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lesmisloony) wrote2013-02-08 04:56 pm
lesmisloony) wrote2013-02-08 04:56 pm
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OKAY so I started translating this GREAT 49 minute interview with the MOR Troupe in Russia (where they currently are), and it was amazing like, the mystery of Mikele's wristrags was explained and Flo saying he's better than Harry Potter and they talked about wanting to go to other cities and they were giggling and being precious AND I PAUSED IT 20 MINUTES IN TO MY TRANSLATION TO GO GET SOME RICE AND WHEN I CAME BACK THE VIDEO HAD BEEN REMOVED BY THE USER
So
Here is a translation of the first half of the conversation, complete with commentary on how cute they are by me.
Mikele (about his own album): It's a crazy album that will come out in 2013. (He literally used the word "crazy" in English: c'est un album crazy)
The interview mentions Belarius, Mikele says he knows of it, and she asks if the Troupe is planning to go see the fans there.
Mikele: No, but if they invite us we'll go there straightaway. And it'd be an honor for Belarus, it's great. People laugh. ...No I meant if theyinvite us to Belarus! I meant it'd be an honor for us to... what did I say? They explain. Mikele gets awkward and lots of giggling ensues. He and Flo eventually just start flirting with the camera. (Throwing up peace signs and winking.)
They explain how the translation process is working for the interview: the Troupe answers the question and waits while it is translated in Russian. The interview finally moves on when she asks them about languages.
Mikele: It's easier when you have a goal, meaning when you want to have an artistic career in a country. We learn the language more quickly-
Flo (in English): It's great.
Mikele: -because we have a passion, so sometimes we can perform almost miracles, for instance I learned French very quickly because I wanted to learn it to make music.
Flo says "It's great" again, and Mikele starts repeating it. Maeva makes gestures and moves her lips, pretending to be the translator as they turn that response into Russian.
The translator asks about Mikele's wristrags, which makes Flo giggle.
Mikele: Okay, I have two answers. The first isn't true, and the second is the truth. Ask him if he wants the truth or the lie.
The translator does.
Mikele: The truth, okay. When I was young I played music all the time, and suddenly I realized girls weren't looking at me. So I made a rock group, I put on makeup and put these [wristrags] on, and girls paid attention to me. And ever since I've never taken them off because I'm afraid I'll become that little boy again that the girls don't look at. That's the true one.
Flo teases him under his breath as the translator is speaking. He says something about it being a sad story to Solal.
Someone asks if they've had any Russian food yet.
Maeva: We actually just got here last night, so we haven't had time yet, but-
Flo: What are traditional Russian foods?
Everyone: Borsch!
Solal: I've had one, but not here in Ukraine. I drank- I ate some.
The Troupe has no idea what to do with themselves during the translation process. Diane describes a fruit-based Ukrainian thing she ate once. Flo and Maeva decide to stare directly into the camera to be silly.
A question is asked I can't hear.
Mikele: I think you can live a long life, but you can also have a wide life. So, even a short life can have the surface of a wide life, and-
Flo (teasing): It's like, would you rather have one wooden eye or paper teeth.
Mikele: He doesn't understand what I'm saying, that's the problem.
Flo: Yes I do, I do, a long life or a wide life. And a deep life. And a tall life!
Solal: And I say, to live for a long time, you have to think the opposite. That is, for a long life, you have to think life is short.
Mikele and Diane agree.
Flo (sticking a finger in the air): However-
Mikele (condescendingly): No, that was it.
They laugh.
Flo: I think we have to believe life is long so we feel like we have to time to do more things.
Melissa: That depends on whether or not it's a question of time.
There's a question about films.
Flo: We were talking about this in the car on the way here. We saw The Life of Pi, which we all thought was really nice. Really poetic, and yeah.
Mikele: And I liked Lincoln.
Flo: You saw it?
Mikele: Yeah, a lot!
Flo: It's already out?
Diane: I liked Argo.
Solal: I loved Django.
Maeva: Djano Unchained.
Melissa: I saw Magic Mike in the plane and loved it.
Flo: I saw The Hobbit. Three times!
They try to use math to tell Flo how much time he's wasted while Mikele says he's never seen it. The wait for the translator to explain their responses.
Mikele: Plus I live (habite) on that street.
Flo: You Hobbit on Lincoln Street?
Mikele: J'habite- j'Hobbit Rue Lincoln!
Maeva: Now everyone in Ukraine knows where you live! And everyone who reads this translation too, Maeva. I looked it up, guys. It's near where we think Dove must live.
Are they planning any other concerts in other countries?
Flo: Yes, maybe.
Mikele: Maybe.
They all start saying "maybe" in English, presumably to give me heart failure.
Flo: We aren't the ones who decide.
Maeva: Yes we are! We just have to ask.
Solal: Maybe New York too.
I had to pause the video while I collapsed onto the floor trembling. I'm back now.
Flo (in English): London. Paris, France!
Mikele: I really want to go to Belarus.
Melissa: But it all depends on how the Ukrainiens receive us.
Flo: Wow, that's a lot of pressure!
They ask Solal about playing Mozart's dad.
Solal: No, it wasn't difficult, we were preparing for over a year for the acting, the songs... we had a lot of time to prepare our roles.
He says the toughest part was acting because he didn't start out as an actor, and Flo makes a quiet joke because I think he misheard. He and Mikele continue to giggle while Solal talks, and a doorbell rings which makes everyone act silly, and I can't hear another thing Solal says until-
Solal: That gives us time to get a little better each day, so after doing the show everything was really well acted the last day (etc etc he's hard to hear and he made his point like ten minutes ago)
Flo: Personally I found it more difficult to come out of my character as time went on.
Mikele: Wow. Interesting. That's interesting.
Maeva (touching his shoulder): Are you out of your character today? All the way?
