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2000-2004 2000 : Best of "ce n'est que moi" On January 18th, 2000 the record "BEST OF ALAIN CHAMFORT" was released. It contained 18 title tracks remodelled, plus one called "Ca ne fait rien". The track list was worked out by Alain. On April 9th in a TV show, Alain and Hélèna Noguera (Lio's half-sister) sang a duet of Nancy Sinatra's "These boots are made for walking" of. On July 9th, in Montreux, a concert was organized to pay in tribute to Serge Gainsbourg as part of the Montreux jazz festival. Alain Chamfort sang 3 songs : "La valse de Melody", "La noyée" and "En relisant ta lettre "(music and words by Serge Gainsbourg). In December, Alain formed a partnership with Laurence Heller (the dark-haired girl of the duo "A caus'des garçons") and opened up a short-lived shop of exotic furniture and objects : "L'Etnikbazar" in Paris (this shop closed down on December 31st, 2000).
2001 : Concert in Brussels with Bertrand Burgalat From 24th to 28th of January, Alain was a member of the jury of the Gérardmer 8TH Fantastic Film Festival. On March 1st, 2001 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death, a special prime-time TV show was devoted to Serge Gainsbourg where Alain sang live : "En relisant ta lettre". This program also featured other artists such as Jane Birkin, Françoise Hardy, les Rita Mitsuko, Etienne Daho and the group Texas. In 2001, as his contract had come to an end, Alain Chamfort left his record company Sony Music France/Epic. In Spring 2001, the programme planner of the Centre Culturel de la Communauté Française de Wallonie called "Le Botanique" of Brussels invited Alain Chamfort to perform a unique concert together with Bertrand Burgalat. This concert took place on September 29th, 2001 at the "Cirque Royal" of Brussels. The show was linked to the Alain potpourri. Alain Chamfort was accompanied on the stage by Bertrand Burgalat and his group A.S. Dragon. In November and December, Alain was on tour with Steve Nieve for many acoustic concerts in France. 2002 : Concert in Paris, at the cite de la Musique On February 19th and 20th, 2002 two concerts took place at the amphitheatre of the Cité de la Musique, in the Parc de la Vilette (north of Paris). These concerts were entitled : "CARTE BLANCHE to BERTRAND BURGALAT and ALAIN CHAMFORT" Alain was accompanied not only by Bertrand Burgalat at the keyboards, but also by the group A.S. Dragon. Alain Chamfort took up 2 songs from Burgalat's repertoire : "Ma rencontre" and "L'Observatoire". As for Bertrand, he took up from Chamfort's repertoire : "Paradis" and "La fièvre dans le sang". Alain, at the piano, sang together with Hélèna Noguera "Palais royal" and then around 10 of his own songs. At the beginning of June 2002, in a special prime-time TV show dedicated to the famous footballer Zinédine Zidane, Zazie and Alain Chamfort sang together "Géant". In Spring 2002, the English singer Petula Clark released a record : "Anthology of years 1972/1976". This album was the opportunity to re-discover a beautiful song "Volodia de Varsovie" which was composed in 1972 by Alain Chamfort and Michel Pelay. In Autumn, Jane Birkin released her new album "Arabesque" where the song "Les clés du Paradis" can be listened to again with a new pop-oriental arrangement. 2003 : New album "Le Plaisir" and concert at the Bataclan in Paris In 2003, the Rock'n Rose Music editions turned into the " Editions Tessland". signed a new recording contract with the record company DELABEL, a subsidiary of the VIRGIN-EMI group. As soon as July 2003, a new single "LE GRAND RETOUR" was sent to the radios. On September 23rd, 2003 the new and 11th album of Alain Chamfort called "LE PLAISIR" was officially released. It includes 13 song tracks : "Le grand retour", "L'hôtel des insomnies", "La saison des pleurs", " Charmant petit monstre", "Les spécialistes" in duet with April March, "Sinatra", "Les beaux yeux de Laure", "Juste avant l'amour", "Les amies de Mélanie", "Lili Shanghaï" in duet with Jin Xing, "Entre cafard et bourdon", "Love is a gift" in duet with Jo Reynolds, " "Fuyons". A 14th track (less than 1 