Cécilia – Chocolat
From Cécilia – Si Me Olvidas
Released on Saravah, 1983, France

The way how some records reach a cult statut amongst a specific local digging scene is a complex processus, responsible for a lot of the excitement surrounding the hunt for records. We guess that, in every countries, if not every cities where there’s an active local digging scene, there are records cherished or tirelessly seek by members of the scene … and the rarity of these records is not the only factor: they also held something historically, musically and emotionally significant for the collectors.

Though it can sometimes be hard to understand why some records stir up passion amongst people in the know, in the case of Cecilia‘s 7-inch, the guess is not hard : a tight but subtle instrumentation with hints of fantasized « tropicalism » backing a gentle voice – vertiginously fragile and slightly out of tune – a beautiful artwork and the fact that it was released on cult French label, Saravah (a label with a strong political identity, managed by  the late Pierre Barouh and on which were released Brigitte Fontaine‘s best albums amongst other mind-blowing records) make this record extremely appealing for French music lovers.

Chocolat, The B-side of this irresistible 7-inch, is arranged by a heavyweight champion producer and composer, Alain Wisniak, who composed – amongst hundreds of hits –Cerrone‘s Supernature or Bob Sinclar‘s Love Generation (French people also know his music for cult T.V. programs like Question Pour Un Champion).

But the appeal of Wisniak‘s arrangements for Chocolat lies in the fact that it doesn’t sound at all like a hit ! On the contrary, the song is always on the verge of loosing balance but never does, Cecilia singing like a tightrope walker in between metronomic patterns of synths. In our opinion, the song has this peculiar quality that some French musicians like Erik Satie mastered, the elegance of disequilibrium.