Adieu Madras

If a chanson is combined with a birthday celebration (in this case, that of the Ensemble Utopik who commissioned this new work), this inevitably brings back scenes of childhood. For me, Adieu Madras conjures up memories of the homeland of my family, and in particular Henri and Jacqueline Salvador whose wonderful TV programmes I watched during the 1970s. It is without doubt thanks to Henri Salvador’s wonderful interpretation that this old chanson from Martinique, dating from the late eighteenth century and almost a national anthem both in Martinique and Guadeloupe, has also gained such popularity in France. Thierry Pécou