JEAN PAUL & ANGELIQUE "HARMATTAN / AFRICA SOUND" (1976)

This short post is dedicated to Jean Paul & Angelique's single "Harmattan / Africa Sound", hope I will be able to write more about them as soon as I take care about their "Jean Paul & Angelique" album in the next months.

Elio Giampaolo Nigi and Angelique San, best known by their stage name of Jean Paul & Angelique have been one of the most delicate couples of Italian music.

Giampaolo originates from Florence, Italy, while Angelique was born in Nancy, France; her father was French and her mother was Italian, so she has spent part of her youth in Tuscany. Sometimes in the late '60s / early 70s they moved from Florence to Milan.

A rare picture of Jean Paul and Angelique, circa 1978

Nigi has studied at the Music Conservatory of Florence and is a master of woodwind instruments, with a preference for flutes. Angelique usually plays guitar and sings.

They debuted in 1972 with the album "Cos'è l'amore" (What Is Love), credited to Elio & Angelique, which was released by a small Italian label named CiPiTi.

In 1974 they released another album entitled "Tutti abbiamo un ramo di pazzia" (We All Have a Branch of Madness) in collaboration with Italian actor Giulio Brogi, once again on CiPiTi.

By 1975 they changed the name of their project and released a stunning, mostly instrumental, album simply entitled "Jean Paul & Angelique" on Charter Line / WEA Italiana.

Later on they released a few more singles, also as solo artists, before disappearing from the music scene in the early '80s.

Here's the track list for this 7" single:

01. Harmattan (3:45)
02. Africa Sound (4:34)

Both tracks were remastered in May 2014 and are available in FLAC lossless format or high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files; both formats include scans of the complete original artwork.

Please have a look at the comments for the download links.





"Harmattan / Africa Sound" was released in Italy by Elektra sometimes in early 1976; despite the fact that the year 1975 is indicated on the labels, the vinyl matrix is dated February 1976. Both the tracks included on the single are taken from their "Jean Paul & Angelique" album.

"Harmattan" is a slow and melodic piece co-written by Nigi along with Stelio Silvestri and Sergio Paolini; it features the flute as main instrument along with strings arrangement and soft vocals - with almost no lyrics - by Angelique.

"Africa Sound" is a killer Rare Groove track which reminds of the Italian Library Music of the '70s; a strong Jazz-Funk and Psychedelic groove with percussions, wah-wah guitars and frantic flute solos and vocals... A masterpiece!

The following videos offer a preview of the remastered single, enjoy "Harmattan" and "Africa Sound"!

More information about Jean Paul & Angelique is available here:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1171817-Jean-Paul-Angelique

https://www.youtube.com/user/jeanpaulangelique/videos

http://janangel113.beepworld.it/jeanpaulangeliqu.htm

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipiti

If you have any other useful information about this post, or if you spot any dead links, just get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!