He shakes up the codes and multiplies the successes. Sofiane Pamart is one of the representatives of the “neo-classical” movement for some, “French rap pianist” for others. Under the Northern Lights in Lapland or in the heart of the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, it attracts a full house. In 2022, he was even the first solo pianist to fill the Accor Arena in Paris, setting the room and his instrument on fire (literally). At the age of 33, he is in the top 10 of the most streamed classical music artists in the world, accumulating millions of streams.
After Letteraddressed to his fans, he returns this Friday with his new album Night. The artist composed these pieces during a tour in Latin America, through six countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Chile. Sofiane Pamart confides in 20 minutes on his dizzying successes and his “limitless ambition”.
In what state of mind did you compose “Noche”?
I like to anchor each album in a particular territory. That way, I’m sure to be inspired by different energies and moments of life. I can’t create to order, I need to experience things that will upset me to be able to transfer it to my piano. This trip to Latin America seemed like a great adventure. Between my concerts and a very busy schedule, I found myself composing a lot at night when everything is calmer. Little by little, I developed a taste for this little ritual of composition. I also realized that words, depending on the languages in which you pronounce them, tell something different. In my opinion corazon does not mean the same thing as heart or heart in English. This exercise in Spanish paid homage to all the people I met there and gave a special color to my pieces.
This album arrives after a particularly bright period for you, made of successes and concerts. Is there a link?
Each year that passes I am a little happier. It’s always brighter and I’m embarked on an exciting adventure. But it is true that the more I am solicited, the more dizzy I become and I then feel moments of great solitude or the desire to be alone. Before, I had a lot of time and few means. Here, it’s the opposite, but time has become my most precious commodity. Everything I can’t tell, all the behind-the-scenes of the positive things that happen to me, I tell with my piano.
What did you find in these countries?
What fascinated me in Asia for the album Letter, it’s the whole culture of protocol. There, I wanted the opposite, very easy communication, something more carnal, more danceable… Even a little more chaotic. This is what I found in Latin America where life takes precedence over everything else. We touch each other, we talk, there is a completely different relationship and I needed it. Especially to talk about the night where the carnal side is super important.
Could the north of France, your native region, and in particular the mining area where several people in your family worked, inspire an album?
What I like about creation is looking for in something very personal the lever that will connect me to something very universal. What connection, in relation to mines, could I succeed in telling to the world? I have not found yet. This story is what gives meaning to my journey, what gives me ambition every day. I feel so privileged to work with my hands on a piano, where my grandfather worked with his hands in the mines. In addition, I am descended from miners on both sides of my family: on my mother’s side, my grandfather emigrated from Morocco to work in the mines near Valenciennes. On my father’s side, it’s a generation above, my great-grandparents lived in the settlements.
Does this story seem too close to you to capture it musically?
Maybe. I have access to a life that no one could have imagined. I have just participated in the centenary celebrations of the La Mamounia hotel in Marrakech, which is really not very far from Taroudant, the town where my grandfather comes from. From where he is [son grand-père est décédé], he must be so surprised! He could never have imagined that. These were places that fascinated him, that he found magnificent, but he had never felt involved. This is so upsetting compared to my family’s history. There are things, it is still too early to tell them with hindsight.
You like to play in extraordinary places like Lapland, under the Northern Lights. What does this bring to your music?
I really like the performance side, creating a situation that is difficult to put into place. For example, during my concert at the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, we had to bring the grand piano by helicopter. It was impressive, we saw him waltzing through the air as if he were dancing. When we manage to create moments like that, we bring a lot of dreams and magic into the collective imagination. This is what I love, the dream that I can offer to the people who follow me.
What will be next?
I have no limits. A huge dream would be to play in space, but I don’t know how possible that would be. But if it ever is, I hope to be the first. Heights attract me a lot, like a mountain for example. The fact of decontextualizing the piano, taking it out, putting it in natural environments, I find that magnificent. Coming back from Morocco, I also told myself that I would really like to perform in the desert. I have lots of ideas.
In 2022, you were the first solo pianist to fill the Accor Arena. Did you imagine performing there one day?
I have always had limitless ambition but I dreamed with my frame of reference. Being a star for me perhaps already meant performing in front of 500 people. Until I was on stage and my first notes had started, I couldn’t realize it. At one point, I almost passed out in the middle of a show. I had changed my outfit, I went back on stage and the whole audience had flashes turned on all around me. I was like, “What the hell is going on? »
You are also among the ten most streamed classical artists in the world…
I love numbers in music because they represent people being moved. Since I started meeting my audience through my concerts, I realize how much these numbers mean something strong behind them. In Morocco, lots of people who worked at the event told me: “I had a complicated period in my life and every night I fell asleep to your music. You really accompanied me. »It means a lot to me because it means that my music was there for them. This is what makes me proud, that behind these figures I bring something positive.
A article from “Figaro” entitled “From Pamart to Riopy, how neo-classical became “classical for dummies””, deplores the fact that certain artists dominate the classical music streaming rankings. Do you think you have a legitimate place there?
They’re going to deplore it for a long time because I don’t plan to release any hits. Whether we discuss what my music is, whether it’s classical or not, everyone can give their opinion, it doesn’t matter to me. I gained legitimacy with the conservatory, I don’t need to seek it from my peers or from specialized people. But when we say “the classic for dummies”, who are the dummies? My public ? That really displeases me. I don’t like the somewhat condescending side that there is in this type of article. As if we could decide for people what high music is, musical richness… I am not a child of musicians. I understand very well the view we have on music, on what the piano represents and the pride we can have in it. I find that these kinds of debates go a little beyond music, and that’s what bothers me a little. The rest is beyond me.
Maybe there is a problem with the streaming platforms?
For me, there is no problem. We are all caught up in a daily life full of concerns. What brings us dreams and beautiful emotions? That is the most important. I think that music really has an accompanying function in daily life. Whether it’s to create ambiance because we need energy to start our day, to have motivation, to go to the gym. We listen to my music a lot to concentrate, to spend a little more introspective moments… Sometimes to accompany mourning or overcome certain things in life. For me, that’s the real debate. The rest… Is it classic or not? Why does this type of music stream more than others? I really don’t care.
Behind this, is there this question around the difficulty of classical music being considered popular music?
We have the impression that the culture of excellence must be that of an elite. I do not agree. You can have very sophisticated art and at the same time very spontaneous and popular. I really claim popular music. If someone tells me that mine is, for me it’s a compliment. This means that it is directly connected to emotion. The ideal is scholarly and popular music. When she keeps something very spontaneous like the music of Chopin, whose waltzes are very popular. And at the same time, it’s very scholarly. But I find that we must not be disconnected from real life, from people, from simple emotion in fact. That’s the most beautiful thing.
Is it perhaps your look that stands out, as well as your numerous collaborations with artists from the rap scene?
I don’t know, but I’m very happy to shake up the codes and be provocative compared to people who are used to seeing pianists in a certain outfit, with a certain entourage. As if you had to have a certain amount of attendance to be able to play the piano. If that’s what’s implied, you can count on me to keep shaking it up.