Alfredo Merat

Jon Rose Writes...of Brel By Alfredo @ Bay Street.
Alfredo Merat Radio Europa·Wednesday, March 29, 201737 Reads
(Jon Rose, son of the screenwriter for the 1957 movie, Twelve Angry Men :-)
Add an evening of modern French chanson to your choice of French cuisine, wine, art… a recipe for pure pleasure.
Now supplement the rich serving of song with a course of critical commentary… from an Englishman!
Alfredo Merat’s “Brel by Alfredo” graces the stage of Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre this past October 15th. The haunting, heartfelt songs of the iconic Belgian singer and composer Jacques Brel, performed entirely in French by Merat, a Madrid-born, Bordeaux-reared longtime resident of the Hamptons, were served up flavored in a useful guide to reason and rhyme across languages and sometimes contrasting yet reliably congenial temperaments in the person of musician and music writer Alan Clayson.
Everyone has heard Jacques Brel’s music, covered by a long list of performers from Sinatra to Sting. In the audience at the Bay Street there were not a few discreetly singing along, yes in English, and also trying out their French. Brel’s songs have the magical gift of getting into people’s heads and becoming one or another of those songs we’ve seemed always to know. Credit this in good part to their eclectic essence—a buffet of bounteous variety.
They have surely found a home in the head of Alfredo Merat, who brought flamenco with him from Spain, paired it with jazz in France and couldn’t stop the mix, adding African, reggae, rock. A self taught, ear trained singer and guitarist, Merat has built a devoted and expanding following in the Hamptons for several decades. No raggedy plaid and blue jeaned folkie, Merat embodies the Paris boulevardier on stage, patent leather hair, closely cut dark suit, the guitar far from incongruous in his passionately strumming hands… cue also the late, much missed Leonard Cohen. His band, Europa, serves up a rich, high stepping coffeehouse brew with bass, keyboard, saxophone and accordion.
The English strain is served not as a starter or side dish, but as supplementary entrée. Alan Clayson, founder of the well received band The Argonauts and a prolific and highly regarded author (30 books) and journalist in the pop music scene, brings a droll, wise observer’s role to the mix as he reads selections from his definitive biography of Jacques Brel (2010). Playing off Alfredo’s sardonic, elfin presence, Alan enters and exits as a burly literary and directorial narrator in a black turtleneck, the easygoing weekend stage bohemian. Alan holds forth with a very British cadence, precisely enunciated and unfailingly astute, that befits a high lecture or a burnished Parliamentary oration… now cautiously searching for an entrance, a place amid the suave French cum transplanted Spanish milieu… now with razor and barb on his tongue effortlessly, humorously belying his bluff Englishness.
And yes, Alan and Alfredo capture the wryness, the impertinence, the longing and occasional despair that rides Jacques Brel’s tide of sweet and pungent melody, flavored with just a whisper of sentiment, a murmur of hope.
Bravo Alfredo! Bravo Alan! Bravo Jacques! For us you are truly formidable… - Record mag

View: front row

While a presentation of Jacques Brel chansons is a draw for devotees, Merat’s performance before a capacity 300 crowd was remarkable. He kicked off an intimate 90 minutes with Grand Jacques and, as well as strumming guitar, emoted every item in French (apart from the Flemish in Marieke), whether a sombrely spooky Ne Me Quitte Pas or fun Les Bourgeois. Merat cast a similar spell to Brel, hardly a word understood, but impossible not to be swept away.

Sometimes, Alfredo abandoned his six-string to act, as on Ces Gens-Là, hinged musically on two repeated chords from the pianist in his thoroughly road-drilled combo – including accordion – that Brel himself employed in his prime. Merat, though, is his own man, an interpreter rather than imitator, and his show is likely to capitivate when it comes to Europe. Formidable. - Record Collector magazine

“In 1987 I showed up on the Hampton shores, directly from Paris. At first I was like, ‘What am I going to do with my French and Spanish songs?’ But slowly, I realized people enjoyed it.

“Back when I began, it was illegal to have live musicians in restaurants and clubs—it was a witch hunt. We had to change the laws, which we did. Jay Schneiderman, [now the Suffolk County Legislator], was in my band, and we would go in front of boards. I am totally used to red tape.

