Having been classically trained in a range of musical disciplines as a child – choral singing, violin, piano and guitar in particular – it always looked as if Zaz was set for a bright musical future, and so it would eventually prove when she won a scholarship to a modern music school in Bordeaux, which she used as the platform from which to launch her career. Influenced, in her early years, by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Enrico Macias and Bobby McFerrin – a diverse bunch, then – she began to sing in jazz groups across both her native France and their nearby Basque Country, which is what, in retrospect, came to inform her sound. Her music is a blend of pop, jazz and soul, but there’s something unmistakeably French about it too, even if many of the artists from which she’s known to have taken her cues are from the English-speaking world.
Her self-titled debut record, released in 2010, was a massive hit across Europe, going to the top of the charts in a slew of countries and achieving multi-platinum sales certifications in Belgium, Germany, Poland and Switzerland, as well as platinum discs in Austria and Russia. In her homeland, meanwhile, the record achieved the rare feat of going Diamond – more than 500,000 copies shifted.
Zaz is an extraordinary female French singer, and her live performance does not disappoint. Her music is at once bluesy and French, and also simultaneously infectious. Attending a live concert of Zaz, even as someone who doesn't remember much of the French language from their years studying it in high school, was a wonderful experience for me, just to see the sheer joy onstage.
Zaz, with her dark hair and expressive eyes was dressed unassumingly in jeans and a plaid top, someone who could easily blend in on the city streets, save for her infectious joy and beautiful, melodious voice. Zaz wriggled and danced and called out to the audience regardless of the song she was performing, her voice expressive in its tonal capabilities and immense versatility. During the charismatic "Je Veux" and "Couer Volant", the ability of her delicate voice is particularly evident.
The stage was wide enough to accomodate the band's variety of instruments while still providing enough space to ensure that Zaz was the focus. Multicolored lights backlit her as she sang and performed, but, once again, never upstaged her as the focus was certainly Zaz herself, her lyrics, and her singing.
The audience was there to engage with Zaz and vice versa, as the audience almost instantaneously began snapping along with the band when they began snapping as an intro to one of her songs. Overall, the verve exuding from Zaz as she performed was revitilazing and something truly special to witness onstage.
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