henri scars struck
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music industry
Inspired by all music, Henri Scars Struck has over the years created and developed a formidable body of work encompassing various styles and origins. This includes Jazz, Hip Hop, R'n'B, Pop, Dance, Electronica, Classical and World Music.
Henri is a French pianist and Grammy winner and has worked with visionaries and artists such as Malcolm McLaren (partner), Yves Saint Laurent Laurent (YSL 40th year final retrospective), Thierry Dreyfus, Madonna, The Police, Pierre Cardin, De La Soul, KRS One, Rakim, Lenny Kravitz, Barry White, Charles Aznavour, Alicia Keys and Sizzla.During the wake of the Acid Jazz revolution, which began in London in the late 80's, Henri collaborated with noteworthy greats including the late Andy Hughes (The Orb) and Galliano. At this time, he was noticed by producer Daniel Lazerus (Diana Ross, Donald Fagen, Joe Cocker) who invited him to co-produce on several projects. Soon, his talents were directed to the runways of Giorgio Armani, Jean-Charles De Castelbajac, to name a few. It was at a Castelbajac show where Henri was first introduced to (and subsequently worked with) Malcolm McLaren, a music, fashion and cultural iconoclast.
In 1996, Henri brought Paris to New York and the legacy of music trends from Europe and its culture. Inevitably, he drew massive attention from the local Hip-Hop, Dance and World music communities. Then partnered with Malcolm McLaren, Henri produced the Buffalo Gals: Back to Skool (Virgin Records) album with artists like KRS-1, Rakim and De La Soul. He then executive produced other projects with McLaren including Jungk and several commercials.
Henri later co-composed and did additional production with DJ/Producer Roger Sanchez on his first solo album (First Contact) featuring Sharleen Spiteri (Texas), Armand Van Helden and N’Dea Davenport. “Another Chance”, the first single, led all European charts for 17 weeks.
Further collaborations include remixes for artists such as No Doubt “Hella Good”, which won them a Grammy Award for best remix of the year 2002; Madonna “Get Together” (Confessions On a Dance Floor); Alicia Keys "Butterfly"; The Police “Walking On The Moon”; Lenny Kravitz “Black Velveteen”; Chic “I Want Your Love”; Prince “1999”; Ricky Martin “Jaleo”; Brand New Heavies “Apparently Nothin” featuring Carleen Anderson; Cirque Du Soleil “Kumbalawe”; Alejandro Sanz & Shakira “Te Lo Agradezco Pero No”; and Simply Red “Perfect Love”.
Most of these records have appeared in Billboard’s Top Ten dance charts. In addition, Henri worked on Roger’s second album Turn On The Music that was released in 2006. Prior to this in 2004, Henri composed and produced tracks on Charles Schillings’ 2nd solo album, released by Pschent Records (Hotel Costes).
Another notable project was The Mango Room, an urban poetic soul collaborative featuring New York’s premier Spoken Word artists, composed, produced and arranged by Henri. This album was a labor of love celebrating the language of love through music.For VP Records (the largest Reggae label worldwide) Henri mixed several DVDs, the first of which being the label’s 25th Anniversary concert with artists like Sean Paul, Shaggy, Elephant Man and Sizzla. While in Jamaica, Henri worked on the Sizzla and Elephant Man DVDs.
As well as producing new artists, Henri was probably the first (1996) and only producer to remix French music legends such as Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg from the original multi-tracks, before this became a trend. His latest production can be heard on the album of singer songwriter Sinem Saniye, the twice winner of the John Lennon songwriter’s competition, also winning a Billboard award for songwriting.
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fashion
- Throughout his career, Henri has produced original music for a great number of fashion houses, creating a unique dimension to their runway collections. He takes the vocabulary of the designer and transforms it into music and sounds, giving birth to the soundtrack of their fashion show.
