Many Caribbean sites have expressed astonishment— “Non, vous ne rêvez pas”—and quite a few other reactions to French singer Francis Lalanne’s new foray into Caribbean zouk in his new album, Blight Music. DOMactu.com reports that, at first, listeners were surprised by Philippe Lavil or even Laurent Voulzy “and here is a singer that we certainly didn’t expect [that] gets into zouk.”

“La vi sans vou” [Life without You] is one of the zouk songs in his newest compilation, which is sure to deliver other surprises. Email-events.com reports, “Far from being ridiculous, besides transmitting a real sensibility, real emotion, he lives the song.” This zouk single was apparently orchestrated by DJ Wilson, who took care of the zouk rhythm and the Creole lyrics.

Often called a multidisciplinary artist, writer, composer, and singer Francis Lalanne (1958) was born in Bayonne, France, to a French/Basque father and an Uruguayan mother, and raised in France and Uruguay. He studied theater at the Conservatory of Marseille and literature at the University of Paris-La Sorbonne. He recorded his first album, Rentre chez toi, in 1979. Since then he has recorded over 15 albums including De corazón (in Spanish, 1998), Sans papiers (2000), Reptile (2005), and Ouvrir son cœur (2009).

For more information (in French) and Lalanne practicing “La vi sans vou” in the studio, see http://www.email-events.com/blog/francis-lalanne-la-vi-san-vou/

To listen to “Reste avec moi” (a more familiar song from his repertoire), see  

Also see http://www.lepost.fr/article/2010/07/22/2160869_francis-lalanne-chante-du-zouk.html and http://www.domactu.com/actualite/107247172676218/martinique-quand-francis-lalanne-chante-du-zouk-regardez-et-commentez/