Flo (shaking her off with a dark Salieri expression): No!
The translator begins. Flo whispers something about his heart, and he and Solal start mumbling back and forth.
They ask if the Russian fans are too demanding or something.
Maeva describes how the performance will call for different things than usual due to the massive orchestra, but I got distracted because at this point Flo leans his chair back and forces Mikele to put his arm around his shoulders.
Flo: But the question was about the fans.
Maeva: Yeah, that's what I mean, the fans will be used to a different kind of music!
Flo: We actually don't know Russia-
Solal talks about the Russian people being warm and welcoming while Flo looks put-out that he got interrupted. The others start whispering and I can't hear Solal for a while.
Solal: ...and they're a lot like us, in fact, that's why there's such friendship between Russia, Belarus, and France, because we're all a very Latin people, very authentic and demonstrative... He talks about their immense musical culture and how the Troupe will try to meet the high standard.
Mikele: I heard complements that were lke sales pitches here.
Flo (from behind the sweater that he's now hugging): You heard complements that were like sales pitches?
They behave like children while they wait for the translator. Flo makes fun of Diane's bunny-shaped iPhone case. Mikele mumbles about whether or not they have rehearsal.
The next question is whether or not Flo likes Harry Potter since apparently he's read it many times.
Flo: Actually I meant-- I don't know why I picked that book, I guess I liked the world it was in, but I read it to learn English. I went to England when I was about sixteen or seventeen and bought Harry Potter
And that's where I paused it to go get rice. JUST AS IT WAS GETTING GREAT! Anyway, we now know where Mikele lives, what the story is behind the wristrags, that Flo is a LOTR fan and a Potterhead, and THAT THERE WILL PROBABLY BE MORE OF THESE SYMPHONIC MOR CONCERTS IN THE FUTURE.
ETA: THE REST HAS BEEN FOUND!
Flo is talking about Harry Potter. Mikele interrupts, criticizing the book with a smirk...
Mikele: There's a dude who can fly! It's weird.
Flo: Because I was inspired by the bad guy in Harry Potter, Snape (he doesn't say "Rogue," the French version of his name) to create Salieri.
Mikele (in English): Okay, great.
While the translator is working on this, Flo starts quoting the entirety of Song for a Lunatic to Maeva under his breath. He then waves an imaginary wand at the camera and hisses, "Avada Kedavra!" with a very French intonation. Solal asks him who the bad guy was and Flo verifies "Snape! Rogue!"
Mikele: With the hair like this? Great. Beautiful interpretation. Magnificent.
Solal: Alan Rickman?
Flo: Yeah.
They then discuss the fact that Snape isn't really the bad guy all along, which Mikele finds fascinating and Flo is very nonchalant about. My boy Flo is apparently hardcore into this Harry Potter stuff, omg I want to knit him a house scarf or something.
The next question touches on how they sing in English and French and asks if they would ever want to sing in Russian. Mikele attempts to sing in what is probably very limited Russian, then...
Mikele: No. Yes yes yes yes, I want to! I truly want to, that really does interest me. Plus I work with a Russian writer, his name is Boris Bsomething, he's a huge author in France, and he knows a lot about Russia and talks about it to me all the time, and about the Russian language.
Diane and Mikele mumble to each other about Boris's work ethic.
The next question is whether or not they were good kids in school.
Mikele: I was nice. I was really a true nice guy, but on the other hand, I was really subversive. Every time there was a problem, I was at the root of it. I was a really strange student. The teachers liked me, but they fought with me every day.
Melissa: Like swordfights?
Mikele: No. An anecdote! One day I changed all the nametags on the drawers where the teachers put their books and stuff, I changed them all to say Professor Mikele Loconte. I put them everywhere! I put them all over that school. I broke into the school at night. I broke in through a window.
Everyone is giggly after this and cracking jokes at the same time. Mikele simply moves his arm in closer over the back of Flo's chair like a boyfriend at the cinema. I am not biased.
The next question is about having musicals as a job, I guess, and I can't stop staring at the way Mikele's arm is around Flo so I'll just sum up that Solal takes it and says something about how it's still a job and they go into work each day and stuff like that. They decide it's not harder or easier than a normal day job. Everyone is getting kinda restless at this point, and when the translator starts working on that response Flo and Mikele are literally murmuring to each other while Mikele chuckles. Are they doing this on purpose? OKAY NOW THEY'RE GAZING INTO EACH OTHERS' EYES SHIT GUYS TONE IT DOWN. ACTUALLY DON'T. Anyway I'm going to attempt to download this shit as soon as I finish the translation to gif this for proof. Flo plays with a sugar packet but throws it back when he realizes the lady has asked another question. Or something. He and I are equally losing our focus.
Mikele: And I'm from a place where your job isn't necessarily our passion. He repeats that a few different ways and explains why that makes this job so great for him. Flo takes a big gulp from his mug and immediately laughs at something Solal has muttered, making me think it probably went up his nose a little bit. We almost got a Florent Mothe spit-take reaction gif, you guys. So close.
The next question is about what they were expecting/looking forward to before coming to Russia.
Melissa: I'm happy, really excited to see what it's like to have a hundred people behind- She then says something that makes her giggle, and in turn suddenly they're all laughing and I cannot figure out why.
Maeva: I can't wait to see if [the fans] are going to just want to see us, or if they're going to sing a little with us... Basically that she assumes they may be different than the French fans since the songs aren't in their native language this time. She's excited to see their reactions.
Mikele: I'm always astoned, just totally astoned, to see how in this eastern country art is treated like such a great thing. Art is sciene here. Blah blah when you see artists they're executing a carefully arranged thing like a gymnast would and the gang plans to give Russia a performance with a lot of energy hurray SORRY but i feel like ive been doing this all day and i really want to watch the new episode of elementary and take a nap. During this speech Maeva lays her head on Flo's shoulder and I FEEL THE SAME WAY.