“It’s beautiful to see now the Sag Harbor American Music Festival is happening [in September], and it’s expanded to the Montauk Music Festival [in May]. There’s rock, blues, Americana, European, Latin vibes, Mambo Loco with salsa. It’s exploded in a good way. This is a resort, and we want to enjoy the beaches, the sun. And music and atmosphere is a part of that. It’s grown beautifully.

“The scene is coming back to Sag Harbor this year with waterfront music. Harlow is huge, with its beautiful back deck. Even with 150 people there, the sound is encased, and it foats out to the boats. We’re seeing salsa, reggae, and rock ’n’ roll there. Baron’s Cove also has music, with brunches and happy hour.

“It’s all about energy. When people are having a good time, enjoying their drinks and conversation, then the foot starts to tap to the beat. They look at you, start to smile, and suddenly people are dancing. The children are enjoying it; they get closer. It’s a good atmosphere in the summer, with the sea and the families.

“Everybody likes Latin music, whether you’re white, black, blue, or pink. We see this Latin community that has grown exponentially over the last 30 years. There are Argentineans, Ecuadorians… Music is a great equalizer. Everybody just wants to shake it up. You catch a vibe, what it’s about, even if you don’t understand the words. The whole community comes together.” - Hampton Magazine

Alfredo Merat was born in Madrid, Spain and raised in Bordeaux, France. He is a self taught and ear-trained musician. He began the coffee houses circuit at age 17 and has toured all over Europe, the Caribbean and the United States. His influences range from Flamenco to Jazz, Reggae and Rock. His band, Europa and the Europa Jam Sessions, which has been immensely popular in the Hamptons, really define his work.
Well for the past 20 years I have been asked so many times, what type of music do you do?Even some of my own musicians say, How can I describe your music when asked:
ORIGINAL,LATIN,AFRICAN BEATS,JAZZ,FUSION,REGGAE CARIBBEAN GROOVES:
My roots are Latin flamenco, but truly its my own sound. Different fresh home grown.

Well from the early days I have fused, mixed and explored within the confines of my music and I have let it evolve and slowly by meeting other musicians more used to Blues Rock, Reggae or Jazz or other genres they have somehow made a impact in my songs, added colors, changed the sound of course and so sometimes not even wanting to have that happened, but I have adapted and Europa was born.

Members: Alfredo Merat, Guitar, Vocals &Material, Carl Obrig,on Saxs, Alex Sarkiss Drums, Jon Brozoza on lead, Brian Leclerck lead guitare, Carolina Fuentes on Percu-Drums, Willy Fuentes Bass, Los Aquiles dad & Son Congas, Bongos & Charles Certain on Sax & Vocals. Charles Notturno on Accordeon … - Long Island at GOGO

When Alfredo Merat was a budding musician in the late 1970s in France, Jacques Brel was a source of inspiration for him, but only briefly. Just recently, he rediscovered Mr. Brel’s music, and now he wants to share it by taking on the Belgian singer-songwriter’s persona in a concert at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater.

The Springs resident’s goal at his “Brel by Alfredo” show on Saturday, October 15, is to channel Mr. Brel and bring him back to life as best he can.

“It’s not an easy process. The guy was an enormous, gigantic, performer. I must humble myself,” Mr. Merat said with a laugh. “No way I’m going to be him.”

However, they do have similarities: Mr. Brel was born in Belgium and moved to France, and Mr. Merat was born in Spain and raised in France. They both began playing guitar when they were 15 years old, and both composed original music that mixes languages.

Through Belgian, Mr. Brel is often associated with Paris, and Mr. Merat sees that as a testament to his accomplishments. “He became a French treasure. The French adore him,” he said, comparing Mr. Brel’s iconic status with that of the Eiffel Tower.

His most popular song is “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” though American audiences may be more familiar with the English adaptation, “If You Go Away,” which Dusty Springfield, Frank Sinatra and Neil Diamond among others, all recorded.

Mr. Merat recalled that when he first picked up the guitar, Mr. Brel’s songs were regularly on the radio in France. Then Mr. Brel died in 1978 from lung cancer at the age of 49, and Mr. Merat soon moved to the United States. “So I sort of lost track of him, as far as his work and who he was,” he said.