minute long) can also be found which is actually the instrumental version of "Love is a gift". All the songs are composed by Alain Chamfort on his own, and written by Jacques Duvall, except for "Juste avant l'amour" whose lyrics are from the writer Michel Houellebecq, and "Fuyons" co-composed by Jean-Noël Chaleat and Alain Chamfort. Artistic production by Marc Di Domenico, Jacques Ehrhart and Alain Chamfort. The album "LE PLAISIR" was highly praised by the critics. Alain Chamfort played in a video of a very good quality for the single : "Le grand retour". At the end of September, Alain formed a group of 5 young musicians, a sort of "Brit-Pop" band. On October 3rd, this group appeared for the first time on stage beside Alain in a Show Case at the "Champs Elysées Virgin Megastore" in Paris on 3rd October. On November 28th, 2003 Alain Chamfort was in concert in Brussels at the Botanique. ;On November 30th, 2003 Alain performed his album at the BATACLAN (a well-known show hall in Paris) with the musician- singer Albin de la Simone for the first part of the concert. Alainwas surrounded by his backing group: Alexandre Geindre< (guitar), Eric Lohrer (guitar), Edouard Marie (bass), Mathieu Devos (drums), Igor (keyboards), Mayia Allaume (vocals).The album cover photo was reproduced as the official poster of the show, with the tag line : "Il est de retour en ville" ("he is back in the city").
2004 : Concerts at the "Cigale" and nationwide tour On February 3rd, 2004 Alain Chamfort was nominated twice at the "Victoires de la Musique", in the following categories : - Best album of French variety songs - Best video. On February 28th, 2004 Alain Chamfort took part in the ceremony of the "Victoires de la Musique". He sang live : "SINATRA" with the orchestra present on the stage of another big show hall in Paris : Le ZENITH. On March 6th, 2003 Alain was in concert in Noisiel, close to Paris. On March 10th, concert at the theatre-casino in Geneva. On March 11th, concert in Belfort. On March 20th, 2004 Alain took part in the show performed in Monaco on the occasion of the famous "BAL DE LA ROSE" in the presence of Princess Caroline and Prince Albert of Monaco. As this prestigious ball, to the befit of the Red Cross, was in honour of China, Alain sang a duet with Jin Xing : "Lili Shanghaï". At the end of March, Delabel released the single "LES SPECIALISTES". On March 24th and 25th, 2004 Alain Chamfort performed 2 concerts at the CIGALE in Paris with the following musicians group : Alexandre Geindre< (guitar), Fabrice Mado (guitar), Edouard Marie (bass), Mathieu Devos (drums), Christopher Baord (keyboards), Mayia Allaume (vocals). On March 30th, the new album of Jane Birkin called "Rendez-vous" was released. In this record, Jane sings a duet with Alain; the song is entitled : "T'as pas le droit d'avoir plus mal que moi" (lyrics by Jacques Duvall – music by Jean-Noël Chaléat). Onthis album, there is also the song "Palais royal" which Jane Birkin and Alain Souchon sing together. In April 2004, Delabel broke off the recording contract with Alain Chamfort. On April 2nd, a TV program was broadcast on the first TV channel "Ensemble contre le sida" (Together against AID) Elsa and Alain sang a duet : "Duel au soleil"» a song by Etienne Daho. On April 28th, Alain took part in a big concert at the Disney Village and organized by the radio France Bleu. He sang "Le grand retour" and "Les spécialistes". On May 3rd, in a prime time TV show dedicated to Jane Birkin, Alain was the surprise- guest of Jane and sang ">L’aquaboniste" by Serge Gainsbourg. On June 1st, 2004 and with the agreement of Alain Chamfort, the first part (forum, newsletters) of the new non-official Website, entirely dedicated to Alain, was connected :www.alainchamfort.net. In June and July, a Summer tour was set up with several dates around France (Berck, Royat, Brest,…) but also Belgium, more especially at the Francopholies of Spa (21/07) where Alain was bursting with a great deal of energy and had a triumphant success. Many dates are also planned in several cities from October 2004 to March 2005.
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