While they're translating, Mikele crawls out of his seat to blow us a kiss and Melissa is still giggling over whatever the fuck she said earlier. Then everyone starts turning their heads sideways and leaning around with serious faces. Mikele throws his arms around Flo and Diane and they lean in and make faces at the camera while Maeva gives Flo bunny ears. Flo gives Mikele bunny ears (for a second I think Mikele thought Flo was going to return the arm-around-the-shoulder move that Mikele has been pulling this whole time, because when he sees the bunny ears he sighs and swats them away like WHY WON'T YOU TAKE THIS RELATIONSHIP SERIOUSLY FLORENT. Now Flo takes Maeva's phone and uses the bunny-ear case behind Mikele's head, so Mikele does the same to Flo with Diane's phone while Maeva does Mikele's with her own phone GAH YOU GUYS ARE SERIOUSLY REGRESSING INTO CHILDREN THIS INTERVIEW IS SO LONG WE'RE ALL DYING HELP. Maeva seems to ask for someone to fetch a bottle of water for the interviewer lady.
They ask a question about being a performer and Diane replies that you have to have a great voice but also take care of yourself by sleeping and eating and drinking right. Then they demonstrate their adorable warmup where they do that bit of Mozart music altogether. You know it.
Mikele: Here's a tip. I think the real tip is, it's not before going onstage, it's throughout your life. It's a lifetime configuration, because, you're just like that, and-
Flo buries his face in his little cardigan, which makes everyone chuckle and Mikele put a hand on his arm. He's laughing his ass off at something.
Mikele: That's the real tip, because to have a real motivation, you have to be like that, to always be ready to get onstage, because we're always like that in life, ready be an image or a performer or whatever. So a real tip from me is not something before you go onstage, but for a way to configure your life. That's it. It's for life in general.
Maeva: It's like Diane said, it's a lifestyle.
Mikele: No, it's not a lifestyle (hygiène de vie)! I don't have a hygenic life!
Maeva: It's a mentality.
Mikele: A mentality, yeah.
Solal: It's like our entire life is being filmed, so we have to be prepared.
Mikele:Yes. Exactly that. Perfetly said. That's it.
They all keep saying the same shit over and over but Flo has bundled up his cardigan and is using it as a pillow to rest his head on the table and I FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT THIS CONVERSATION FLOFLO WE ARE SOULAMTES FYI. While the translator works on that, Flo nuzzles the cardigan-pillow with his beard and Mikele whispers to Maeva over his back. They start whispering about something and Flo leans up and I hear Maeva say "imagine if" and a minute later she and Mikele both gesture in a line from Flo's mouth to the table and I WISH I KNEW WHAT THAT WAS ALL ABOUT. Mikele also carresses Flo's arm. I MUST GIF THIS SHIT. He gets bored, throws the arm back over Flo's shoulders, then makes a Mikele face at the camera while Flo brings his cardigan up over his face again. The boys start twisting around in their seats trying to read the sign behind them after a while. Mikele turns this into a one-man vogue-off. Maeva shushes them to point out that the water has finally arrived.
The next part they seem to be talking about another popular musical that the whole Troupe knows about but I don't, and they compare their audience to that one's audience. She asks a question which Solal starts to answer, but Maeva cuts him off to explain that the lady asked about a special Ukrainian tradition for the last last last show and whether or not they had done it. I think they could be talking about bêtises? Maeva says they didn't do it at the last show in Bercy because they wanted to respect the fact that this was their last ever time doing the show. Flo appears to be facepalming, or maybe he's crying because Maeva said the word Bercy. No wait that's me that's crying not Flo. Maeva says they didn't really feel like laughing that day anyway. Melissa talks about the dernières they did at Paris and the jokes they pulled then. Solal agrees that at Bercy they weren't laughing, they were crying. Flo whispers that something is horrible while Solal is talking. I JUST SKIPPED BACK TO SEE WHAT FLO WHISPERED ABOUT WITH MY HEADPHONES IN AND HE SAYS "What a memory. It's horrible." FLO HAS BERCY FEELS FLO HAS BERCY FEELS UGH ABORT I'M GONNA STOP BREATHING
Solal: The show began, the curtain opened, and everyone was crying.
Maeva: Everyone was in tears, yeah.
Solal: I came onstage, everyone was crying, Patrice Maktav who had the-
Mikele: Except me. YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR LOCONTE
Solal: He was crying while he announced "Peuple de Salzburg", and it was horrible, it was really emotional. We didn't have the heart to make jokes because we knew it was a moment that would always be etched into our hearts.
Diane: We saw the people in the crowd too who were crying as much as us and that didn't help.
The next question is whether anyone has a solo project.
Flo: We all do. My album comes out in a month.
Maeva asks him what it's called (I think) and I'm pretty sure he said "Rocking chair", or maybe "rock en chair" which would be "rock in the flesh". Goddammit Flo since when are you Victor Hugo with the ridiculous puns.
And Melissa is about to talk about her album when the video ends.
TADA I DID IT!
ETA again: In a quest to drive me over a cliff into an abyss of madness, someone has found another twenty minutes of this interview.
Flo starts to interrupt, realizes Melissa was talking, and lets her go ahead.
Melissa: I did a video called Tweet-n-Roll where fans sent me videos, and there were some fans from Russia and Ukraine who contributed and were included.
Flo: And my first single, which came out two weeks ago, is called Je ne sais pas (I don't know).
Solal: He doesn't know what his single is called.
Flo: I don't know.
They ask Mikele if it's true that he keeps an account at a Russian facebook page.
Mikele: No, I did write on a forum once to thank them for welcoming me and to say that soon I'd be close to them. That's all I said. I wrote it one time. But I'm going to soon. I wanted to know them first, and know you first, and after that I'll begin the real communication.
