Boheme is the second album of the French duo Deep Forest, released in 35 countries. It mainly sampled Eastern European gypsy songs (i.e. the Bohemians, hence the name of the album) with electronic music. Hit singles included "Marta's Song" (featuring Márta Sebestyén) and "Freedom Cry". The album became the duo's most successful one, selling over 4 million copies, receiving Diamond, Platinum and Gold awards in 15 countries and winning the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album. The song "Freedom Cry" caused controversy when it was revealed that the singer, Károly Rostás ("Huttyán"), never received any monetary compensation from the song, and neither did his family after he died in 1986. His singing, archived by Claude Flagel, was sampled by Deep Forest. Flagel allegedly paid Huttyán 1500 forints for the recording. The case was later documented in a movie entitled Huttyán, released in 1996. The Gypsy relatives did succeed to some extent to get money from Deep Forest.

Track listing

Reception

"Much like Deep Forest's debut album, Boheme is a combination of club music and worldbeat. While the album is certainly danceable, it works better as trance-inducing mood music, although it isn't quite as consistent as the debut."

• Stephen Thomas Erlewine "A beautiful, radical fusion can be found on Deep Forest's latest release, Boheme (550/Sony). Their previous record also concentrated on the indigenous pygmies of central Africa. This one takes a great deal of inspiration from Eastern Europe as well. It heavily samples Marta Sebestyen (late of Muzsikas) and they actually have her sing one track to order. These guys have taken the art of the remix to a new plateau. As the acid jazz group United Future Organization does in its milieu, Deep Forest takes elements from non-Western music. Through studio alchemy, they create something original enough that they can get away with calling it their own."
• Hank Bordowitz

Charts

Weekly charts

Certifications and sales