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Pascal Héni aka Pascal of Bollywood, is a French singer who gained fame in India as the first Western singer to have reinterpreted the songs of Indian films.

Biography
Pascal is "a pure child of Paris". He was born on April 25th 1963. Surrounded by music from the earliest age, he remembers his mother singing a wide repertoire of pop songs she knew by heart from dawn to dusk. Then, in a teasing flash, he tells us that his rich baritone came from his father, "The Voice". Still backed by his family, he studied at the Conservatoire of dramatic art in Créteil. Between the ages of 15 and 20 Pascal was devoted to theater and cinema, though keeping polishing his musical universe. In his "poet stage", the "sounds man searching for the musicality of words" embarked on a sequence of four albums and a series of shows setting to music Rimbaud, Tristan Corbière (with the composer Stéphane Leach), Céline, Nietzsche, Artaud etc. Pascal stayed on his path, and with his passion for travel, he set off for Malaysia in 1987. He reached a turning point there in Kuala Lumpur's Little India and began his collection of Bollywood cassettes. Between Christmas 2001 and summer 2004, Pascal travelled to India 9 times. After some frantic phonetic studies, he became a mine of information on the differences between "marvellous" Hindi, "ultra¬percussive" Tamil and "Francophile" Bengali. He swept ail before him in the subcontinent! Smoky dives, the French Embassy, high society, shanty towns, theatre halls: he gave concert after concert to unanimous, enthusiastic acclaim. "My dream was coming true: at last, I could just be a voice; at last, I could be kitsch!”. Having made an impact at the start of this year on Béatrice Ardisson's compilation "Indomania", he followed his waking dream "A Star is Born"-style, recording his album in the sacrosanct Spectral Harmony Studio of Bombay. His conductor ? Pyarelal from Laxmikant-Pyarelal duet, "the 500¬soundtrack maestro", a living legend of 65, who exceptionally agreed to record Cher people's songs for the occasion. However, at the very first studio session, he had Pascal "nailed to a torture stake", making him repeat "dhundo" 200 times. Pascal's vocal partners? Four superstars, from the legendary Jaspinder Narula to the young Shreya Ghoshal, revealed by the film "Devdas". The album Pascal of Bollywood (Naïve Records) was released in France in October 2004 and was followed by numerous concerts around the world. In 2009, Pascal is coming back to his bachelor’s name : Pascal Héni. He’s singing again in French language his own compositions, with of course a taste of indian vibrations. The Indians had monopolized him during some time. Today, he is coming back to the home of the prodigal son. It’s the return to basics, but without leaving what so many trips and encounters brought to him. This is what the strolling entertainer wants to preserve, in his so personal alternation of “masala” wild rhythms, ballads and reveries. Musical delicious spices were offered, in sign of friendship, by three young Indian arrangers – each coming, we would have guessed it, from different parts of India –and by the legendary Mr Pyarelal who had already directed the previous album. Then, the great French producer Dominique Blanc-Francard (Carla Bruni last album among others) finalized this orchestration with an addition of western instruments.

Now, Pascal is working on the Dante’s Divine Comedy. He has composed the music for three full chants, from Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.

Discography

 * 1990 : N'êtes pas très bavard ce soir
 * 1993 : La vie c'est mouvant
 * 1997 : Casino des Trépassés
 * 1998 : Paradiso, canto XXXIII
 * 2000 : Hôtel de Bondeville
 * 2002 : Concerts Evolutifs
 * 2003 : Zindagi ek safar hai suhana
 * 2004 : Pascal of Bollywood
 * 2005 : Les Amours Jaunes
 * 2007 : Folies Musicales
 * 2009 : Retour au nom de jeune homme
 * 2010 : Pascal of Massilia
 * 2011 : Purgatorio, canto XVII
 * 2011 : An Evening in Paris Remix

Compilations

 * 2004 : Indomania par Béatrice Ardisson (France)
 * 2005 : "The best of" par Claude Challe (France)
 * 2005 : ''High Society, Amor" (Italie)
 * 2006 : City hippy par Pathaan (Angleterre)
 * 2007 : Francophonic GM record (Pologne)
 * 2007 : Musique fantastique par DJ Guuzbourg (Hollande)
 * 2008 : ''Various Kampengrooves 2" (Angleterre)
 * 2008 : "Cafe Latino Vol.6" a Special Night Lounge
 * 2009 : Love from Jaipur par Béatrice Ardisson (France)
 * 2011 : "Original Chill Lounge Session"