Then, last November, Mr. Merat was visiting Paris on the day terrorists carried out suicide bombings and mass shootings at targets throughout the city, including the Bataclan theater, where hostages were taken. At that time, he was in front of another theater, the Olympia, just a couple of miles away.

The Olympia was a place that Mr. Brel was very fond of, and where he announced that he was retiring at the height of his career, in 1966, Mr. Merat noted. “So it triggered many things to me,” he said. He decided that he wanted to put on a show about who Mr. Brel was, and what his songs meant.

There is an existing show about Mr. Brel, but it is quite different from what Mr. Merat has planned. “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” a musical revue, premiered Off-Broadway in 1968 and had a revival just 10 years ago.

“It seems to me, everyone has heard of it, knows about it, or knows him through that show, but not through his songs,” Mr. Merat said. “So I said, ‘I have to bring something different to the table here and tell who he was, and what happened to him.’”

Unlike the Off-Broadway show, which was made up of English translations of Brel songs, “Brel by Alfredo” will feature the songs in the languages they were written in. English narrations between numbers will reveal the meaning and influences behind the music.

Mr. Brel’s songs were mostly written in French, but he sometimes mixed in Dutch. Mr. Merat said that it is similar to his own original music, in that he’ll mix English and Spanish, or French and Spanish, in the same composition.

Like Mr. Brel at the Olympia, Mr. Merat will be accompanied by a standup bass player, pianist, accordionist and saxophonist. However, the musical arrangements will be different from the way they were on Mr. Brel’s recordings—Mr. Brel was working with an orchestra, Mr. Merat pointed out. And some songs that Mr. Brel played on piano, Mr. Merat will play on guitar.

Mr. Merat has been preparing for many weeks to get into character. “I’m trying to get close to him by reading about him, and watching shows, clips and interviews on YouTube,” he said.

One way he will channel the singer is through the atmosphere. He said Mr. Brel was well known for having a room cast in black, with a single spotlight—which he’ll emulate at Bay Street. He’ll also get into costume: a black suit with a black tie, and a white shirt with cuff links.

To help tell the story, Mr. Merat invited Alan Clayson, who wrote an English-language biography of Mr. Brel, to join him on stage.

“Alan Clayson wrote the story about basically who he was and what happened to him, his life, his love life, his career, his triumphs, and then his demise, and then his death,” Mr. Merat said. Mr. Clayson will deliver a five-minute prologue as a means of putting into context what the audience is about to see, and he will narrate and translate between songs.

“Jacques Brel wrote the songs, and that’s what they’re about. They’re about him and they’re about what happened to him,” Mr. Merat said, adding that he hopes the audience will leave the theater having discovered something new, including Mr. Brel’s far-reaching influence on music.

“A lot of the songwriters have looked at what he did and then did their own. I don’t want to say that they copied him, but they definitely took notice of, ‘Wow, you can do this with words and rhythms.’ And this guy was rapping in 1955.”

“Brel by Alfredo” will be staged at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Saturday, October 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. Call 631-725-9500 or visit baystreet.org. - Southampton Press

Alfredo Spices up Jacques Brel ... - The Independent

By Michelle Trauring


No one sings Jacques Brel in the streets of Cuba—except for Alfredo Merat.

The East Hampton-based musician visited the island nation six times last year, absorbing what he calls “beauty in misery” while, in his mind, playing favorite songs by his lifelong muse, quietly rearranging them as bachata, salsa, boléro and cha-cha.

And then he found himself a recording studio.

“The Cubans discovered Jacques Brel with me, which was great because they have completely virgin ears, which is really what I love,” said Mr. Merat, whose newest album, “Alfredo Sings Brel,” dropped this past summer after he finished recording it in Cuba.

“That also translates in the record. It’s very simply rearranged. There’s four of us. It’s percussions, a piano, vocals, and a trumpet here or a clarinet there, and a bass. That’s it. And I like that because I didn’t want to overproduce it, or do over-the-top arrangements. It’s almost live.”

Mr. Merat begins with the last song Brel ever wrote—“Les Marquises”—paying tribute to the Belgium-born singer who moved to Paris at age 24 and, not long after, toured France and began gaining international traction.

