47 - FRANCIS CABREL

FRANCIS CABREL Maurice Tejedor’s Professional Archives, 1982–1985 From the Olympia to East Berlin, from the Pacific to Quebec: contracts, photographs, and tour memorabilia A significant collection from the professional archives of Maurice Tejedor, producer and tour manager for Francis Cabrel in France and abroad during the first half of the 1980s. Beginning in 1979, Francis Cabrel entrusted Maurice Tejedor with organizing his shows and tours, a collaboration that took them not only to stages across France but also to Switzerland, Quebec, the Pacific, and both sides of the still-divided Berlin. Preserved by Tejedor as part of this very activity, these archives document several particularly significant years of this collaboration. Among the most significant documents is a letter from the Théâtre de l’Olympia dated January 31, 1984, addressed to Maurice Tejedor and announcing the payment of an initial deposit of 300,000 francs for a Francis Cabrel performance. A few weeks later, Cabrel recorded the concerts on that very stage, from which his first live album, *Cabrel Public*, was drawn. Several sets of documents also detail the tours of the Pacific in 1982, Switzerland in 1983, and Quebec in the spring of 1984; the latter set of documents notably lists the members of the team of musicians and technicians accompanying the singer. Finally, a significant portion of the collection pertains to the German tour of December 1985: contracts, correspondence, and administrative documents related to the concerts in Stuttgart, Bonn, West Berlin, and East Berlin. A letter from the Institut français in Stuttgart mentions Cabrel’s success in both Berlins and announces the upcoming radio broadcast of his Stuttgart concert. There are also documents related to his participation in the event organized by SOS Racisme at Place de la Concorde in June 1985. This collection of contracts and administrative documents is complemented by a substantial collection of visual and promotional materials: portraits and photographs of Francis Cabrel, photographic documents and negatives, programs and tour files, “Maurice Tejedor Presents Francis Cabrel” materials, posters and promotional materials, tickets and travel mementos, as well as CBS promotional cards, two of which bear the artist’s signatures. Gathered directly by the man responsible for organizing these tours, these documents offer a particularly vivid behind-the-scenes account of Francis Cabrel’s stage career at a time when he was firmly establishing himself as one of the leading figures in French music.