There is Always Elsewhere; Toujours Un Ailleurs Impression
Recently, there is a song that always makes my mood remain calm and soothed. It is a pop world music which I cannot even sing properly because it is a French song. Well, I sometimes do miming and humming when I ride my bike or do my routine. I don’t speak French but I still enjoy the song; this is how powerful a song is, it’s universal and crosses the boundaries of language and nationality. The song which I talk about is Toujours Un Ailleurs by Anggun which literally means Always Elsewhere. The song is the same with the title of the latest Anggun album released on November 20th 2015.
Quoting from her interview with Desy Anwar in CNN, she said that every album that she released representing who she was. Toujour Un Ailleurs was taken as the title of the album, since, as the singer, and UN Ambassador, she travels a lot overseas. In other words, she is everywhere not remains in the same place. Apart from her travelling a lot for any reasons, Toujours Un Ailleurs song is a personal song, AT LEAST, FOR ME . It is not mere song. It has a philosophical meaning when I checked the lyrics from Google Tranlsate; It’s indeed such a shame I tried to translate using this tools, but it works to comprehend the meaning generally. I don’t recommend it, however.
After translating the lyrics into English, I have got impression that this song does not only represent her now, but it represents her choice to pack the luggage to leave Indonesia to pursue her International carrier because even if she was successful, she was not happy. She realized that there was something wrong and she knew there was always elsewhere to be a better person. “Always Elsewhere ” is the highlight and must be written bold. I interpreted that the world is big enough and we are free to choose the place. The failure in one place is a sign we have to go further finding other places. There is no reason for being stuck. There is always elsewhere where we, as a human being, can be a better person. All the things that must be done is dong and struggling. There is no reason for being failed because it is basically the failure itself when there is a thought of thinking about being failed.
This song, after being translated, really boost my mood. With the easy listening format and Balinese gamelan sound, this song is genuinely perfect for being listened in a leisure time, or preferably, when travelling. Believe me, ride your motor cycle, drive your car, take a bus, or plane, go somewhere you have never been before. This song will be the soundtrack or the background music which will blend with the natural scenery and will create magical moment I cannot even describe. Well, it’s my personal impression and experience.
Basically, everyone including those who don’t speak French can sing this song because even if she has a wide vocal range, she sings calmly without using high notes. Initiated with the violin orchestra, this song is ended by a child speaking in Bahasa “Renang, main pasir, bikin istana, terus minum jus kelapa” with a French accent. It gives another chill of the song. The little girl speaks in Bahasa in the interlud part, in addition, gives the exotic sense of this song.
Not only Toujours Un Ailleurs which uses Bahasa, There are two more songs entitles Il Suffit and A Nos Enfants which feature Bahasa although it’s only a small part. Il suffit, in addition is my other favourite track which feautures gamelan bali music. After Bahasa, there is also a track entitled Aucune Difference which uses Japanese as the interlude. This song is not merely featured Japanese language but the melody is also affected with Japanese music. In the Perfect World, she mostly sings in English. The song which is influenced electronic sound and ethnic sound tells about the ideal world where a good thing will last forever but in contrary human only can live a life at the moment since there is no perfect world. The other kind of ethnic sound can be found in some tracks such as Nos Vies Paralleles which featuring a well known French male singer Florent Pagny, La Promesse. No Vies Paralleles sounds is affected by south American music while La Promesse sounds is affected by kind of Arabic music.
In conclusion, Toujours Un Ailleurs or Always Elswhere is a representation of the singer not only her journey but also her point of view and reaction related to social cases which is represented interestingly and uniquely with ethnic sound. This album is a sort of nostalgic album when she released her breakthrough album, Snow on the Sahara.