Henri was honored to be responsible for the music soundtrack of the penultimate show – the final haute couture show of Yves Saint Laurent on January 22nd, 2002 at Le Centre Pompidou, Paris. This event was a defining moment for the legendary designer and is considered to be one of the most important statements in fashion.
Apart from working with Pierre Bergé, Henri had the privilege of collaborating with Catherine Deneuve and Laetitia Casta as they sang their homage to the master. The widely acclaimed show, orchestrated by artistic director Thierry Dreyfus, ran for 90 minutes and incorporated in excess of 380 unparalleled signature dresses/suits.
Other work for fashion includes clients such as Jean Charles De Castelbajac, BCBG Max Azria, John Galliano, Pierre Balmain, Alber Elbaz, Krizia Top (Milan), Rochas, Rag & Bone, Levi's, Richard Tyler, PVH, Franck Sorbier, Joseph Abboud, Brood by Serkan Sarier, J. Mendel, Adam Kimmel, Catherine Malandrino (first fashion show at the Harlem Apollo Theater where Henri brought a Gospel choir) as well as all shows for the 2009 CFDA Vogue fashion fund award winner, Sophie Theallet, a modern day couturière.
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installations
Henri has been regularly commissioned to write music for art installations, notably for the Paris Nuit Blanche, organized by the city of Paris and the Ministry of Culture. In 2006 he performed on the piano live at the Bibliothèque Nationale De France (French National Library) along with band Placebo.
In 2007, he worked on an installation created by Thierry Dreyfus at the Chateau De Versailles and recently, in October 2010, collaborated with Dreyfus again at Notre Dame De Paris. This last installation broke attendance records at Nuit Blanche with more than 50,000 people visiting within the limited hours, transforming the Cathedral with lights never before seen accompanied by music inspired from a dark place.
Additionally, he worked on the 30th year anniversary celebration of Didier Ludot in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris. Monsieur Ludot is the premier collector and seller of designer vintage clothing. The installation incorporated various styles of music and poetry readings played at ten different locations of this expansive garden. This exhibit was attended by a select group of guests including the French Minister of Culture.
Henri’s work in public spaces is known to bring a sense of community and connection with people from all over the world and from all walks of life, bound together by the simple pleasure of sharing music, a rare occurrence in today’s iPod headphone culture.
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films
- Creating music for full feature and short films is a natural progression for Henri and his interests, given his ability to compose and produce music in various music genres and his desire to do the unexpected, always pushing his own boundaries. His work has been described as haunting, powerful, having its rightful place in film.Whether writing a tango, a classical piece, or a hip hop song, Henri believes that music has to be deeply rooted within the essence and DNA of the film, so much so that if the music disappeared or is replaced, the movie will have another identity.Furthermore, he observes that many film scores sound alike, generic, with the same chord progressions, drum programming and/or the same licensed songs. He laments the lack of surprise and simple powerful emotion, the elements that audiences recognize when they are exposed to it, evoking an everlasting memory of the film and of a time and place.For his first foray into feature films, Henri composed and produced the score for “A Big Road”, directed by Alec Tok and produced by Damon Chua (Wong Kar Wai). The film premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival. While thinking of John Barry, Henri composed a piece as a tribute to this legendary composer. A few days later, after Barry’s passing, he renamed the piece “Mr John Barry”, which was subsequently broadcast on Nowness.com.
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corporate
Music is a critical element of the customer experience and a powerful mechanism for companies to achieve differentiation. Through his consultancy, The Other Side Of The Brain (OSB) that was specifically formed to work with corporate clients, Henri Scars Struck has created programs for companies such as Estee Lauder, Lufthansa, Pfizer, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Unilever Prestige.
Authentic emotion is key for establishing a deep connection between a company and its employees and/or customers. Henri believes that companies have only scratched the surface of what is possible in terms of the use of music to inspire engagement and loyalty.
Henri speaks frequently on the subject of the emotional side of business, and the role of music in particular. He is a regular speaker on MBA and corporate programs, and was the keynote speaker in the series “A New Perspective” hosted by the Le Méridien hotels in multiple cities around the world.
