Zaho de Sagazan, the new sensation of French music, is an artist who knew how to conquer the public and the critics with her first album “La Symphonie des éclairs”. The 23-year-old singer is the daughter of visual artist Olivier de Sagazan.
[Mis à jour le 23 avril 2023 à 16h43] Zaho de Sagazan caused a sensation last year on the stage of the Fête de la Musique of the Ministry of Culture. Since then, she has continued to impress music critics and the public with her first album “La Symphonie des éclairs” released on March 31. At only 23 years old, she brilliantly combines classic French song and electronic music. In an interview given to Figaro on April 17, she admits not to be intoxicated by success: “I think my brain remains calm, it’s a bit of a snob to protect me. My friends and my family realize much more than me what is happening to me .”
The sensitive subject addressed in his song “Les Dormantes” did not leave anyone indifferent. She speaks with pride of the impact of her music: “People tell me that I put words to situations that they cannot formulate. A 70-year-old woman told me that the song l brought back to a story she had experienced at age 25. I believe in the power of words and the fact that a song can create awareness.”
Daughter of visual artist Olivier de Sagazan, Zaho drew on her father’s great creative freedom. “My father helped me a lot. He never set limits in his art. For example, I was advised not to open the album with “La Fontaine de sang”, a complicated song, not at all pop. But I’m not here to hold people’s hands,” she said.
The lyrics of the album revolve around the feeling of love, treated with impressive maturity: “It’s because I haven’t known love: I only observe it. So I’m not mistaken in love and I don’t forget about it. I observe it and I see others making mistakes. I haven’t experienced romantic love yet, but I have great friendships.”
In “Les Garçons”, she sings with ease: “I am in love with all the boys, and I find them all good in their own way. I love all the boys, and I also love the girls. A thousand options are offered to me, I aspire to a story by idealizing it.”
Zaho de Sagazan brings a breath of fresh air to the French music scene. Her hard-hitting and powerful music does not seek to use easy tricks of seduction, a philosophy she defends fervently: “I have a lot of trouble with seduction and flirting in general. It’s not necessarily aggressive but there’s always an ulterior motive. A lot of people like it, but it bothers me more than anything. I feel like there’s an insincerity in seduction. But hey, I hope the love one day.”
The singer Zaho de Sagazan, originally from Saint-Nazaire, is starting a tour to promote her first album “La Symphonie des éclairs”. The success is there since several dates, including June 7 at Stereolux in Nantes, the city where she lives, and the Olympia in Paris, are already sold out. But Zaho de Sagazan does not intend to stop there and announces two new dates for the year 2024 at the Zénith de Nantes and the Zénith de Paris.
On her Facebook page, she confided her astonishment at the extent of the success of her tour: “And there, it really becomes nonsense. Two days ago we did the Trianon, in less than a year we meets at the Zenith. If you think I believe in it, you’re wrong”. The singer is grateful to her fans: “The ticket offices are open. Thank you very much!”
Zaho de Sagazan, famous Franco-Algerian singer and composer, was influenced by two very different artistic worlds from her parents. His father, Olivier de Sagazan, is a sculptor, performer and painter recognized for his hybrid universe between animal, plant and human. Her mother, meanwhile, is a teacher and transmitted to her daughter the passion for French song and words, particularly through the works of Barbara. However, it was one day when his father came into the living room giving him a record that Zaho’s life changed. That record was Koudlam’s “Alcoholic’s Hymns” EP, which upset the young artist and has always had a place in her top three favorite albums.
This encounter between his father’s artistic universe and the music of Koudlam seems to have had a considerable influence on Zaho’s style. Indeed, his compositions are often described as being hybrid, mixing musical genres and cultures, while retaining a certain sensitivity and great depth. Apart from Koudlam, Zaho was also influenced by rock, especially the legends of Pink Floyd. Although very different from her father’s universe, these artists both marked her style and helped to forge the artist she is today.
Zaho is a French singer-songwriter of Algerian origin who has had great success in the music industry. Born in 1980 in Algiers, she grew up in Saint-Nazaire, a city she adores for its horizons between sea and concrete. Zaho discovered her passion for music when she was still a teenager. She practiced dancing for seven hours a week, but when she was 14 she grew bored and turned to the piano. The piano was a revelation for Zaho. She spontaneously started singing and composing, and she quickly discovered that music was therapy for her. “Two hours felt like ten minutes to me. I needed to go to the piano. I had a very beautiful life but I kept crying. My only self-confidence was music.” Zaho has always composed his songs on the piano, which became his trademark. She was also influenced by French chanson, and today she mixes different musical styles such as electro, 1980s pop, cold wave and Berlin techno. For her, the composition must be sufficient to exist.
As a teenager, Zaho filmed each of her musical essays and posted them on her Instagram account. She hasn’t erased anything since then because she loves the idea of people being able to see her progress. She also shared her haircuts, from the tidy girl to today’s 1980s cut. “I’m still looking!” Despite the pressure to participate in TV shows, such as The Voice, Zaho preferred to follow his own musical path and has no regrets. She said she didn’t want to be put in a box and asked to become the new Clara Luciani. She wants to create her own music, which is a unique combination of different musical styles.