Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

The Music of Eden

With her red tousled hair, delicate features and enchanting vocals, Axelle Red is one of Belgium’s best-selling musical exports. Chloë Greenbank caught up with her to talk about her latest album, Jardin Secret, and her humanitarian work throughout Africa

Talking to Belgian soul songstress Axelle Red (real name, Fabienne Demal) is a refreshing experience. Vivacious, eloquent, dedicated to a number of humanitarian causes and originally qualified as a lawyer, she’s the antithesis of the omnipresent manufactured pop star. When we catch up in Brussels, the 38-year-old – whose looks belie her years – is snatching moments away from a hectic schedule preparing for a European tour and promoting her fifth album, Jardin Secret, which was released in October 2006.

The idea for the album started three years ago after Axelle wrote the song I Had A Dream. “It was a tribute to Martin Luther King,” she says. “In it I talk about my dream of a place where people come together and live in unity. A world filled with tolerance and love.”

It’s her idea of Eden. “I wanted this album to be about the value system that we’ve lost in our society,” she continues. “Take the 10 Commandments; they’re just another way of saying: ‘How can I be a good person?’ No one strives for that any more.”

While she doesn’t think of herself as religious, Axelle does profess to being spiritual and to “believing in values, the need to trust one another and the sense there must be something else to life”. Her aim with Jardin Secret – which translates as “secret garden” – is “to convey this message that we all have a moral and ethical responsibility not to accept injustice in the world”.

“Making the album was very much a form of therapy,” Axelle says. She also concedes that her previous release, Face A/Face B, with songs that dealt with anti-globalism, child soldiers, extremism and destruction, was “full of anger and very critical of the world”. This new album is a step away from all that. It has a much more uplifting message, one of love, hope and aspiration.

Part of soul music history

Axelle’s decision to record her latest album in Memphis, Tennessee, enabled the singer to fulfil another one of her dreams – to use the studios of the legendary Willie Mitchell, where the likes of Al Green and Jimmy King have also recorded. Working here was like being part of soul music’s history, she says.

“It’s old and has this incredible vibe, like there are musical phantoms throughout the place,” Axelle explains, describing the vintage amplifiers, mixing tables, lamps and faded wallpaper that decorate the studio.

Alongside her fellow musicians, whom she describes as being “like family”, she recorded directly on to an old-fashioned analogue tape deck. The result is soft,

FR »La musique de l’Eden

S’entretenir avec la chanteuse belge Axelle Red (de son vrai nom Fabienne Demal) est une expérience vivifiante. Pleine de vie, éloquente et dévouée à un grand nombre de causes humanitaires, elle est l’antithèse des modèles fabriqués de pops stars, qui envahissent tout à l’heure actuelle. La chanteuse de 38 ans, diplômée à l’origine en droit, se classe aujourd’hui parmi les meilleures exportations musicales belges et elle vient de publier son cinquième album Jardin Secret en Octobre 2006.

“Je voulais que cet album traite de la perte du système de valeur dans nos sociétés,” explique-t-elle, avant de reprendre : “Je voulais qu’il transmette ce message, à savoir que nous avons tous la responsabilité morale et éthique de ne pas accepter l’injustice dans ce monde.”

Outre le fait qu’elle soit connue comme la chanteuse belge au top des meilleures ventes, Axelle est une activiste convaincue et elle entre régulièrement en campagne pour défendre les victimes des injustices dans le monde. En 1997 l’UNICEF l’a désignée comme Ambassadrice de bonne volonté pour la Belgique. Et en septembre dernier, le Ministre français de la culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres l’a nommée Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

En même temps qu’elle intervient sur le terrain dans les pays en développement, Axelle s’attaque également aux racines de la pauvreté globale depuis l’Europe.

En 2006, Axelle est intervenue personnellement auprès du Président de la Commission européenne pour qu’il s’engage à réduire la pauvreté dans le monde en augmentant le budget du développement pour le Tiers Monde.

Qu’a-t-elle en réserve pour 2007? “Je serai beaucoup en tournée au début de l’année, pour la promotion notamment de Jardin Secret. A part cela, je n’ai pas encore de plans précis,” dit-elle avec un sourire.

catchy melodies you can’t help but want to sing along with. “But,” says Axelle, who cites Aretha Franklin and The Carpenters among her musical influences, “despite the apparent simplicity of the songs, the chords are quite complex.”

