Two icons of Marseille meet on the screen: the rapper SCH signs the title song of the soundtrack of the animated film Marcel and Mr. Pagnolin theaters this Wednesday, October 15.
Directed by Sylvain Chomet, to whom we owe The Belleville Triplets EITHER The illusionistThis feature film, presented this summer at the Cannes Festival, covers the life of the Marseille author and director, fifty years after his death. Laurent Lafitte lends him his voice.
An artistic and geographical connection
Although the association between SCH and Pagnol may seem surprising, it is actually completely consistent. In 2024, the rapper revealed on France Inter that he had let himself be lulled by the writer’s works. “‘Manon dessources’, ‘Jean de Florette’, ‘La Gloire de mon père’, I grew up with that,” he said.
“When I was young, these were stories that educated me. He was someone who had his own vision of playwriting and who inspired me a lot,” he added on the set of the program. c to you last May.
Especially since SCH’s discography is full of cinematic references. Conceived as a trilogy, its series of albums JVLIVS, which tells of the rise of a man in Banditry, between Marseille and Italy, is thus inspired by the imagery and narration of cult gangster films.
“As a film director, I try to make a kind of auditory film. This has been the motto since we created this character in 2018,” SCH explained to Inter France in 2024.
But the connection between the two men is not limited to the love of words or cinema. It is also geographical. Both were born in Aubagne, at the foot of Garlaban, a mythical place that marked Pagnol’s imagination and still permeates that of SCH. Both left their hometown to tell the world, in their own way, about Provence and Marseille: one through his films and novels, the other through his music.
“It is an honor for me, a Marseille native who spent most of my childhood and youth in Aubagne, to be able to be part of the story of Monsieur Pagnol,” declared the SCH in a press release.
SCH soon in the cinema?
Call the Marseille rapper for the soundtrack of Marcel and Mr. Pagnol Therefore, it was “obvious” for Ashargin Poiré, Aton Soumache and Lilian Eche, producers of the feature film.
“It was a very nice artistic meeting,” says Aton Soumache in a press release. “We gave him carte blanche. We didn’t know anything about what he was going to do. We didn’t expect it and it works very well,” adds Lilian Eche.
From this collaboration the piece was born Mistral Train. In this title, SCH pays tribute to the city of Aubagne and recounts his exile in Paris and nostalgia for his native south. An intimate and artistic way to celebrate his region and his culture, putting his era in dialogue with that of Marcel Pagnol.
This participation of SCH in the soundtrack of Marcel and Mr. Pagnol It also illustrates the rapper’s desire to explore new artistic territories, beyond music.
For several years now, the artist has shown a growing interest in film and visual storytelling. In 2023, he also hoped to work on a film project with his Marseille accomplice, the rapper Soso Maness. This immersion in the world of Pagnol could well be the trigger that will encourage SCH to get started too, behind or in front of the camera.
Source: BFM TV