As early as 1994, Henri created an immersive multi-sensory experience for Swatch in conjunction with the designer Jean Charles De Castelbajac. The installation was hosted at the Louvre and the 1994 winter Olympic games. It featured music and sounds under the Louvre pyramid - in the morning music/sounds of Parisian cafés were heard and scents of coffee were sprayed. In the afternoon, sounds of Provence and lavender scents were triggering the senses of many visitors.
In 2007, Henri composed a ground-breaking 24-hour soundtrack exclusively for Le Méridien Hotels (Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide) in support of the launch of their new program ”Unlocked Art.” The auditory experience was implemented in 110 properties throughout the world and involved music for two moments critical to the guest experience – as they enter the hotel; and as they ride the elevator to their room. The soundtrack was divided into four sections of 6 hours: morning (waters), afternoon (forest), evening (markets & cafes) and night (crickets & campfire). This soundtrack incorporates rich natural sounds and original music compositions influenced by different cultures from around the globe.
This program earned many awards such as “Best Innovative Concept in Full Service Hotels” at the 2009 Worldwide Hospitality Awards.
The Other Side Of The Brain’s services include the creation and execution of assignments, negotiation of all aspects of conception, production, recording and/or licensing, and the management of the process to completion. OSB also advises TV/film producers and directors, providing them with original music or serving as the music curator for a project. Henri Scars Struck's work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, New York Magazine, Art News, Fast Company, The New York Sun, Libération, Le Monde, and Trace Magazine as part of the feature, “New Yorkers on the Verge”. He is currently featured on the series “New Revolutionaries” on the Sundance TV Channel.
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Posts
Pamela Lubell - President of DNR (do not resuscitate) - Organ Donor Awareness Brand !!!!!
via Tribeca Film Festival
Silent World is a Breathtaking Photography Series That Imagines the World Almost Uninhabited by People
Lucie & Simon, Silent world.
2009-2012.
USA, China, France, Italy.
7’45 minutes film about the work Silent world, 2012.
Music by Philip Glass and Daft Punk.
Direction and editing by Lucie & Simon.
lucieandsimon.comvia NoFilmSchool.com
- Malcolm McLaren - 2nd year anniversary
Hello All,
Today we celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the passing of my dear friend Malcolm McLaren. No need to introduce him again. But for those who don’t have a clue, read a little bit !!!!
As I will fly over London on my flight back to NYC, I will think and smile for all the chaos craziness and beauty he brought to us.
Everything he was accused for, as he said, was true. And even when he left this world, he did it, Malcolm Style with a boom box coffin and a wooden tombstone where it is written “Malcolm was here”. I have to smile when I think about that and I can hear his voice with his unique tone saying “it’s ok henriiiiiiiiiii, it’s just rubbish !!!!!!”
And just for the little laugh, Malcolm is buried in the London Highgate cemetery not too far from another crazy man, Karl Marx…
For sure I know he is not resting in peace - too boring !!!!
Miss you my friend.
HSS
- Music For Fashion Week FW 2012
Well it’s that time of the year when I work with the crazy people whom I love, the fashion designers, the producers of the fashion shows and their teams.
HARDY AMIESIt started for me in December, when I was asked by my friend Thierry Dreyfus to work on the soundtrack for the Hardy Amies menswear show, held at Pitti, Florence on January 11th.
Sir Edwin Hardy Amies had the distinguished title of being the Queen’s dressmaker (Elizabeth II) from her accession to the throne until his retirement in 1989. Now, the Hardy Amies brand has a new and cool menswear designer by the name of Claire Malcolm from London. Brimming with energy, Claire knows her electronic music as well as her designer skills and we had great exchanges together. A video of a kaleidoscope, using the same color palette of the collection, was projected onto the backdrop of the runway, which looked very modern.
