Eric Mouquet: "I'm ready to become Ambassador of Folklore Festival in Ufa and talk about it at all Deep Forest concerts"

UFA, 21 June 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Alim Faizov/. The visit to Bashkortostan of the "Deep Forest" popular group musician Eric Mouquet, the creator of the unique style of world music came to an end.

The legendary musician told reporters that he was completely satisfied with the trip and finally decided for himself to take the most active part in the preparations for the World Folklore Festival, which would be held in Ufa in 2020. "I think that together we can contribute to the preservation and popularization of the national cultures of the peoples of Russia. Actually, this is what the Deep Forest group has been doing for a quarter of a century, including in cooperation with UNESCO. I think it is important that the music of the peoples of your country be heard in the world, because it is known very little about real life in Russia outside it", said Eric Mouquet.

In Europe, he said, they used to call all of its residents "Russians", and for the majority of Europeans Russia is only Moscow, St. Petersburg and "a great emptiness that ends with Vladivostok".

As a result of the trip, the musician intends to write a composition based on Bashkir instruments and tunes, which he plans include in the new album under the working title "Deep Russia". It is possible that it may become a hymn for the World Folklore Festival in Ufa, and the Deep Forest group will be the headliner of the event. For Bashkir artists, it will be a breakthrough to the world music scene and will certainly cause a surge of interest in the culture of Bashkortostan. "I'm still under the impression from the joint performance with the Bashkir kurai players in the open air at the Ethnic Night stage, when the entire square in Ufa greeted us enthusiastically. I am sure that this is the beginning of a great musical idea", the musician concluded.

Together with the authors of the "Descended from the pictures" project - Ufa artist Raushania Badretdinova, Moscow journalist and designer Lyaysan Yumaguzina and artists from more than one dozen countries of the world, Eric Mouquet also intends to implement a project on creating ethnic clothes from different countries collection, for the purpose of presenting the folklore in different parts of the world and creating a bright final show for the Festival-2020. "I am ready to become an ambassador of the future Folklore Festival and if Bashkortostan will give me a video about Ufa and about the festival, which is going to take place in 2020, I am ready to show it and tell about Ufa at all concerts of Deep Forest around the world," said the musician.

The Eric Mouquet’s trip to Bashkortostan was organized on the initiative of the Plenipotentiary Representative Office of Bashkortostan under the President of the Russian Federation, with the support of the Administration of the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Ministry of Culture RB. He became an honoured guest at the International Festival of Arts "The Heart of Eurasia" and the folklore "Resort Sabantuy" near Lake Yaktykul. In Ufa, Eric Mouquet took part in the Ethnic Night concert on June 16, performing, together with the best kurai players of the republic Robert Yuldashev and Rinat Ramazanov two of his most famous songs - "Sweet Lullaby" and "Sing With The Birds". Journalists of the republic named this memorable performance as "Deep Bashkortostan".