The Black Rabbit Music Festival kicks off in Beijing this Saturday. In the lead up to mammoth festival, City Weekend caught up with French-born, Tucson-based chanteuse Marianne Dissard. We found out a little bit more about her musical life.

You moved to America in your teens, do you still consider yourself French? I moved to the US when I was 16. However, I still consider myself French in that I’ve grown to appreciate my ‘regional’ French roots more and more, yet I never considered myself Parisian French, which is what most people outside of France think of when they think about France. I also know I’m definitely very Americanized.

Why do you choose to stay in Arizona rather than the music-heavy California scene? I first lived in Arizona, in Phoenix for four years. Then I got interested in filmmaking and moved to Los Angeles. Funny enough, the night before I left Arizona and my parents’ house for the first time, I met Howe Gelb and John Convertino, who were touring and happened to be playing in Phoenix. Howe invited me to be his roommate in Los Angeles. I discovered his music, loved it and Giant Sand became the soundtrack to my Los Angeles - and filmmaking - life, until I finally decided to go to Tucson, Arizona a few years later, when Howe and John had settled there, to make a documentary about their band.

I stayed in Tucson because the music scene there is extremely convivial and friendly and supportive of its members. I like smaller towns. Downtown Tucson is a village full of like-minded artists and great musicians.

Describe your sound. French Chanson steeped in Americana and in love with Tucson’s border sounds.

Who inspires your music? Are there other artists who have helped you identify the sound you love? Every year, I find an album that accompanies me. This year, it was PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake”. Last year, it was “A Sufi And A Killer” by Gaslamp Killer and Gonjasufi. I’m very inspired by the work of John Paris as a producer. I learn from his every production. On the performing side, I’ve always been inspired by the great stage presences, the James Brown, Jacques Brel, Catherine Ringer but also the works of choreographers Pina Bausch and Ami Garmon as well as the writings of Pierre Guyotat or Pasolini. I always try to get inspiration from artists working in different media.

What do you use as your muse? I’m glad you’re asking ‘what’ I use as my muse and not ‘who’. I don’t have anyone in particular I use anymore to get inspiration. It used to be I could get working on a film or a whole album because I was in love or out of love or frustrated in love. It’s much simpler these days. Life in itself, its struggles, our common lot, humanity is a strong inspiration. I suppose it comes with age.

Your sound seems like the quintessential Paris sound at times, and at other times like an Americana blast with French vocals. How did you come up with the idea of blending these two seemingly opposing genres of music? It’s just where I live. I don’t live in France nor do I want to. It doesn’t sound very French to me, it just all sounds like me, I can’t really do anything else but make music from where I stand, from Tucson in Arizona. It’s far from France and no one in Tucson plays or even listens to French music. That it works in some level is a miracle.

You are a songwriter for others as well as yourself. Is it hard to write a piece for someone else and then give it away? No, it’s not hard to write for someone else. It’s very fun and I enjoy it enormously. It’s not as if I’m giving away a piece of myself, it’s just a craft and a lovely way to collaborate with someone. I feel honored anytime someone sings my words. I write differently for myself and I think it would be difficult for anyone to sing my songs. The performance is what makes my lyrics come alive finally.

What accomplishment are you most proud of in your very diverse career? Ah, probably that it is diverse! I’m very proud of having started to sing so late in life and never having looked back after I’d decided that’s what I wanted to do. I’m very proud of my latest album and immensely proud of the one just before, ‘Paris One Takes’, which we recorded in one afternoon with my touring band.

Is this your first time in China? What do you expect from this show and what are you most excited to see while you are in Shanghai? Yes, it is my first time in China. I will arrive by train from Europe. I look forward to spending these many days in the Tran Siberian, dreaming and looking out the window. I think it’s a unique experience. I plan on spending almost three weeks in Beijing and Shanghai and I’m most excited about the little things of life such as eating street foods and drinking teas, walking and getting very lost in neighborhoods and looking at people, architecture and animals while hearing the street sounds. And I’m very happy to play in front of a new audience. That always teaches me a lot.

DETAILS

What: 2011 Black Rabbit Beijing Music Festival

When: Saturday, Sept. 17 | 8:00pm

How much: Tickets pre-sale RMB260. On the door RMB350

Tickets: Buy online

Where: Chaoyang Sports Park, 77 Yaojiayuan Road

The Sounds of Black Rabbit

Producers' Audio Commentary to L'Abandon by Marianne Dissard by mariannedissard

Audio commentary of Marianne Dissard's "L'Abandon" via Soundcloud