Flo and Solal joke about the song being called "I don't know" while the translator does her job. Mikele grabs a microphone and acts like a kid pretending to be a rock star (aka himself).
The translator asks if he does have a page.
Mikele: Yes, on facebook I have a personal page and a fanpage, and there's a team of four people but only two active admins. I'm the one who speaks, and there's another identity who speaks called Sidapoetry (or something). We communicate on the page as a team.
Maeva: But it's not the Russian site.
Mikele: No, I have one official page and a facebook profile and I follow what's happening in Russia but not with an official MOR site.
Melissa and Maeva explain again that they're asking about a Russian version of facebook.
Mikele: Ah, okay! Actually I did write to the Russians one time but I don't remember where. I don't know if it was that site or not. I think it was a forum or something but I didn't know- I'd never heard of that site.
They ask why Mikele loves stars so much.
Mikele: It's true, I do. But if I say why they'll laugh at me.
Flo: Go ahead, you've gotta laugh a little.
Mikele: For me, it's both the symbol- Solal mutters something. No, it's true, it's truly true. I'm going to say a word that'll shock you but it's truly the truth. It's the symbol of the life of the universe, okay. Okay. And at the same time it's--for me it's also the symbol of our inner light. It has beams, but can be really strong at the same time, when you have a strong inner light. The star is a shape that can't be attacked from outside because it's pointy, and it's beautiful at the same time, and provides light.
Flo and Mikele mutter to each other about this while the translator talks.
Mikele: It's a symbol of the architecture of the life of the universe, in fact. That's the truth.
The next question is about Melissa as a teenager, which cracks everyone up. They ask if she had the choice to live a rich, prentetious life or an adventurous life with a handsome singer, what would she choose. The nature of this question makes everyone laugh.
Flo: Live with the rich one and keep the young one as a lover! Shit y'all now Flo is Luc-Esprit Gillenormand.
Mikele: No, really answer! Go, answer, answer.
After a little more chatter about the question, she says she'd rather live with someone who loves her and that it's not a question or age or funds, but that love would be the priority.
Flo: That's so sweeeet.
They ask Solal if he believes men and women can be friends.
Maeva: There's you and me!
Solal: Yes, yes, I think so. In true Solal form, he talks for a long time about how friendship is different between different people. I feel like there might be a reason fewer people talk to him.
The next question is if they were big Mozart fans before the show.
Mikele: I listened to Bach and Mozart, and when I was a teenager I read a little bit of a Mozart biography. But not the whole thing. The book was too big.
Flo: I listened to a lot of Mozart too.
Melissa: I used to try to imitate the singer--I don't remember her name but she was a big diva who put on a lot of makeup and sang (she launches into part of Der Holle rache)
Flo offers a name which makes a few people chuckle.
Melissa: No, not at all, it was an Asian. She pulls her eyes back in what I hope was an accident because otherwise yikes Melissa. I didn't know it was Mozart until the day I auditioned for the show.
Flo: Really?
Solal: Everyone is a fan of Mozart whether they know it or not, because it's just such a part of life in television, film, ads... (etc)
Everyone gets to mumbling, Flo hums Der Holle rache, and Maeva starts texting.
Last question: How did MOR change your lives?
Maeva: A lot of us had never had professional artistic work, so for me I learned how to do everthing else. It opened new horizons and new doors for me.
Flo: It changed my life too. I'd decided to devote my life to music even if I was never famous, and I found MOR, and now I can really dedicate my life to it.
Mikele: For me, I was afraid of- Before, I led a life that I felt wasn't legal. I mean, it was a life- I dreamed about doing something, I did it, and I was always afraid of what others thought. Because I was a performer in a time when- When I did MOR I felt more relaxed, my life changed because I became an artist who does this. Legitimate. Yeah. My life changed. And I'm happy it came in such a strong burst because being Mozart, such a role wasn't just an adventure in the media, but in myself as well. So I'm happy to have experienced that. And to continue to experience it.
Diane: It was the first time I did a show for such a long time--I'd already done plays because I started out as an actor, then did singing afterward, I'd done other musicals--but I'd never done a show for three or four hundred performances with such an audience and the reception we had, and magnificent surprises like coming here to see you guys today, so I'd never experienced anything so strong and it did change my life. And we're always sure to see each other again because we shared something so unique and nothing can take that away.
Melissa: Yeah, like what Diane said, I'd never done a character for so many performances in front of such an enthusiastic crowd, as part of such a successful project. It's reassuring, it shows we can face such huge crowds in that sort of a setting, it's pure happiness.
Solal: Yes, of course, it changed our lives, it changed mine too. It had been a long time since I'd done music and I thought I'd come to a point in my life where nothing else extraordinary would happen. Mikele whispers something that makes Maeva slap him. So something as extraordinary as this show gave me the impression of being eighteen all over again, and that created links that will last the rest of my life. We sang again with Flo and the rest of the Troupe a little while ago, the artists have all come together and we're going to do MOR again together (pretty sure he's just talking about the concert, though imagine if he wasn't) and that's what's extraordinary. It's creating life-long memories.
The start cutting up until Mikele shushes them so the translator can work. Flo hits a microphone just to be a child. Mikele sits up in his seat to look taller, making me think someone must be taking a picture. Then he shoves the mic directly into Flo's face while Flo isn't looking. He moves it to Diane, then turns it back toward the camera and points at it, proud of his joke. They sit still for a long time. Solal sticks a spoon to his nose.
Applause, it's over, I finished translating this damn interview and IF ANYONE ELSE COMES UP WITH ANOTHER HOUR-LONG VIDEO OF UNSEEN FOOTAGE I WILL FIND THEM AND THREATEN THEM
The Troupe says "bye-bye" into the camera and waves.
