Biography

Laughing Seabird

WHY
Laughing seabird

The seashore is a strange and fascinating place : A meeting between land and sea. It is here that the seabird lives. It is here that we hear her call, her laughing song…
Inland too she inevitably reminds us of the sea, takes us back there… like listening once more to certain defining tunes from our adolescence that transport us to a space-defying-time, a reassuring personal inner space where we are sure of the great things we can accomplish. Sound and music have this power.

Offshore, she proclaims: Land ahoy! We’re safe ! We’re almost there! And her presence delights…

Laughing Seabird’s music recalls these experiences which give us wings, individually or as a group. Travelling, steeping oneself in a lasting, stirring energy.

The result of a patient, Céline’s work has become a personal challenge, a salve, and, an inevitable call. It is about healing, about provoking the unknown, and about shedding our learned behaviours. To create ourselves in other ways and to open the doors of our perceptions to attain… Transformation.
Céline and Manu (Emmanuel Heyner) found they have much to draw them together both being fans of The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, Peter Gabriel and Sting since their teenage years.
Their artistic collaboration is inspired by other sources too: notably by Celtic influences, an integral part of Céline’s identity coming as she does from Brittany with her love for this culture that brings all generations together in moments of liberating communion.

GENESIS

& ENCOUNTERS

Céline Mauge began drama classes at a young age, starting her career as a professional actress at twenty. Her experiences have traversed many different techniques and styles, on stage or screen, culminating in 2015 with The Molière Award in the “Best Subsidised Work” category for Les Coquelicots des Tranchées directed by Xavier Lemaire, an award shared by the entire cast of the play. Her voice is well-known in France: She has dubbed Meredith Grey in Grey’s Anatomy, Sienna Miller, and many others actresses as well as cartoon characters such as: Alex and Mandy in the hit series Totally Spies.

Laughing Seabird,
it's Céline...
and it's also
the name of his group

It was Boris Bergman’s Rock Opéra La Nuit du Rat in 2006, in which Céline played the part of Chloratis, that triggered the transition towards music, her first calling. Céline undertook a deep commitment to working on her singing voice and to learning the guitar. A few years and over 60 pop/folk covers later, using the name Laughing Seabird, she wrote and composed her first album, And I become, arranged by Michel Peteau. With her second album, The Transformation Place, arranged by Emmanuel Heyner, she has stayed faithful to her elegant, enchanting and energising folk-pop.Two songs from the album can be found on the original soundtrack of the film Ça tourne à Saint Pierre et Miquelon directed by Christian Monnier – due for release soon – in which Céline plays herself (more or less…:-) as a singer and actress… dragged into a poetic and whimsical quest for identity.

EMMANUEL

HEYNER

Manu discovered his love of music very young. At 14, he was accepted into The Cergy School of Music where he was taught guitar, bass and drums as well as C.A.M. (Computer Assisted Music Instruction). He played with several rock/funk bands, then deepened his musical knowledge, aligning practice with theory by taking a two-year Musicology degree at Paris VIII University. In 2002, after studying jazz with artists at the « EDIM » in Cachan, he obtained his FNEIJ certificate. In 2011, he formed “Sing Song Event”, a cover band, specialising in soul, funk and rock with whom he played over 400 gigs. Drawn to composition, arrangement and sound engineering over the last 20 years, he has realised or played guitar on the recordings of several albums in different musical styles, including Magdool, Zetlab, Kasba, S’évader by Gérard Berliner, Sugar Lab and the most recent album by Stéphane Edouard, alongside renowned musicians such as Michel Alibo, Linley Marthe, Nguyen Le, Vincent Peirani, Bojan Z, Magic Malik…

JEFF

PAUTRAT

A self-taught musician who began his career later in life, Jeff was initially attracted to funk and the electric bass, but soon turned to jazz and the double bass. A few years spent in the world of French « chanson » gave him the chance to play on a number of albums and at various concert halls before returning to jazz . He can be found with La Brinche on the compilation “Nouvelle Guinche” alongside Java, La Rue Kétanou, Les Ogres de Barback…but also with Les Alphabêtes on the compilation “Django Stylee”, with Productions Spéciales, alongside Biréli Lagrène and Didier Lockwood, and even with the Hispanic jazz of David Garcia. A chance encounter then lead him to another form of improvised music, this time the accompaniment of silent films be it in solo, trio formation or more. Add to this « A Contre Voix », a very intimate duet of vocals and bass, and the « Dirty Jamaïcan Funk’n’Roll » by « The Sarah Connors » and you will understand why this indefatigable chameleon so enjoys navigating between the most intimate of cabarets and the biggest of concert halls.

STéphane

édouard

Originally from southern India, Stéphane was born in France into a family where music is an art to be shared. Indian music was his first source of inspiration when he started playing percussion at the age of 7. As a teenager, he discovered rock and jazz music and through this music, the drums. This self-taught musician has thus drawn his inspiration from the different traditions he has encountered along the way: Indian, African, Jazz, Cuban music… Very early on, Stéphane decided to find his own way and created personal percussion sets. The result is a rhythmic signature style characterised by energy, groove and a unique touch that identifies his style from the very first bars. His inventive, eclectic and cosmopolitan playing has taken him to different venues all over the world accompanying some of the biggest names in music such as : Daby Touré, Sixun, Michel Jonasz, Maurane, Nguyên Lê, Franck McComb, Karim Ziad, Electro Deluxe, Dhafer Youssef, Bojan Z, Julia Sarr, Pierre De Bethmann, Alfio Origlio, Eric Legnini, Christophe Wallemme, Magic Malik, Vincent Peirani, Ibrahim Maalouf, Andy Narrell, Gene Lake, Aldo Romano, Antoine Hervé, Louis and François Moutin.

MEANING &

INFLUENCES

The music of Laughing Seabird, a fortiori in concert, recalls these experiences where we will take off, individually and collectively. Traveling, soaking up a moving and lingering energy.
Fruit of patient, stubborn learning and a strong inner need, Céline’s work has become a personal challenge, a remedy, and an inevitable call. It is about healing, breaking with the known, provoking the blind and evading our programming. To create ourselves differently and to open the doors of our perceptions to access… Transformation.

Admirers since their teenage years of the Beatles, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, The Pink Floyd, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Peter Gabriel, Sting… Céline and Manu (Emmanuel Heyner) have found a bond there. Their work also draws on many other inspirations. The Celtic influence in particular is in Céline’s DNA through her Breton origins and her attachment to this culture which brings together all ages, in moments borrowed from a liberating communion.

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