words spike photos paul loubette

Xavier Jamaux talks of following his instincts, ’60s excitements, and why his music stars in Johnnie To’s Sparrow

In the past 10 years, precious few film directors working in Hong Kong have exhibited style, individuality or willingness to experiment. Of those few, the leader of the pack is Johnnie To Kei-Fung, whose international reputation has grown, thanks to films like PTU, Election, Exiled and Mad Detective.
To’s Sparrow (Man Jeuk) was three years in the making – unheard of in modern Hong Kong cinema. Stylistically, the film, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin, is a throwback to the romanticism of Stanley Donen and Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It is a
whimsical tale of four pickpockets who meet a beautiful damsel in distress, but along with these characters another is worth noting – the prominent musical score, whose echoes of those classic films of the ’50s and ’60s are effortlessly combined with Chinese instruments
and themes.

This unique score was composed by Xavier Jamaux and Fred Avril. Jamaux has been making music for more than 20 years, initially with the French band Orange – you may never have heard of them, but the other two guys in the group, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel, went on to form Air. Following that, Jamaux started a group called Ollano – ‘influenced by Julie London, bossa nova, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and soundtracks’, which should give you an idea of just how eclectic Jamaux’s tastes are. Now he’s leading a group called bangbang (www.myspace.com/xavierbangbang), which he describes as ‘a more electro-pop project’.

Jamaux’s cites a long list of artists who have inspired his music. ‘When I was eight, I began to listen to music on my own, first on the radio (my parents were not listening at all to music). Then I followed my instinct, one thing leading to another. I remember being so much impressed when I first discovered soul music and bossa nova. Then I started to collect records and to pay attention to liner notes. Listening to singers led me to their arrangers (Deodato, Claus Ogerman). Then I paid attention to jazz and soundtracks and made my own “pantheon”. Of course John Barry is a part of it, as well as Quincy Jones. Barry has a unique way of arranging strings and winds together so that you can always recognize his touch.
‘I found in the soundtracks of the ’60s and’70s [some] of the most experimental and challenging fields in music. The composers had knowledge of music and at the same time were very open to the technical evolution of music, mixing an orchestra with a tremolo guitar or modular synths. Miles Davis also experimented this way on Bitches Brew. Those pieces are ageless. This is definitely where I get my inspiration from. The Persuaders theme by John Barry is, to me, a masterpiece. It’s classical and yet very original and experimental. It’s serious and still very pop and accessible. Of course there are a lot of different music styles but you know what we say – “In the end there’s only good music and bad music!”’
All well and good, but how did a French composer who has never been to Hong Kong manage to hook up with a Hong Kong director? In 1997, he created his first motion picture score for Jean-Pierre Limosin’s Tokyo Eyes, a French/Japanese production shot in Tokyo. It was ‘mainly a techno score with some film noir ambiences’.

Jamaux has been a fan of Asian cinema for years and mentions that he feels connected to Hong Kong through its films, citing Wong Kar-Wai’s seminal Chungking Express among others. ‘I went to see them by chance. I discovered a strong sense of emotion and relationships that were new to me as a spectator. Maybe they were more introspective films compared to US or European cinema, with strong images, stills, etc. Of course, they were different from the films of Johnny To I saw or worked on. But to me there is this thing in common – a sense of time, with a strong focus on the psychology of characters - that makes you not only get into the movie but somehow connects you to the story and characters.’
Fast forward a few years and Jamaux was recommended to Johnnie To by a French producer and composed the score for Mad Detective. Jamaux thought ‘the music was mixed below an acceptable level’, but To liked it enough that he brought Jamaux back to compose the score for Sparrow. That film, Jamaux says, was especially challenging because it had already been three years in the making.

‘But also because it was maybe the sole To film without a gun – it was more a comedy, even a musical, where music had a great part to play. And Johnny To’s request for the music was also challenging. He asked for an “oriental exotic vibe”, [reminiscent of] some scores of the ’60s made by American or European composers, so that it would sound exotic for European or American audiences, as well as for [Asian] audiences.’ It was not to be Asian music, but Asian music made by Europeans. ‘Johnny To wanted this feeling of the East meeting the West, as it was the case for Hong Kong in the late ’60s. It was an opportunity to make references to composers like Martin Denny, Les Baxter, as well as Michel Legrand or Ennio Morricone, for a stylish lounge style.”