So
Here is a translation of the first half of the conversation, complete with commentary on how cute they are by me.
Mikele (about his own album): It's a crazy album that will come out in 2013. (He literally used the word "crazy" in English: c'est un album crazy)
The interview mentions Belarius, Mikele says he knows of it, and she asks if the Troupe is planning to go see the fans there.
Mikele: No, but if they invite us we'll go there straightaway. And it'd be an honor for Belarus, it's great. People laugh. ...No I meant if theyinvite us to Belarus! I meant it'd be an honor for us to... what did I say? They explain. Mikele gets awkward and lots of giggling ensues. He and Flo eventually just start flirting with the camera. (Throwing up peace signs and winking.)
They explain how the translation process is working for the interview: the Troupe answers the question and waits while it is translated in Russian. The interview finally moves on when she asks them about languages.
Mikele: It's easier when you have a goal, meaning when you want to have an artistic career in a country. We learn the language more quickly-
Flo (in English): It's great.
Mikele: -because we have a passion, so sometimes we can perform almost miracles, for instance I learned French very quickly because I wanted to learn it to make music.
Flo says "It's great" again, and Mikele starts repeating it. Maeva makes gestures and moves her lips, pretending to be the translator as they turn that response into Russian.
The translator asks about Mikele's wristrags, which makes Flo giggle.
Mikele: Okay, I have two answers. The first isn't true, and the second is the truth. Ask him if he wants the truth or the lie.
The translator does.
Mikele: The truth, okay. When I was young I played music all the time, and suddenly I realized girls weren't looking at me. So I made a rock group, I put on makeup and put these [wristrags] on, and girls paid attention to me. And ever since I've never taken them off because I'm afraid I'll become that little boy again that the girls don't look at. That's the true one.
Flo teases him under his breath as the translator is speaking. He says something about it being a sad story to Solal.
Someone asks if they've had any Russian food yet.
Maeva: We actually just got here last night, so we haven't had time yet, but-
Flo: What are traditional Russian foods?
Everyone: Borsch!
Solal: I've had one, but not here in Ukraine. I drank- I ate some.
The Troupe has no idea what to do with themselves during the translation process. Diane describes a fruit-based Ukrainian thing she ate once. Flo and Maeva decide to stare directly into the camera to be silly.
A question is asked I can't hear.
Mikele: I think you can live a long life, but you can also have a wide life. So, even a short life can have the surface of a wide life, and-
Flo (teasing): It's like, would you rather have one wooden eye or paper teeth.
Mikele: He doesn't understand what I'm saying, that's the problem.
Flo: Yes I do, I do, a long life or a wide life. And a deep life. And a tall life!
Solal: And I say, to live for a long time, you have to think the opposite. That is, for a long life, you have to think life is short.
Mikele and Diane agree.
Flo (sticking a finger in the air): However-
Mikele (condescendingly): No, that was it.
They laugh.
Flo: I think we have to believe life is long so we feel like we have to time to do more things.
Melissa: That depends on whether or not it's a question of time.
There's a question about films.
Flo: We were talking about this in the car on the way here. We saw The Life of Pi, which we all thought was really nice. Really poetic, and yeah.
Mikele: And I liked Lincoln.
Flo: You saw it?
Mikele: Yeah, a lot!
Flo: It's already out?
Diane: I liked Argo.
Solal: I loved Django.
Maeva: Djano Unchained.
Melissa: I saw Magic Mike in the plane and loved it.
Flo: I saw The Hobbit. Three times!
They try to use math to tell Flo how much time he's wasted while Mikele says he's never seen it. The wait for the translator to explain their responses.
Mikele: Plus I live (habite) on that street.
Flo: You Hobbit on Lincoln Street?
Mikele: J'habite- j'Hobbit Rue Lincoln!
Maeva: Now everyone in Ukraine knows where you live! And everyone who reads this translation too, Maeva. I looked it up, guys. It's near where we think Dove must live.
Are they planning any other concerts in other countries?
Flo: Yes, maybe.
Mikele: Maybe.
They all start saying "maybe" in English, presumably to give me heart failure.
Flo: We aren't the ones who decide.
Maeva: Yes we are! We just have to ask.
Solal: Maybe New York too.
I had to pause the video while I collapsed onto the floor trembling. I'm back now.
Flo (in English): London. Paris, France!
Mikele: I really want to go to Belarus.
Melissa: But it all depends on how the Ukrainiens receive us.
Flo: Wow, that's a lot of pressure!
They ask Solal about playing Mozart's dad.
Solal: No, it wasn't difficult, we were preparing for over a year for the acting, the songs... we had a lot of time to prepare our roles.
He says the toughest part was acting because he didn't start out as an actor, and Flo makes a quiet joke because I think he misheard. He and Mikele continue to giggle while Solal talks, and a doorbell rings which makes everyone act silly, and I can't hear another thing Solal says until-
Solal: That gives us time to get a little better each day, so after doing the show everything was really well acted the last day (etc etc he's hard to hear and he made his point like ten minutes ago)
Flo: Personally I found it more difficult to come out of my character as time went on.
Mikele: Wow. Interesting. That's interesting.
Maeva (touching his shoulder): Are you out of your character today? All the way?
Flo (shaking her off with a dark Salieri expression): No!
The translator begins. Flo whispers something about his heart, and he and Solal start mumbling back and forth.
They ask if the Russian fans are too demanding or something.
Maeva describes how the performance will call for different things than usual due to the massive orchestra, but I got distracted because at this point Flo leans his chair back and forces Mikele to put his arm around his shoulders.
Flo: But the question was about the fans.
Maeva: Yeah, that's what I mean, the fans will be used to a different kind of music!
Flo: We actually don't know Russia-
Solal talks about the Russian people being warm and welcoming while Flo looks put-out that he got interrupted. The others start whispering and I can't hear Solal for a while.