Claire and I decided to use and rework (a little) the great song “Iron” by Woodkid and several of its remixes (by Gucci Vump and the Mistery Jets). it is quite a powerful piece and I quite love the fact that it has orchestral horns. I don’t think we are responsible for this but as a sign of quality, this song was subsequently played several times on other runways (Dior Homme). We also used the Chemical Brothers track entitled “The Devil Is In The Beats” and Modselektor’s ”Grillwalker”. I also played additional strings on the overall soundtrack to bring a little more darkness to it.Hardy Amies FW2012 By Claire Malcolm live from the show here !!!!!!
The Official Hardy Amies video here….
JOSEPH ABBOUDThis season, I was very happy to work for the Joseph Abboud label, who are relaunching their brand after 7 years since their last fashion show. For Bernardo Rojo, the Creative Director, I composed and produced a music piece that combines elegance and modernity. It is a mix of soft/harsh electro sounds with the classical feel of the piano, cello and violin. I was pleased to record Eugenia Choi on the violin, a long time friend and virtuoso (who has played on many of my recordings) and the great Laura Metcalf, on the cello. It was a great pleasure to be able to create and record original music for a fashion show. The show was produced by Eyesight Fashion & Luxury and brought a real emotion especially for the finale.
Style.com coverage here describing my music as “the sort of music that might play during a climactic scene in a James Bond movie” here
Joseph Abboud FW2012 Video
SOPHIE THEALLETThe next show I worked on was for my dear friend Sophie Theallet. She is such a gifted designer and one of the last couturière. The collection was based on a story of our time, about a woman who, while repudiated by her own rich family and has no money, still maintains her dignity and class. The music for the intro and the finale of the show was a piece we loved from the movie “Le Mépris” (Contempt) of Jean Luc Godard. Music composed by the great Georges Delerue, one of the masters of film music. Then groove with the Bauhaus “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”, Pulp “This Is Hardcore” and Burgalat “OK Skorpio”. Pretty powerful stuff !
LEVI’S
Then came the Levi’s adventure where the goal was to create something unconventional. Len Peltier, Levi’s Creative Director who has worked at Virgin Records, changed the perception that people have of the Levi’s brand. The show was held at 82 Mercer.
Thanks to Thierry Dreyfus and the Eyesight production team, a 165 feet runway was built, looking like the home/ closet of several different individuals (as the Levi’s client represents), with a cement runway (like a street pavement) in parallel.
Some models were in their underwear and dressed on stage, while others where walking the runways fully dressed.In terms of music, I was playing sounds and music through a keyboard, the only way for me to play several things at the same time. To make it even more complicated and because of the length of the runway, we had 7 audio zones with 4 speakers in each of them playing where a model was getting dressed.
I sent each zone its sound/music so for example, somebody sitting in the left would hear something coming from the extreme right and be surprised. The show started with a recording of NBC’s today’s show that I made that same morning so we could have the weather, traffic and news of the day for the audience recreating our homes.
Then music started with completely various things from classic rock Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love” to Pantha Du Prince “Splendour” to Die Antwoord “Fatty Boom Boom”, Donovan “Hurdy Gurdy Man”, “Dr Buzzard “Cherchez La Femme” and human beat boxes. Morgan O’Kane, a great banjo player, played live for the finale, singing his heart out while I pushed my fader with birds to the loudest position so we could feel we are changing all settings at the same time.Levi’s show coverage by GQ
Another piece hereBROOD BY SERKAN SARIER
Mr Serkan Sarier is a extremely talented designer. He learned his craft at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Arts like designers Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester. This was his first runway show after three presentations in previous years outside of the fashion calendar. For the soundtrack, we used a mix with Autechre “Vletrmx”, Cosmetics “Soft Skin” and Modselektor “Grillwalker”.
Serkan Sarier reviewed by the NY Times
DIESEL BLACK GOLD
For the second season, I was asked to create original music for the internet broadcasting of the Diesel Black Gold fashion show and also for a very cool time lapse video of the building up and strike of the set.