Brel’s music was the reason Mr. Merat first picked up a guitar at age 15, coincidentally the same age that Brel learned how to play the instrument. It was a coping mechanism for Mr. Merat, who felt out of place as a stranger living in a foreign country—a Spaniard in France, just as Brel was a Belgian in France.

“I think that’s the connection. I totally get it—what he was expressing and saying, like no other songwriter was at the time for me,” Mr. Merat said. “I identify with him in so many ways.”

Brel’s words touched and soothed him, as they did the world. He would die from cancer at age 49 in 1978, when Mr. Merat was 17 years old, leaving behind an impossibly large repertoire.

With more than 400 songs to choose from for his new album, Mr. Merat selected 11, including a few he did not know: “Bruxelles,” “La Chanson de Jacky” and “Madeleine.” He would listen to them during his flights to and from Cuba, reimagining the old beats as “danceable and fun,” he said.

“I think I’m pushing the envelope a little bit because nobody really remembers this music that way,” he said. “Everybody remembers him as a giant of songwriting, but the work that is most remembered or covered is very dark and sad.

“But if you go on YouTube and look up ‘Jacky’ or ‘Madeleine,’ you’ll see he’s hopping, he’s jumping, he’s dancing on stage while he’s performing those songs. He’s doing all kinds of crazy moves. So I said, ‘Yes, this is fine, I think he would be all right with this.’ I’m always concerned what he would think. I think I’ve chosen the songs that would work. I believe I’m hitting it on the nail.”

In a way, Mr. Merat said he feels indebted to Brel, and that the once-unstoppable musician has been forgotten—not only in the United States, where he was never extremely popular—but in Europe, too.

“Because of the fact that I’m a gypsy myself and transposed myself into a foreign country, I’ve always said that, one day, I’m going to revisit and reconnect with him—make him relevant again,” Mr. Merat said. “And that is exactly what I’m doing now.”

For more information about “Alfredo Sings Brel,” visit store.cdbaby.com/cd/alfredomerat. - 27 East

Alfredo sings Brel review - Rock-n-Reel Review

Alfredo Merat is not standing still. Last Thursday, hours before he would resume a new, weekly residency at Lulu Kitchen and Bar in Sag Harbor, the musician excitedly shared plans to bring a vision to life in ways large and small.

Outside his house in Springs sat a recently acquired recreational vehicle. Inside the house, guitars and ancillary musical equipment were everywhere, scattered among and between books and sheet music. All play an essential role in his upcoming plans.

Last fall, Mr. Merat, who often plays at venues including Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor and Sole East and Saltbox in Montauk, performed “Brel by Alfredo,” in which he channeled the spirit of Jacques Brel, the Belgian singer, songwriter, and actor who died in 1978, at Bay Street Theater, also in Sag Harbor. That performance, in which he sang in French and spoke about Brel’s life in English, coincided with the 50-year anniversary of Brel’s farewell concerts at the Olympia Theater in Paris, part of a long goodbye from live performances.

The project sparked more ideas, and a collaboration with the director and producer Stephen Hamilton, who co-founded Bay Street Theater, and Randal Myler, the Tony and Drama Desk Award-nominated director whose credits include “Love, Janis,” a musical biography of Janis Joplin, and “Dream a Little Dream: The Mamas and the Papas Musical.”

“We’re putting the concept together as far as this being more a theater play,” Mr. Merat said. “Hopefully, we’ll be done in the spring.”

Mr. Merat, who was born in Madrid and grew up in France, has fully immersed himself in Brel and his music. Among the books scattered around his house are a comprehensive collection of biographies of Brel, an immensely popular artist in his time. He has contacted and corresponded with one biographer, is absorbing “a lot of insider information and anecdotes,” and has devoured and translated interviews, excerpts of which may be incorporated into the show. “Tell the story and sing the songs” is how he envisions it.

Brel’s oeuvre struck a chord in him, he said, in part due to his upbringing in France. “Then, when I was young, I picked up a guitar around the time his songs were in my ear,” he said. More recently, “I was in Paris, and realized I wanted to revisit his work. My God, there’s so much good stuff in there.”