Solal: ...and they're a lot like us, in fact, that's why there's such friendship between Russia, Belarus, and France, because we're all a very Latin people, very authentic and demonstrative... He talks about their immense musical culture and how the Troupe will try to meet the high standard.
Mikele: I heard complements that were lke sales pitches here.
Flo (from behind the sweater that he's now hugging): You heard complements that were like sales pitches?
They behave like children while they wait for the translator. Flo makes fun of Diane's bunny-shaped iPhone case. Mikele mumbles about whether or not they have rehearsal.
The next question is whether or not Flo likes Harry Potter since apparently he's read it many times.
Flo: Actually I meant-- I don't know why I picked that book, I guess I liked the world it was in, but I read it to learn English. I went to England when I was about sixteen or seventeen and bought Harry Potter
And that's where I paused it to go get rice. JUST AS IT WAS GETTING GREAT! Anyway, we now know where Mikele lives, what the story is behind the wristrags, that Flo is a LOTR fan and a Potterhead, and THAT THERE WILL PROBABLY BE MORE OF THESE SYMPHONIC MOR CONCERTS IN THE FUTURE.
ETA: THE REST HAS BEEN FOUND!
Flo is talking about Harry Potter. Mikele interrupts, criticizing the book with a smirk...
Mikele: There's a dude who can fly! It's weird.
Flo: Because I was inspired by the bad guy in Harry Potter, Snape (he doesn't say "Rogue," the French version of his name) to create Salieri.
Mikele (in English): Okay, great.
While the translator is working on this, Flo starts quoting the entirety of Song for a Lunatic to Maeva under his breath. He then waves an imaginary wand at the camera and hisses, "Avada Kedavra!" with a very French intonation. Solal asks him who the bad guy was and Flo verifies "Snape! Rogue!"
Mikele: With the hair like this? Great. Beautiful interpretation. Magnificent.
Solal: Alan Rickman?
Flo: Yeah.
They then discuss the fact that Snape isn't really the bad guy all along, which Mikele finds fascinating and Flo is very nonchalant about. My boy Flo is apparently hardcore into this Harry Potter stuff, omg I want to knit him a house scarf or something.
The next question touches on how they sing in English and French and asks if they would ever want to sing in Russian. Mikele attempts to sing in what is probably very limited Russian, then...
Mikele: No. Yes yes yes yes, I want to! I truly want to, that really does interest me. Plus I work with a Russian writer, his name is Boris Bsomething, he's a huge author in France, and he knows a lot about Russia and talks about it to me all the time, and about the Russian language.
Diane and Mikele mumble to each other about Boris's work ethic.
The next question is whether or not they were good kids in school.
Mikele: I was nice. I was really a true nice guy, but on the other hand, I was really subversive. Every time there was a problem, I was at the root of it. I was a really strange student. The teachers liked me, but they fought with me every day.
Melissa: Like swordfights?
Mikele: No. An anecdote! One day I changed all the nametags on the drawers where the teachers put their books and stuff, I changed them all to say Professor Mikele Loconte. I put them everywhere! I put them all over that school. I broke into the school at night. I broke in through a window.
Everyone is giggly after this and cracking jokes at the same time. Mikele simply moves his arm in closer over the back of Flo's chair like a boyfriend at the cinema. I am not biased.
The next question is about having musicals as a job, I guess, and I can't stop staring at the way Mikele's arm is around Flo so I'll just sum up that Solal takes it and says something about how it's still a job and they go into work each day and stuff like that. They decide it's not harder or easier than a normal day job. Everyone is getting kinda restless at this point, and when the translator starts working on that response Flo and Mikele are literally murmuring to each other while Mikele chuckles. Are they doing this on purpose? OKAY NOW THEY'RE GAZING INTO EACH OTHERS' EYES SHIT GUYS TONE IT DOWN. ACTUALLY DON'T. Anyway I'm going to attempt to download this shit as soon as I finish the translation to gif this for proof. Flo plays with a sugar packet but throws it back when he realizes the lady has asked another question. Or something. He and I are equally losing our focus.
Mikele: And I'm from a place where your job isn't necessarily our passion. He repeats that a few different ways and explains why that makes this job so great for him. Flo takes a big gulp from his mug and immediately laughs at something Solal has muttered, making me think it probably went up his nose a little bit. We almost got a Florent Mothe spit-take reaction gif, you guys. So close.
The next question is about what they were expecting/looking forward to before coming to Russia.
Melissa: I'm happy, really excited to see what it's like to have a hundred people behind- She then says something that makes her giggle, and in turn suddenly they're all laughing and I cannot figure out why.
Maeva: I can't wait to see if [the fans] are going to just want to see us, or if they're going to sing a little with us... Basically that she assumes they may be different than the French fans since the songs aren't in their native language this time. She's excited to see their reactions.
Mikele: I'm always astoned, just totally astoned, to see how in this eastern country art is treated like such a great thing. Art is sciene here. Blah blah when you see artists they're executing a carefully arranged thing like a gymnast would and the gang plans to give Russia a performance with a lot of energy hurray SORRY but i feel like ive been doing this all day and i really want to watch the new episode of elementary and take a nap. During this speech Maeva lays her head on Flo's shoulder and I FEEL THE SAME WAY.
While they're translating, Mikele crawls out of his seat to blow us a kiss and Melissa is still giggling over whatever the fuck she said earlier. Then everyone starts turning their heads sideways and leaning around with serious faces. Mikele throws his arms around Flo and Diane and they lean in and make faces at the camera while Maeva gives Flo bunny ears. Flo gives Mikele bunny ears (for a second I think Mikele thought Flo was going to return the arm-around-the-shoulder move that Mikele has been pulling this whole time, because when he sees the bunny ears he sighs and swats them away like WHY WON'T YOU TAKE THIS RELATIONSHIP SERIOUSLY FLORENT. Now Flo takes Maeva's phone and uses the bunny-ear case behind Mikele's head, so Mikele does the same to Flo with Diane's phone while Maeva does Mikele's with her own phone GAH YOU GUYS ARE SERIOUSLY REGRESSING INTO CHILDREN THIS INTERVIEW IS SO LONG WE'RE ALL DYING HELP. Maeva seems to ask for someone to fetch a bottle of water for the interviewer lady.
