He calls his character “Dodi” and speaks about him in the third person, as if he were someone else. Throughout our interview, the person who uses the alias Dodi El Sherbini will not really hide, but he will paradoxically retain an element of mystery. We will just know his real first name, Léon, his age, 48, and bits of his life. What is certain is that this tall, elegant boy has his feet on the ground and a detached sense of humor.
With his pop music, he was spotted about ten years ago thanks to his song The eternal return. The trendy musical press then classified him among the renovators of French variety, that is to say closer to Sébastien Tellier than to Calogero. And “Dodi”, then? “ It was a joke, it was my Facebook username. It's an Egyptian name. Since the attacks (in France), Palestine, I even suspect it of being divisive! It was absurd, but I had to get used to it, and I took that name », he slips.
An offbeat but “political” look
You should rather see his second album, Ave Caesarlike a “ very offbeat aesthetic proposition “. With his ten cryptic songs, our dandy offers music full of keyboards in which the voice is often in the background. This disc is interested in the major societal upheavals of recent years, from covid to yellow vests via #metoo », It is specified in the accompanying note.
The intention is “political” without its author being so. Very soft evokes the yellow vests with strong onomatopoeia and inventive expressions like “celzéceux” (sic). Only one song is about love, Your kingdomand its contours remain vague. Once again, it is advisable to take things lightly and understand who can.
As you listen, the electronic tracks reveal themselves. Kitsch is never far away. Magnolias evokes the disconnection from reality in a very connected society. I dream I dream describes an almost dystopian world in which consumer society merges with the din of war. “ I dream I dream of above-ground swimming pools / I dream I dream of air-to-ground missiles / I dream I dream of enormous Mrs. / I dream I dream of extraordinary suicide. »
Most of the songs deal with technology and its impact. “ We talk a lot about artificial intelligence and augmented humans. There is a fear that machines will replace humans. But with digital technology, we can say that it is not necessarily the machine that will become more intelligent. It's the man who will take over the machine. This is what we see with Chat GPT: it invents a style, a style that we will see almost everywhere, and people will little by little start to think like that. These automatisms will perhaps replace thinking that was until now less robotic », he observes.
No full-fledged career in music
The young pop-rock group Rallye produced this Hail Caesar and Stéphane “Alf” Brillat, one of the great French touch sound engineers, mixed it. Behind the style exercise hides a perfectionist singer in the writing of his lyrics. “ It's like making cathedrals out of matchsticks or images from Epinal. A song is a miniature. There's a bit of a stupid, stupid side. It's not really poetic because there is no intrinsic beauty. There may be some beautiful passages, but others are very familiar. We need to polish the sentence “, he summarizes.
Former ready-to-wear stylist for Ungaro and fashion consultant, Dodi El Sherbini returned to music at the dawn of his forties. He then collaborated with Phoenix and directed clips for Nicolas Godin of Air, Jarvis Cocker and Tristesse Contemporaine.
But this rather enviable CV did not encourage him to completely pursue a career in the music industry. “ For me, music is a medium, but it is also not a belief that borders on faith. And then, there is a lot of insecurity! I could have signed with a record company, I was offered it several times. But I refused because I didn't want to be bothered. Even if it means doing completely crazy things…“, he assures.
One foot in, another well out. Such is the life of dear Dodi, who claims to make pop songs as well as contemporary art, without worrying too much about commercial success.
Dodi El Sherbini Hail Caesar (Kidderminster) 2024
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