Subsequent to the October 2016 performance at Bay Street, Mr. Merat traveled to Cuba, a journey that unexpectedly added a new element to the project. With Cuban musicians in a Havana studio, he recorded 11 Brel songs, often in a unique interpretation. “They’re fun songs,” he said, “and I’m doing it my way, rearranging them, rediscovering some of them, thinking, ‘This would be great with salsa.’ ”

“Alfredo Sings Brel,” the resulting CD, features, for example, two versions of “Le Moribond,” one a lush and dreamy bachata arrangement, the other an up-tempo salsa interpretation.

“I want to break it here,” he said of the show, “meaning we’ll do the rehearsals and then the previews. This is not going to be a one-time show — at least, that’s the aim! We will start production, hopefully, this winter into spring.” After previews at a South Fork venue to be determined, he hopes to take it to Manhattan. “Hopefully, it takes on a life of its own,” he said. “I’m hopeful that there will be a market in Canada, France, England, Belgium, Morocco, because those are the places he performed, and he performed in French. But for now, we’ll run it here and see if it’s got legs.”

Simultaneous to this project, Mr. Merat began the weekly residency at Lulu, a consequence of performing there during the Sag Harbor American Music Festival, in September. The gig is serving as a kind of laboratory in which, depending on the circumstances, Mr. Merat alternates between performance as part of a duo or trio and experimenting with Brel’s music. “I was really happy when Lulu came along and invited me to do this,” he said. “They were very receptive and complimentary when I did the festival.”

“The funny part is, while I’m doing this solo work I’m preparing for the bigger show,” he said. “Ultimately, the plan is to do the big show but also prepare something much smaller where I can tell the story in English as well, in between songs, or translate while the song is going.”

Hence the recreational vehicle, in which he plans to travel extensively in 2018 and beyond. “When I go to New Orleans and other places, in some places I’ll have gigs,” he predicted, “but in some I’m going to wing it. That’s my plan.”
About the Author
Christopher Walsh
Reporter

631-324-0002 ext. 118
cwalsh@ehstar.com - East Hampton Star

MONTAUK SUN DEC 2018
Alfredo Merat Sings Brel Review

by Debbie Tuma
One way to beat the winter blues is to snuggle up in a cozy seat and watch a theatrical or musical performance, and Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor is a great choice. Having seen three wonderful and memorable plays last summer, including “Fellow Travelers,” “Frost Nixon” and “Evita,” I decided to start this winter season with a fascinating performance by one of my favorite musicians, Alfredo Merat.
On December 8, he gave a one-man, hour and a half performance of “Jacques Brel,” in which he not only sang and played his guitar, but he also showed his keen acting ability. For those unfamiliar with Brel, who was born in 1929 in Belgium, Merat brought his character alive, sharing his own enthusiasm for Brel’s extensive songs and storytelling.
Having already seen the off-Broadway “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” I was curious to compare that with Merat’s one man show, and I found he did a good job of giving us a bit of Brel’s history, interspersed with many of his original songs. It was obvious that Merat was inspired by these songs, and he exuberantly shared his creative joy with the audience. Merat has an intense and contagious energy on stage… his singing is emotional and deeply felt, to the listener.
Having seen Merat perform throughout the Hamptons, at Baron’s Cove Restaurant and Lulu’s Kitchen & Bar in Sag Harbor, and also at the Montauk Music Festival, I was also curious as to how he would tackle the task of entertaining a live audience for almost 2 hours on stage. But it was obvious that Merat was intent on sharing Brel’s legacy…which included much more than just singing and song-writing—because Brel was also an actor, a pilot, and a boat captain. He was well-known in France, where he moved at age 24 to pursue a music career. Over the next three decades, he released 16 studio albums while touring Europe, New Zealand, Canada, Egypt and the Soviet Union.
Merat is well versed in different languages—he was born in Madrid, Spain and raised in France, where he played and composed music at a young age. He first heard Jacques Brel’s voice at age 15, on radio and TV, but he never got to see him live. Since he came to the states, Merat has been playing at many different venues, and when he first saw “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” he decided to begin his own rendition…His first tribute to the great Belgian singer took place in October of 2016, “Brel by Alfredo,” at Bay Street Theater.
At Merat’s December appearance at Bay Street, he expertly played the acoustic guitar, and he was accompanied by his full band of very talented members, including amazing sax, piano, violin and accordion players. He will continue to be seen at Lulu’s Kitchen & Bar, where he also played on New Year’s Eve - MONTAUK SUN