Deep Forest

Deep Forest is the first and eponymous album by the musical group Deep Forest: French duo Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez. The album mixes New Age electronics with UNESCO field recordings of music from Zaire, the Solomon Islands, Burundi, Tibesti and the Sahel. A percentage of the profits from sales of Deep Forest goes to the Pygmy Fund, a California-based organization committed to helping the natives of central Africa cope with environmental threats to their homeland. But for Sanchez and Mouquet, the most important purpose of the record is to express their own fascination with the Pygmies - and open the world's ears to the exquisite sound of a quickly vanishing culture. As Mouquet notes, "It's not very often you can hear a Pygmy singing on the radio." It was nominated for Grammy Award as Best World Music Album in 1994. The songs "Sweet Lullaby", "Deep Forest", "Forest Hymn" and "Savana Dance" were released as singles, the first two of which became hits worldwide.