Maximilien de Hoop Cartierknown as Max Cartieris a man with a sophisticated business mind, a heart dedicated to music and a transcendental voice with the enviable ability to move when singing a song in front of the microphone.
An enemy of stridency, he avoids talkativeness and prefers to converse intimately, as if he were revealing some secret kept for a confession.
It is paradoxical that the shy interviewee who modulates in an almost inaudible tone, a distant relative of Mickey Rourke’s whispers in “The Law of the Street”, later has such an eloquent voice when called to sing. Faced with this challenge, he transforms into a true crooner capable of emulating Frank Sinatra, willing to overthrow prejudices of even the most distrustful listeners.
With a privileged upbringing, descendant of the founding family of the legendary French watch and jewelry brand, Max Cartier is an exalted citizen of the world. He was born in Buenos Aires, studied in Switzerland, worked in London, lived in Monaco and currently resides in Paris.
Gay Talese wrote “Frank Sinatra has a cold” without ever having been able to dialogue with the artist. Luckily, Cartier receives NOTICIAS in an Italian club with a large garden and a well-served table, worthy of The Leopard.
Cartier is not a conformist, he could have dedicated himself to enjoying la dolce vita, watching existence pass by as if they were images from Cinema Paradiso and worshiping The Great Beauty, but he decided to start singing. And there he started another story, without beginning or end.
News: What is the first memory you have related to music?
Max Cartier: The first image is when I was very little, I am the youngest of three brothers who made me listen to a lot of music. We were five years apart and from a very young age all kinds of sounds were present, from Spinetta to Pink Floyd or Supertramp.
News: I see that you were very marked by the rock of the 70s. Who were the artists you admired the most?
Cartier: Yes, totally. I greatly admired everyone I named you and Pat Metheny. El Sol is also a person who is incredible the way he sings, I’m talking about Luis Miguel obviously, later I was lucky enough to meet him…
News: And what was that meeting like?
Cartier: Look, there was a Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place and that day in Monaco, where I lived, everything was closed. So I went to the hotel to ask the concierge for a taxi, there are only three taxi companies in Monte Carlo. The man answers me: “Mr. Cartier, I already asked for it” and there I see that there is a woman standing in front of me, the concierge tells her: “The man is first” and the woman apologizes and stands behind her. But the taxi didn’t come anymore and I kept waiting, then another person appeared and stood in front of me. I thought “here’s another colado that’s pretending” and I touched him on the back to get him to line up…there he turned around and it was Luis Miguel. We stayed talking, the situation was very funny because of how unusual it was. His songs always accompanied me a lot, but the incredible thing is that at that moment it was not even remotely in my plans to dedicate myself to music.
News: And how does Frank Sinatra’s music come into your life?
Cartier: That was born with my parents, they always listened to it. My mother was very into French music, she liked singers like Edith Piaf, but Sinatra was a classic in my birth house, especially thanks to my father. Whenever he took me somewhere, I put it in the car, it’s something that marked me.
News: Do you remember what was the first record you bought?
Cartier: I think it was one of The Cars, very eighties, all their songs were very good.
News: And now you listen to music through platforms like Spotify or are you still faithful to some physical medium?
Cartier: I listen to almost everything on platforms, the physical format has declined quite a bit. Maybe at home I have a tray to listen to vinyl and the first album I made in the studio I also released on vinyl, but it is not common for me to listen to vinyl or CDs like before. Music was always very present in my family, I was born in a house with a piano, my uncles were pianists and my parents always encouraged my siblings’ and my taste for music.
News: And how do you get along with tango?
Cartier: I get along well, especially with the slightly more modern tango. I love Piazzolla, when you live abroad if you hear a tango you have to hold back your tears.
News: Would you dare to venture into that genre?
Cartier: If it is in collaboration with a tango artist yes, if not I don’t think so. The style of music I make, which is with big orchestras and real musicians, takes a lot of sacrifice, time and money. You have to make a great effort to release each song and make it incredible. So I’m focusing a lot just on that and especially now on producing original titles.
News: On your new album are all the songs yours?
Cartier: Yes, on this album I’m releasing it’s all original songs. We spent two years working on the songs, shortly we will finish recording them under the direction of Damián Mahler, who is an incredible talent. Damián made arrangements of the songs that are spectacular, fifty musicians participated, most of them from the Teatro Colón. I think that what we have achieved at the melody level is going to be very interesting for the public, today almost no one is making this type of music, much less with live musicians. Many people do not imagine it nor do they have to know it but that has a significant cost. I already know that at the moment I am my own producer.
News: When can we hear it?
Cartier: The idea is to launch it in the European summer, at the latest in March or April it will be on the platforms. I understand that by early February we will have it completely finished. Now I took advantage of my trip to Argentina to make a video clip in Buenos Aires, there will be another one and then there is the issue of commercial strategy.
News:When did the click happen in your life to stop dedicating yourself predominantly to the business world and get into music?
Cartier: The music thing is very recent. When I was stuck in Paris for sixty days due to the pandemic, I was alone and felt the need to rethink everything. I started to think about what my priorities were if I got out of that situation alive, because at first there was a lot of fear. A couple of years before I had had a relationship with a Brazilian woman who was the one who insisted that I do something with her voice and when I met I only remembered her words. So as soon as the isolation opened a little, I went to see the tenor from the Paris Opera who was the first to be surprised by the color of the voice, then I continued with other coaches until they finally ended up inviting me to record at Capitol Studios with Sinatra’s microphone and produced by Chris Walton who has seven Grammys. Hence David Foster, who is the author of songs like “I have nothing”, for example, invited me to eat several times and sing at the house in front of him. They discovered that he sang well and so did I, until then I didn’t know it! (series)
News: But before devoting yourself professionally to music, did you sing at family birthdays, at parties with friends?
Cartier: Nothing at all, he didn’t sing anywhere. An ex-girlfriend told me that she hummed in the car, but I don’t really remember, sometimes in the shower I sing (laughs). Life led me to sing, I once doubted whether to leave it or not, but luckily I had people by my side who prevented it. They insisted that he had a gift and could not abandon it because it was an obligation to share it with the rest of the world, they did not allow me to give up. They have helped me a lot to move forward, things are constantly emerging that are worth living. Performing a concert here with musicians from Colón directed by Damián Mahler, recording this album with original titles and a care that gives it a rare sound beauty are irresistible challenges.
News: He currently lives in Paris. When we won the World Cup were you there?
Cartier: Yes, I was there (smiles), and I had no better idea than to propose what I’m going to tell you. There I have an orchestra of twenty musicians and I record every day in the same studio, we have a friendship, we have been working together for three years. The thing is that that day I suggested that we all watch the final in the studio because it has a big screen. I showed up with a warm jacket, but when I took it off I was wearing the Argentine shirt, so far everything was fine… but after the game I had to leave whistling softly (laughs). It was a nice situation, there was no evil, but imagine the sadness of all the French. I didn’t pretend or anything, I said quietly: “Thank you, bye, see you…”
by Leonardo Martinelli
