Abakan

Abakan followed a classic path near Paris, listening to Earth Wind and Fire and George Benson’s vocal madness from morning till night.

In his early years he was brought up with music thanks to a musician/singer father who had the good idea of introducing him to Toto as well as Al Jarreau!

His dad was more into rock but David definitely set his heart on Black Music. This was the beginning of an initiatory journey marked by names like such as Phil, Curtis, Chaka, George, James, Michael or Al… He then got fascinated by the artists from the 70’s. However the frenzy over French rap band NTM and their album “Authentik” didn’t spare him, and he also had a more rocky period listening to Toto, Queen, Christopher Cross, etc. But the album “Off The Wall” brought him back full force to his first love.

For him it was all about sensitivity, he was receptive to certain sounds or voices.
In that way, Donny Hathaway was certainly the one who blew him away the most. Finally came the time to earn a living, to make it his real job! He then spent a few years singing with several bands at private parties, but this wasn’t a totally fulfilling experience. No doubt this was the best school to attend, even though this probably took him away for a bit from the creative side of his music.

Meanwhile, new artists blew him away: Jamiroquai, Incognito, Ben Harper, Brand New Heavies, Tower Of Power, etc.

The age of reason playing its part he felt the need to be fully honest with himself. It seemed obvious for him that he had to do more… more than just covers for those who are nostalgic for the 70’s and 80’s. He had to do something about this.

Naturally, he resumed composing and it was spectacular! Not a single day without starting a new song. Not everything was album material but this was a liberating experience. A blend of all the things he had been excessively exposed to: Soul, Rock, Pop. His leitmotiv was clear: “Let go and accept whatever came out of me” no matter the style… without any business logic or a supposedly objective approach. He had to channel all this, structure it into a real project.

Very soon, he will involve close friends like Goldey, who will compose most of the arrangements with him, as well as Boris Duvigneau (keyboard player and arranger on some tracks), Raphaële Atlan (who wrote three of his songs and shares a duo with him), HKB Finn (featured on “Every little thing”), Crystal Petit for most of lyrics, Arnaud Mesuil on the guitars, Jerome Gateau on the bass, Fred Turban on drums, Thomas Faure (C2C, Hocus Pocus)who wrote the brass arrangements, Vincent Payen on Trumpet, Fred Dupont on Keyboads (Rodhes, Organ) and of course his long-time friend Shmoolik for the artwork.

Final touch, the encounter with Milesfender, thanks to whom the project will take a whole new dimension and actually come to life.