Although Willie Mitchell himself is now part of her growing fan base, Axelle doesn’t have a particularly big following in the US. Her fans are mostly French and, of course, Belgian. Although she has sung some covers in Flemish and is originally from Hasselt, she hasn’t yet written an original song in the official language of Flanders. But she readily admits: “I’m always saying I’ll make my Flemish album one day. I just don’t know when that will be yet.”

Axelle is proud of her roots and loves coming home to Belgium after travelling overseas. “Belgium is a true melting pot of cultural influences and the people here are so down-to-earth,” she says. It’s here she lives with her husband and manager, Filip Vanes, and three children – seven-year-old Janelle (who was the inspiration for the song ‘Si Tu Savais’ on the new album), Gloria, two, and Billie, one.

Working against injustice

Aside from being known as Belgium’s best-selling female singer, Axelle is a keen activist and regularly campaigns to defend the victims of the world’s injustices. In 1997, UNICEF appointed her a Goodwill Ambassador for Belgium. And last September, in recognition of her services to humanitarian causes and her vocal talents, Axelle was appointed Chevalier des Ordres des Arts et Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by French culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.

Her work on behalf of UNICEF has seen Axelle travel across the globe to help raise awareness of various plights. Recently she has travelled to two of Brussels Airlines’ long-haul destinations: Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Here, she spoke out about children’s rights, particularly those of child soldiers in the DRC.

“It can be hard, and I do see some heart-wrenching scenes,” Axelle admits. “But it’s great to be able to use my celebrity to give something back.”

As well as working on the ground in developing countries, Axelle campaigns against the root causes of global poverty from Europe. In 2005, she sang at the Live 8 concert in Paris, where her personal aim was to get people to recognise that “poverty shouldn’t exist in the world”. While she admits that she was disappointed with the overall impact of the international event, she does agree it was better than doing nothing.

“You have to do something, whether it’s signing petitions, lobbying your government, whatever,” she says. “You’ve got to start somewhere.” Indeed, in 2006 Axelle personally lobbied the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to commit to alleviating world poverty by increasing the budget for the development of the Third World.

When Axelle wasn’t working as a Goodwill Ambassador, most of last year was consumed with making her album. So what’s in the pipeline for 2007? “I’ll be touring a lot at the beginning of the year and also promoting Jardin Secret, but other than that I don’t have any firm plans,” she says, laughing.

But it’s certainly worth keeping an eye out for her on your flight. It’s hard to imagine the star resting on her laurels for too long

NL»Muziek met hart en ziel

Een gesprek met de Hasseltse soulzangeres Axelle Red (haar echte naam is Fabienne Demal) is een verfrissende ervaring. Ze lijkt wel de tegenpool van de typische hedendaagse popster: opgewekt, vlot én geëngageerd. De 38-jarige zangeres heeft een rechtendiploma op zak, maar groeide uit tot een van de bestverkopende muzikale exportproducten. In oktober 2006 bracht ze Jardin Secret uit, haar vijfde plaat.

“Ik wilde een album maken rond de waarden die we in onze samenleving dreigen te verliezen. Ieder van ons heeft de morele en ethische verplichting om het onrecht in de wereld tegen te gaan”, vertelt ze.

Naast een enorm populaire zangeres is Axelle Red ook een vurige activiste die regelmatig campagne voert om slachtoffers van onrecht te verdedigen. In 1997 benoemde UNICEF haar tot goodwill ambassadrice voor België, en in september vorig jaar werd ze door de Franse Minister van Cultuur Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres gelauwerd tot Chevalier des Arts et Lettres.

Naast werk op het terrein in ontwikkelingslanden ijvert Axelle ook vanuit Europa voor een oplossing voor de onderliggende oorzaken van wereldwijde armoede. Zo lobbyde ze in 2006 persoonlijk bij de Voorzitter van de Europese Commissie om het ontwikkelingsbudget voor de Derde Wereld op te trekken.

Wat heeft 2007 in petto? “In het begin van het jaar ben op tournee en ga ik Jardin Secret promoten, maar voor het overige heb ik nog geen vaste plannen”, besluit ze glimlachend.

Leave a Reply