Ballades des quatre saisons
Sensual, poetic and natural, sometimes melancholic, then again hopeful, sad and joyful at the same time; many attributes come to mind describing the music of artemis* and yet it is difficult to find a common denominator. Their music may seem monotonous at first, different from what we are perhaps used to, but then it is suddenly different with and in us when we listen into their chansons. The lyrics are French, because the artist comes from the metropolis of Paris, which she quickly leaves, however – driven by the desire for nature, adventure, love and longing. artemis’ world is the world outside.
Having come to Liechtenstein as a young person, she had realised her dream as a visual artist. It was not always easy, no, but her experiences were the driving force behind her art. She started early as a chansonnière, at the tender age of 15 she composed her first songs on her guitar, which would accompany her everywhere from then on. Last year, artemis* fulfilled a personal dream and recorded a CD of her music together with other musicians at the Little Big Beat Studios in Eschen. After intensive preparations last summer, the studio recordings could be completed faster than initially expected; her first-class musicians Karl Gassner, Moritz Huemer, Gary Islitzer, Gero Pitlok, Martin Real, Jean-Jacques Mengou Tata and Larry Woodley as well as her granddaughters Lorena Vonbun, Lucinda and Rosalie Megnou Tata were responsible for this.
artemis’ life can be traced like an adventure novel of an easy-going person who has always remained young. Even her family, for the artist the greatest gift, did not keep her from following the call of the wide world.
Anne Demanet discovered the Greek island of Tinos for herself, where she was reborn as artemis* and left further creations of her art to our world. Whether tapestry, text or music, whether her participation in the joy of life – artemis* leaves behind clear traces that her reserved manner would not even lead one to expect. Love, happiness, the beauty of nature or her own children on the one hand, war, misery, sadness or the absence of her father on the other hand, artemis’ chansons tell of hope and doubt, tell of her everyday life, of her experiences and thoughts that move her, and equally let her listeners immerse themselves in these emotions for a moment.
The performance she gives together with her musicians at the Cultural Foundation of Tinos means a lot to her. Her music is past and present at the same time. In the 1970s, she thrilled audiences in Liechtenstein for the first time with her pensive and melancholic deep voice, accompanied only by her guitar. A universal artist par excellence. In addition to 15 ballads sung by the artist herself, the recorded CD also includes the “Song of Songs”, an interpretation of the Song of Solomon from the Old Testament, sung by Rosalie Megnou Tata and Gero Pitlok.
artemis* herself composed the melodies of all her songs to be heard at the Cultural Foundation of Tinos, and the arrangements she worked out with her congenial musical partners of the first hour, Karl Gassner and Gero Pitlok, round off the musical nucleus of her inspiration; they decorate it, as it were – just as shells and stones adorn Greek or French beaches. All the songs are imbued with deep and intense feelings. Feelings that have accompanied artemis* since her childhood days and were created to share them with her listeners.
