A BIOPIC ONE MAN SHOW

HIS SONG IN FRENCH AND STORY, ANTICS, ANECDOTES, QUOTES, PASSIONS,HATREDS, LOVE, FEAR TOLD IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH

My Story

Alfredo Sings Brel·Monday, August 26, 2019·

When Alfredo Merat was a budding musician in the late 1970s in France, Jacques Brel was a source of inspiration for him, but only briefly. Just recently, he rediscovered Mr. Brel’s music, and now he wants to share it by taking on the Belgian singer-songwriter’s persona in a concert at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater.

The Springs resident’s goal at his “Brel by Alfredo” show on Saturday, October 15, is to channel Mr. Brel and bring him back to life as best he can.

“It’s not an easy process. The guy was an enormous, gigantic, performer. I must humble myself,” Mr. Merat said with a laugh. “No way I’m going to be him.”

However, they do have similarities: Mr. Brel was born in Belgium and moved to France, and Mr. Merat was born in Spain and raised in France. They both began playing guitar when they were 15 years old, and both composed original music that mixes languages.

Through Belgian, Mr. Brel is often associated with Paris, and Mr. Merat sees that as a testament to his accomplishments. “He became a French treasure. The French adore him,” he said, comparing Mr. Brel’s iconic status with that of the Eiffel Tower.

His most popular song is “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” though American audiences may be more familiar with the English adaptation, “If You Go Away,” which Dusty Springfield, Frank Sinatra and Neil Diamond among others, all recorded.

Mr. Merat recalled that when he first picked up the guitar, Mr. Brel’s songs were regularly on the radio in France. Then Mr. Brel died in 1978 from lung cancer at the age of 49, and Mr. Merat soon moved to the United States. “So I sort of lost track of him, as far as his work and who he was,” he said.

Then, last November, Mr. Merat was visiting Paris on the day terrorists carried out suicide bombings and mass shootings at targets throughout the city, including the Bataclan theater, where hostages were taken. At that time, he was in front of another theater, the Olympia, just a couple of miles away.

The Olympia was a place that Mr. Brel was very fond of, and where he announced that he was retiring at the height of his career, in 1966, Mr. Merat noted. “So it triggered many things to me,” he said. He decided that he wanted to put on a show about who Mr. Brel was, and what his songs meant.