The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.
In this episode of The Sunday Music Drop, Oakland vocalist Christelle Durandy discusses her song “Il Faut Me Jurer De M’aimer,” performed with her band Christelle Durandy Sanktet.
“This song is a poem that was written by Boris Vian. He is a writer, poet and songwriter from France,” said Durandy. “He was born in the 1920s, died in 1959, and my mother introduced me to his poetry.”
The band name is a play on words with the number 5, which is “cinq” in French, because there are five members in the ensemble.
Durandy says she started playing with her father’s band at age 6, and the band would tour all around France and beyond. Her father is from Guadeloupe and played traditional music from the archipelago that incorporated drumming, dancing and vocals.
“What I would love for the audience to get, is to just be transported by the words, even if they don’t understand it,” said Durandy.
The band’s members also include Isaac Schwartz, Steve Hogan, Mena Ramos and Nathan Bickart.
Christelle Durandy Sanktet will be performing at the Lakehouse in San Francisco on Dec. 9, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. and will be in residency at Keys Jazz Bistro in San Francisco at the end of January.