Brad Spurgeon's Blog

PARIS – I have not posted on this blog for a few days for the simple, excellent reason that I have been working on a music video since the last post. The song is called “Mississippi,” and it is a fabulous melody written and performed by my friend Raphaëlle Bouskela, who goes under the stage name of Raphaël’la. I had been filming Raphaël’la in open mics and at her gigs for a few months, and last week she asked if I could put together a video for her song, using those films. When I heard the song, I said, “WOWWWW! YES!!!” So I decided to go all out on the video, also adding historic footage and photos to illustrate the theme, in addition to using the videos I shot of her.

Raphaëlle, for her part, recorded the song in her living room, performing all vocal harmonies and playing all instruments, and doing the arrangements, everything…. She had written the song a while back, but had never performed it in public, since it required those harmonies and multiple guitars (one of which is my own Gibson J-200). The lyrics were written by David Azencot, who was inspired by a line and melody that kept going through Raphaëlle’s mind: “I was born in Mississippi…”

I was pleased to take a short break from editing my own open mic documentary that I’ve been working on for a couple of years in order to have a nice little finished project, and go back to my feature film with an even fresher eye . Anyway, this is way too much blah blah blah. Just watch and listen to the video!!!!