Ange in concert at the Bikini: "We don't care how many followers we have!"<

If it hardly ever appears on TV or on the airwaves, the "tribe" of Christian Décamps, poet singer and soul of the group Ange, sold six million albums in its time and the oldest French group still in activity does not cease to seduce new generations. We could very well see, this Sunday at the Bikini, grandpas, dads and kids dancing to the immortal "Ode to Émile", or "Exodus". Meeting with Christian, an enthusiast not about to hang up.

Ange in 1969, it's Brel dressed in Sergeant Pepper's costume, isn't it?

Yes that's exactly it ! We loved English pop and this Beatles album had amazed us, just like the hits of the Who and the Stones. We were also, it's true, very attached to the French song of Brel, Brassens, Ferré, those guys who had an extraordinary pen, and before them, the Baudelaires, Rimbaud, it wasn't bad either! That's how it all started in 1969 with "The Fantastic Epic of General What's Happening", a title that sounds very Sergent Pepper, indeed...

To be "unclassifiable" in art is rather a sign of good health...

We have been labeled progressive rock, rock, jazz-rock, free-jazz! We didn't care what label we were given: all we knew was that art is a pleasure, that it reflects the suffering or the enjoyment of the creator. I don't care how many "followers" I have and I've never judged an artist by their sales. I've known geniuses who sold 500 records...

I know this is different from the Onitsha market literature genre. I have a few of those, larger, thinner, more ine… https://t.co/cFIvMMqRfr

— Tommy Miles Fri Jun 25 20:51:18 +0000 2021

Touring in the 70s must have been something...

A crazy time, yes: we discovered “beat” literature, the Kerouacs, the Ginsbergs and we had a somewhat esoteric period, these dark climates and these black masses, we loved the tales and legends of the Middle Ages, we s amused in this trip. I have always loved being told stories.

What does an Angel concert look like today?

We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the group – an anniversary a little delayed by this damn virus. This is an opportunity to revisit a whole catalog and approach our different periods: the classics but also our somewhat electro period. It's a wonderful, magical group. There is talent, passion, we never get bored for a second because we are a real tribe. Every evening, we have a triumph and at 75, it still moves me! Ange, it's a beautiful and atypical adventure. We are the most famous group to have gone unnoticed! Ange in concert on Sunday December 19 at 8 p.m. at the Bikini (Canal technology park), Ramonville-Saint-Agne. Opening act: Mira Cétii. Price: €28.50. Tel.05 62 24 09 50.

"Johnny, a lovely guy"

In 1972, Johnny Hallyday chose Ange for the "curtain raiser", as they said at the time, of his "Johnny Circus" tour. At first a little skeptical, Christian Décamps will discover an endearing and moving man: “We were more Lou Reed or Zappa than Johnny, clearly. But we said yes and one evening, we found ourselves face to face and he spoke to me for a long time. He was not doing very well. He wanted to stop being Johnny and start a band called Smet. He said he was eaten by his name. He really was a lovely, intelligent guy. He was not at all the same when he was alone and when he was surrounded… and he was very surrounded…”