They ask a question about being a performer and Diane replies that you have to have a great voice but also take care of yourself by sleeping and eating and drinking right. Then they demonstrate their adorable warmup where they do that bit of Mozart music altogether. You know it.
Mikele: Here's a tip. I think the real tip is, it's not before going onstage, it's throughout your life. It's a lifetime configuration, because, you're just like that, and-
Flo buries his face in his little cardigan, which makes everyone chuckle and Mikele put a hand on his arm. He's laughing his ass off at something.
Mikele: That's the real tip, because to have a real motivation, you have to be like that, to always be ready to get onstage, because we're always like that in life, ready be an image or a performer or whatever. So a real tip from me is not something before you go onstage, but for a way to configure your life. That's it. It's for life in general.
Maeva: It's like Diane said, it's a lifestyle.
Mikele: No, it's not a lifestyle (hygiène de vie)! I don't have a hygenic life!
Maeva: It's a mentality.
Mikele: A mentality, yeah.
Solal: It's like our entire life is being filmed, so we have to be prepared.
Mikele:Yes. Exactly that. Perfetly said. That's it.
They all keep saying the same shit over and over but Flo has bundled up his cardigan and is using it as a pillow to rest his head on the table and I FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT THIS CONVERSATION FLOFLO WE ARE SOULAMTES FYI. While the translator works on that, Flo nuzzles the cardigan-pillow with his beard and Mikele whispers to Maeva over his back. They start whispering about something and Flo leans up and I hear Maeva say "imagine if" and a minute later she and Mikele both gesture in a line from Flo's mouth to the table and I WISH I KNEW WHAT THAT WAS ALL ABOUT. Mikele also carresses Flo's arm. I MUST GIF THIS SHIT. He gets bored, throws the arm back over Flo's shoulders, then makes a Mikele face at the camera while Flo brings his cardigan up over his face again. The boys start twisting around in their seats trying to read the sign behind them after a while. Mikele turns this into a one-man vogue-off. Maeva shushes them to point out that the water has finally arrived.
The next part they seem to be talking about another popular musical that the whole Troupe knows about but I don't, and they compare their audience to that one's audience. She asks a question which Solal starts to answer, but Maeva cuts him off to explain that the lady asked about a special Ukrainian tradition for the last last last show and whether or not they had done it. I think they could be talking about bêtises? Maeva says they didn't do it at the last show in Bercy because they wanted to respect the fact that this was their last ever time doing the show. Flo appears to be facepalming, or maybe he's crying because Maeva said the word Bercy. No wait that's me that's crying not Flo. Maeva says they didn't really feel like laughing that day anyway. Melissa talks about the dernières they did at Paris and the jokes they pulled then. Solal agrees that at Bercy they weren't laughing, they were crying. Flo whispers that something is horrible while Solal is talking. I JUST SKIPPED BACK TO SEE WHAT FLO WHISPERED ABOUT WITH MY HEADPHONES IN AND HE SAYS "What a memory. It's horrible." FLO HAS BERCY FEELS FLO HAS BERCY FEELS UGH ABORT I'M GONNA STOP BREATHING
Solal: The show began, the curtain opened, and everyone was crying.
Maeva: Everyone was in tears, yeah.
Solal: I came onstage, everyone was crying, Patrice Maktav who had the-
Mikele: Except me. YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR LOCONTE
Solal: He was crying while he announced "Peuple de Salzburg", and it was horrible, it was really emotional. We didn't have the heart to make jokes because we knew it was a moment that would always be etched into our hearts.
Diane: We saw the people in the crowd too who were crying as much as us and that didn't help.
The next question is whether anyone has a solo project.
Flo: We all do. My album comes out in a month.
Maeva asks him what it's called (I think) and I'm pretty sure he said "Rocking chair", or maybe "rock en chair" which would be "rock in the flesh". Goddammit Flo since when are you Victor Hugo with the ridiculous puns.
And Melissa is about to talk about her album when the video ends.
TADA I DID IT!
ETA again: In a quest to drive me over a cliff into an abyss of madness, someone has found another twenty minutes of this interview.
Flo starts to interrupt, realizes Melissa was talking, and lets her go ahead.
Melissa: I did a video called Tweet-n-Roll where fans sent me videos, and there were some fans from Russia and Ukraine who contributed and were included.
Flo: And my first single, which came out two weeks ago, is called Je ne sais pas (I don't know).
Solal: He doesn't know what his single is called.
Flo: I don't know.
They ask Mikele if it's true that he keeps an account at a Russian facebook page.
Mikele: No, I did write on a forum once to thank them for welcoming me and to say that soon I'd be close to them. That's all I said. I wrote it one time. But I'm going to soon. I wanted to know them first, and know you first, and after that I'll begin the real communication.
Flo and Solal joke about the song being called "I don't know" while the translator does her job. Mikele grabs a microphone and acts like a kid pretending to be a rock star (aka himself).
The translator asks if he does have a page.
Mikele: Yes, on facebook I have a personal page and a fanpage, and there's a team of four people but only two active admins. I'm the one who speaks, and there's another identity who speaks called Sidapoetry (or something). We communicate on the page as a team.
Maeva: But it's not the Russian site.
Mikele: No, I have one official page and a facebook profile and I follow what's happening in Russia but not with an official MOR site.
Melissa and Maeva explain again that they're asking about a Russian version of facebook.
