Ange
Ange's concert in Compiègne, on 7 May 2016.
Ange's concert in Compiègne, on 7 May 2016.
Background information
OriginBelfort, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
GenresProgressive rock
Years active1969–1995; 1999–present
LabelsVerycords, Artdisto, Musea, Sergent Major Cie (early), Philips Records (early)
Members
  • Christian Décamps
  • Tristan Décamps
  • Thierry Sidhoum
  • Benoit Cazzulini
  • Hassan Hajdi
Past members
Websitehttps://www.ange-updlm.com

Ange (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʒ], lit. 'Angel') is a French progressive rock band formed in September 1969 by the Décamps brothers, Francis (keyboards) and Christian (vocals, accordion, acoustic guitar and keyboards).

Since its inception the band's music has been inspired by medieval texts and fantasy.

History

Ange was initially influenced by Procol Harum and King Crimson, and their music was quite theatrical and poetic. Their first success in France was the cover of a Jacques Brel song, Ces gens-là, on their second album Le Cimetière des Arlequins. The band provided its first concert on January 30, 1970, at the cultural center "La Pépinière", in Belfort, France. They performed 110 concerts in England from 1973 to 1976, opening for Genesis at the Reading Festival in England, on August 26, 1973, fronting some 30.000 listeners.

One of the reasons for which the band was unable to break through into the British market was because they sang in French. Ange eventually released an English-speaking version of its fifth album Par les fils de Mandrin (By the sons of Mandrin), which was hard to find and sold poorly, although this version has since been made available on CD. Unfortunately, after three albums, the quality of creation had started to decrease, and Par les fils de Mandrin was probably not a good choice to try to break into the British market.

Following Par les fils de Mandrin and the live double album Tome VI, the band issued a mellotron–centered album, Guet-apens, and then had a more rock-oriented change of direction, although various progressive reformations occurred over the years, e.g. for the 1992 album Les larmes du Dalaï-Lama. Sponsored by the French radio RTL, Ange relentlessly toured until the end of 1977, welcoming an average of 5,000 to 6,000 listeners per show. During their first years (generally regarded as the best ones), the other three members of the band were Jean-Michel Brézovar on guitar and flute, Gérard Jelsch on drums, and Daniel Haas on bass (and acoustic guitar). In 1995, Ange played their farewell tour.

Christian Décamps released a few albums as "Christian Décamps et Fils" ("Christian Décamps and Son"), before taking over the name "Ange" in 1999, and is backed by his band for his solo albums. The new lineup has issued several albums from La voiture à eau in 1999, performed on 2006 edition of NEARfest and was still on the road in 2013.

Francis Décamps and Jean-Michel Brézovar have also released solo albums.

Keyboards

The keyboard sounds of the '70s-era band, while reminiscent of a mellotron, were in fact generated from a Viscount organ through a modded Hammond reverb. However, an actual mellotron was played on the album Par Les Fils De Mandrin in 1976.

Studio discography

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