artwork Florent Tissier
Paris Eiffel Tower peace sign handpainted on every CD.
All profit of this release is donated to The Sweet Stuff Foundation.

Condolence: Paris is the result of an idea by Lory Fayer and Alexander Leonard Donat who invited bands and artists to contribute Paris-themed songs as a reaction to the terrorist attacks on 13th November.


“This will be our reply to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before.”
-Leonard Bernstein, 1963

In the night of 13 November 2015 a series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis. The attackers killed 130 people in several places, the most tragic one happening in the Bataclan, a music venue and theatre, when in the midst of a concert three gunmen with suicide vests entered the venue and randomly killed 89 people. That very day shattered the Western hemisphere if not the whole world. Paris, the city of love, literature, music, architecture, the home of philosophers that influenced the Western world -- Paris, the target of terrorists.
Without doubt, these attacks have had an influence on everyday life not only in France. Often have people discussed what to do after these events. Backing down? Locking yourself at home? A life in fear? No.
Leonard Bernstein's quote may be more than 50 years old but it can be applied to 2015. Music is stronger than hate. Music can help deal with tragedy. Music can overcome any crisis.
Blackjack Illuminist Records, a small Indie label based in the outskirts of Berlin, invited bands and artists from all over the world to take part in a sampler that deals with the events that took place in Paris. The sent songs express grief and sympathy - the listener revisits places like the Bataclan and the Stade de France; but they also encourage to move on.