Did Jamaux know in advance that the music would play such a prominent role in the film? Apparently not, but that didn’t stop him from pulling out all the stops. ‘When we began to work on the images with Fred Avril, we realized that we should give the maximum to attain the level of the huge aesthetic To put in this film. The images as well as the music were full of references. I think in the beginning Johnny did not expect that we [would] make such prominent and referenced music. But once we started in this direction it became [evident] for everybody that “that was it”. The music is an hommage to a golden age of film music, [just] as the film is an hommage to’60s love-affair comedies.’

I was curious how two French men with limited knowledge of Asia could compose Asian sounding themes for Chinese instruments. “We used a lot of bank sounds and we also learned a lot about traditional Chinese instruments; that part of the work was very exciting. In the beginning, because there’s a Chinese community in Paris, I tried to get in contact with Chinese musicians (even in the subway! Some were performing in the metro.) In the end we found a very good ehru player. We also contacted a hang drum player in the US we found via the web, but finally we played the percussion [ourselves]. We also worked with a very talented Italian flute player – he lives in my building, so I heard him practising a lot and asked him on board! – and a cello player. On some themes we first respected the Chinese pentatonic scales; then we decided to use the sounds for the exotic vibe but to compose in “our” scale.’

The resulting score is so prominently featured in the film that I wonder if it had impacted on the editing process, if To had made editorial decisions to match the music. As it turns out, Jamaux and Avril didn’t come on board until the director had completed a ‘locked edit’ of the film. ‘Which means that I am right away confronted by a universe of characters, a story and an aesthetic point of view. It’s very inspiring and right on gives the input for the mood of how the music should be.

‘On Sparrow the music was to be light, recreational and fun, as the film was already in its form, but with a strong sense of style. The music helps audiences feel close to and almost friendly with those pickpockets with their touch of class. In French, gentlemen cambrioleurs.
‘That’s what film music is all about to me. It doesn’t change the creative process of a director, but it accompanies it, so that a composer can add (or sometimes withdraw) emotions or specificity to the story the director is telling. Music can totally change the way a scene is perceived. The same scene with no music at all or music played loud or music played at a low level, can say different things. I would say it’s like intonations for spoken languages. With the same sentence you can seem very serious, full of fun or tongue in cheek, depending on your intonation. And music, even if the movie edit is locked, changes the perception and the value you want the audience to get from a specific scene.’

Fred Avril is also a veteran of the French electronic music scene. Jamaux says that he and Avril, as well as many of the other people he has worked with, are powerfully influenced by soundtracks, perhaps because, like electronic music, soundtracks are instrumental and pay close attention to the choice of the right sounds to create a specific mood. On his collaboration with Avril he says, ‘I first chose in my discotheque some references we could stick to, then I composed the main themes on piano and then we arranged them together, as Fred has a very specific touch for making machines sound like vintage live sounds.’

I ask Jamaux, having worked with Asian and European directors, what differences he noticed between them. ‘Let’s say that so far I’ve worked with auteur directors. So they have many things in common. Regarding my work with Hong Kong directors, I would say that they have a freshness that some in Europe or the US have lost. [The Hong Kong directors] have a huge culture of European and American movies of the last 50 years and they are inspired by it, of course, but with their own style and culture, which makes an interesting mix.’

Coming up next for Jamaux are two more Asian cinema soundtracks. Soi Cheang’s Accident is a thriller Jamaux compares to Coppola’s classic The Conversation. It’s expected to screen at the next Cannes festival. ‘The score is very moody – melodies but in an abstract style, in order to capture the psychology of the characters. Let’s say it’s more in a John Barry style.’ The second is Wa Ka Fai’s Underground Express, a ghost story. ‘The music is more classical, fairy-ish sometimes, between dream and reality.’

Looking ahead, would Jamaux like to collaborate with any particular directors? “Anyone who asks! If he/she does, I think this is because they would have heard and enjoyed my work. So here I am!”