyage, voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour (voyage, voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Dans l'espace inouï de l'amour
#Desireless #VoyageVoyage
Voyage Voyage is definitely one of those songs with an impact that was possible only in the 80s. The song hit the charts across Europe in December 1986, but the story of this song, and of course of its author, began several years earlier. I would say that it began in 1980, when Claudie Fritsch, a good family French girl, after a couple of years of passionate studies on oriental philosophies, leaves for a trip to India that will change her existence. This journey in fact brings her ever closer to the philosophies and religions she had studied, and perhaps it also determined her approach to the world of music. In the early 1980s, in fact, Claudie began studying as a singer and collaborating with several French musicians, also releasing a couple of singles.
In 1986, however, she definitely had the turning point in her life, when she produced and interpreted the beautiful Voyage Voyage. Claudie had to find a stage name, and she chose the English name of Desireless, inspired by the philosophy of Gopala Krishna that she was studying. Of course in France her name was usually pronounced “Desirlès”
It was surely a huge bet: a semi-unknown singer (only a little bit in France), French, singing in French, outside of international collaborations and production companies. The assumptions were not the best if we consider that, moreover, Desireless was almost 35 years old, she had a certain new wave charm, but she did not play on the lines of seduction, indeed for years she had adopted a rather androgynous look.
Yet … yet the song was very strong. There are no other words. the text speaks of a journey around the world, and in addition to Spain a series of exotic places are named: the Sahara, the Fiji islands, but of course it also speak of an “Indian river”, and the Ganges is mentioned. Desireless’s wonderful voice seemed made exactly for the ups and downs of this song that was about travel, about the world, playing with the ups and downs of the notes to recall the journey. The theme of the journey will be resumed a couple of years later by Enya with Orinoco Flow, which, with different sounds and rhythms, actually performs the same exercise, fortunately choosing different places to land.
The video was nice, even if it didn’t have a huge circulation. In a house of the past, people of different generations are engaged in different activities: some elderly ladies play cards, two lovers are flirting, and other characters live their stories. In the hall there is Desireless who, with the help of a projector turned on at the beginning of the video, sings the song with suggestive background scenes. It is certainly a rather surreal video.
Voyage Voyage was a huge success and reached the top position in twelve countries including the Soviet Union, but in France it stopped at the second position. After the success of Voyage Voyage, Claudie\Desireless remained in the world of music and published several other works, although not very frequently, but always with refined music and collaborators. Her already unusual look veered towards the completely deconstructed, and she gradually showed up with very short hair and more and more colorful tunics. Although she has always been rather reserved, after so many years we can say that thanks to Voyage Voyage, Desireless has remained an icon of the 80s anyway!
Desireless on Wikipedia
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