This is a video from C2C, a French electro band. Great video idea, great track and I am sure this will travel on the net because it is simply so cool.
Happy New Year,
HSS
By Airusersblog.com
Why T-Pain Should Not Be Allowed To Own Auto-Tune
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2011 AT 8:55AM | EMAIL ARTICLE
There’s been much discussion about the possible court case between T-Pain and Antares; alleging possible misuse of his name and brand. Even if that is the case, which is yet to be proven, there is an even greater issue which should give both software manufacturers and artists equal concern.This case is really about who owns Auto-Tune and in particular the abuse of the algorithm to create the stepped vocal effect. First popularised by Cher and then used constantly some years later by T-Pain et al. to give what he calls the ‘T-Pain effect’. If anyone wants to downplay the influence of Cher’s song ‘Believe’ may I suggest you read here - Believe sold 10 million, in comparison T-Pain’s ‘Buy U A Drank’ (sic) about half that number. I think if anyone wants to make a claim on the use of the effect, then Cher has a very strong case to claim ‘first’ and ‘biggest’.
Some time ago T-Pain tried to claim loss of earnings against other artists using the effect on their vocals.
Here is the concern and why he should not be allowed to own either the trademark stepped effect or auto-tune.
Who owns the Phil Collins gated drum sound? Collins? The Townhouse? Mick Glossop? SSL? In fact that claim has a greater chance of being won, as it is a sound created by the use of a unique combination of products and techniques. Whereas the stepped vocal effect is simply achieved by turning one knob to full!
Who owns the Hendrix distortion? Peter Frampton’s use of the vocoder? Who first found out that by overdriving an input stage on an analogue pre-amp you could add harmonic distortion to vocals? The list is, in fact, endless.
Many producers and artists have ‘trademark’ sounds, be they drums, bass, guitars, keyboards or vocals. Does that mean they own the rights to them?
Even if T-Pain is your hero and you want to sound like him, do you really want to live in a world where he can own even a portion of your creativity, because you dared to turn the sensitivity knob on your Auto-Tune all the way up?
The possibility that T-Pain can trademark this sound sets a dangerous legal precedent, it’s bad for artists and musical instrument manufacturers, be they either software or hardware.
It’s bad for music and creativity and any award in his favour would be a bad day for music as a whole.
The first time I heard the voice of Amy Winehouse, I was traumatized. It was like one of these moments when you forgot the notion of time, when you feel so good that there is someone like that about to explode with so much pure and raw talent. I wish I had more of these moments today !
No doubt she was going far because her music is about her own life. Her words are about herself and the struggle to be who she was. She gave it all to us, bleeding these sounds coming from the unique tone of her voice, without any pretension, without no protection, fully vulnerable. This rawness, screaming beauty came from the same place the blues came from, taking her own struggle on the ring, with her best weapon, her own voice.
The BLUES… This lady can sing the blues, in a way that was sometimes ironic but obviously modern. Her music, looks and geistures were unique, a real refreshment before being copied in vain by all these Motown sounding wannabes.
She was also very funny, you would want to party with her. I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly before the release of Back to Black in NYC, at Joes Pub. She was so real, tough and amazing, complimenting me on my old school Run DMC Black & White Adidas top. She made me laugh as I was not expecting that. I was also intimidated, in presence of such a powerhouse but still fragile and sometimes quieter.Dear Amy, I wish today all we can hear on the news is your music, nothing else. Why do they need to talk about your demons/addiction ? We know about that, It’s already in your lyrics, not censured and not filtered. Why do they need to show footage of your last tragic performance in Belgrade instead of the video attached to this post (be sure to watch all the “The DL” videos on youtube). This is live music, a voice and a guitar, pure beauty, like a flower in the desert or like real talent in the music world.
and Amy, fuck you with that song “You know I’m no good”. Of course you are !!!
We’re going to miss you Lady !
RIP Amy Winehouse.
Henri Scars Struck