Mikele: Ah, okay! Actually I did write to the Russians one time but I don't remember where. I don't know if it was that site or not. I think it was a forum or something but I didn't know- I'd never heard of that site.
They ask why Mikele loves stars so much.
Mikele: It's true, I do. But if I say why they'll laugh at me.
Flo: Go ahead, you've gotta laugh a little.
Mikele: For me, it's both the symbol- Solal mutters something. No, it's true, it's truly true. I'm going to say a word that'll shock you but it's truly the truth. It's the symbol of the life of the universe, okay. Okay. And at the same time it's--for me it's also the symbol of our inner light. It has beams, but can be really strong at the same time, when you have a strong inner light. The star is a shape that can't be attacked from outside because it's pointy, and it's beautiful at the same time, and provides light.
Flo and Mikele mutter to each other about this while the translator talks.
Mikele: It's a symbol of the architecture of the life of the universe, in fact. That's the truth.
The next question is about Melissa as a teenager, which cracks everyone up. They ask if she had the choice to live a rich, prentetious life or an adventurous life with a handsome singer, what would she choose. The nature of this question makes everyone laugh.
Flo: Live with the rich one and keep the young one as a lover! Shit y'all now Flo is Luc-Esprit Gillenormand.
Mikele: No, really answer! Go, answer, answer.
After a little more chatter about the question, she says she'd rather live with someone who loves her and that it's not a question or age or funds, but that love would be the priority.
Flo: That's so sweeeet.
They ask Solal if he believes men and women can be friends.
Maeva: There's you and me!
Solal: Yes, yes, I think so. In true Solal form, he talks for a long time about how friendship is different between different people. I feel like there might be a reason fewer people talk to him.
The next question is if they were big Mozart fans before the show.
Mikele: I listened to Bach and Mozart, and when I was a teenager I read a little bit of a Mozart biography. But not the whole thing. The book was too big.
Flo: I listened to a lot of Mozart too.
Melissa: I used to try to imitate the singer--I don't remember her name but she was a big diva who put on a lot of makeup and sang (she launches into part of Der Holle rache)
Flo offers a name which makes a few people chuckle.
Melissa: No, not at all, it was an Asian. She pulls her eyes back in what I hope was an accident because otherwise yikes Melissa. I didn't know it was Mozart until the day I auditioned for the show.
Flo: Really?
Solal: Everyone is a fan of Mozart whether they know it or not, because it's just such a part of life in television, film, ads... (etc)
Everyone gets to mumbling, Flo hums Der Holle rache, and Maeva starts texting.
Last question: How did MOR change your lives?
Maeva: A lot of us had never had professional artistic work, so for me I learned how to do everthing else. It opened new horizons and new doors for me.
Flo: It changed my life too. I'd decided to devote my life to music even if I was never famous, and I found MOR, and now I can really dedicate my life to it.
Mikele: For me, I was afraid of- Before, I led a life that I felt wasn't legal. I mean, it was a life- I dreamed about doing something, I did it, and I was always afraid of what others thought. Because I was a performer in a time when- When I did MOR I felt more relaxed, my life changed because I became an artist who does this. Legitimate. Yeah. My life changed. And I'm happy it came in such a strong burst because being Mozart, such a role wasn't just an adventure in the media, but in myself as well. So I'm happy to have experienced that. And to continue to experience it.
Diane: It was the first time I did a show for such a long time--I'd already done plays because I started out as an actor, then did singing afterward, I'd done other musicals--but I'd never done a show for three or four hundred performances with such an audience and the reception we had, and magnificent surprises like coming here to see you guys today, so I'd never experienced anything so strong and it did change my life. And we're always sure to see each other again because we shared something so unique and nothing can take that away.
Melissa: Yeah, like what Diane said, I'd never done a character for so many performances in front of such an enthusiastic crowd, as part of such a successful project. It's reassuring, it shows we can face such huge crowds in that sort of a setting, it's pure happiness.
Solal: Yes, of course, it changed our lives, it changed mine too. It had been a long time since I'd done music and I thought I'd come to a point in my life where nothing else extraordinary would happen. Mikele whispers something that makes Maeva slap him. So something as extraordinary as this show gave me the impression of being eighteen all over again, and that created links that will last the rest of my life. We sang again with Flo and the rest of the Troupe a little while ago, the artists have all come together and we're going to do MOR again together (pretty sure he's just talking about the concert, though imagine if he wasn't) and that's what's extraordinary. It's creating life-long memories.
The start cutting up until Mikele shushes them so the translator can work. Flo hits a microphone just to be a child. Mikele sits up in his seat to look taller, making me think someone must be taking a picture. Then he shoves the mic directly into Flo's face while Flo isn't looking. He moves it to Diane, then turns it back toward the camera and points at it, proud of his joke. They sit still for a long time. Solal sticks a spoon to his nose.
Applause, it's over, I finished translating this damn interview and IF ANYONE ELSE COMES UP WITH ANOTHER HOUR-LONG VIDEO OF UNSEEN FOOTAGE I WILL FIND THEM AND THREATEN THEM
The Troupe says "bye-bye" into the camera and waves.
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(Ironically I've never heard of anyone actually taking him up on it, and I know a lot of gossip. In fact I only know of one member of the Troupe who was getting a lot of fan tushie, and that was Monsieur Stéphanie.)
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If I count correctly, Flo reading Harry Potter at 16 or 17 means there was only one book at the time. He had to wait for each of the six other books... How hard it must have been!
As for the name of the street in which Mikele lives... It's worse than when Mathieu Carnot said he lived in Lazare Carnot Street, because that at least was an address in Grenoble, obviously not where he lives most of the time now.
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Bless.
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I'm not reposting the link on tumblr because I'm worried someone will have it taken down? But christinasdl said she was downloading it!