Ofenbach: “it’s a privilege to have our music listened to around the world”

In 2022, the electro pop duo Ofenbach was already number 1 in the export charts of the National Music Center (CNM). This year, the most listened to and influential DJs in the world, Dorian Lauduique (the blond one) and César de Rummel (the brown one) once again climb to the top of the podium. With their long series of hits ranging from Be Mine to Katchi via Overdrive, they make millions of fans dance around the planet.

“It’s an extraordinary opportunity to appear in this ranking,” exclaims César de Rummel from Paris where the duo returned to rest after two giant concerts in Madrid, Barcelona and a long creative stay in Los Angeles. This award shows all young people who have a keyboard and a computer in their room that you can make a living from your passion. It’s good to put numbers on that. When we started, this list did not exist. We haven't yet thought about how to celebrate this number 1 position because we are in a very creative dynamic. After two months in California where we met incredible American artists and lyricists for our second album which will be released in 2025, we are preparing our remixes for our twenty summer concerts. On stage, we want the experience to be unique with sounds that you can't find on Spotify. These exclusive tracks require a lot of work because the setlist with these tracks all put together must be coherent.

Also read: Nakamura, Ofenbach, Dadju, PNL, Tiakola, Girac, Aznavour... Here are the kings of French music abroad

With already more than 150 million streams abroad for Overdrive with the British singer Norma Jean Martine who with her deep voice wants to “feel the heat, feel the night, feel the love, into overdrive”, this danceable and joyful title appears currently in second place in Europe airplay and in the tops of twenty countries. With this new success alone, these two fundamentally friendly and talkative childhood friends are already assured of being in the top 3 of the CNM charts in 2025. For this title, they took inspiration for the melody from Kim Wilde's 1980s hit Cambodia, rewrote the lyrics, redid the structure and added a verse. “There’s so much more to Kim Wilde that on her current tour, she’s singing it instead of Cambodia, it’s completely crazy!” proudly tells Dorian Lauduique who saw the videos on the internet.

Ofenbach's next single is expected on May 24. “It will set the tone for our next album which has a more organic sound, in a synth-wave wave of the 1980s,” explains César de Rummel. The first half is ready. We will do the other part in Los Angeles next fall-winter.”

Almost 30 years old and in just seven years of career, these two Parisians have built an exceptional destiny for themselves. “We are lucky to be part of this small number of artists who make a living from their passion. And the privilege of having our music listened to around the world,” recognizes Dorian Lauduique. The most notable venue they played? The Villa Medici in Rome. “We were lucky enough to sleep there twice,” says César de Rummel. The artists who live there have an opportunity to create that is truly awesome. In this magical place, you feel anchored in history and art.”

Both come from families of artists who encouraged them and have known each other for eighteen years. The keyboard on which César still works today is the one given to him by his painter mother. His father is an auctioneer. Converted into cutlery, Dorian's father was a singer in the 1980s who also wrote songs for Julie Pietri. Her mother, Ariane Séguillon, is an actress and plays in Demain t’appartient on TF1. His great-grandfather is none other than Guy Lux, a leading animator of the 1970s. “We met at the Massillon high school in the Marais in Paris,” remembers Dorian Lauduique. I was a fan of ACDC and César was a die-hard fan of the Rolling Stones. This passion for rock made us want to create a group and learn to compose. We spent our afternoons in a permanently flooded Parisian cellar that we had converted into a rehearsal studio playing rock classics to try to understand them, to decode them...”

Their stage name, Ofenbach, they invented in their early days when they played in Parisian underground bars. “I leafed through a lyric score by Offenbach that I had on my piano. The name sounded good in all languages. It was already known and we just removed an f,” explains César de Rummel. And added with a laugh: “Luckily we thought of it because the fans of the Canadian rock group Offenbach, the equivalent of Telephone, were mad with rage. They accused us of being Arsène Lupin.”

Lately, their organization has changed to avoid being exhausted from living on planes and juggling time differences. “In 2017, we said yes to all dates out of a thirst to discover and fear of missing out,” explains Dorian Lauduique. Today we are looking to reduce the pace to do better. Creating takes a lot of time.” César de Rummel: “and we are more and more obsessive about the pieces and the music. We work with Anglo-Saxon lyricists because even though we are bilingual, we sometimes lack codes and poetic expressions. » Moving to Los Angeles for good is being considered but the duo will not change their 100% French team.

What do they think of Aya Nakumera who comes in 7th place this year and is the only woman in the top ten of the list? “We have enormous respect for Aya. We hear it everywhere we travel in the world, from New York to Croatia. His hit Djaja is a tidal wave. We don't have the same profile at all. We are DJs who make Anglo-Saxon music, she makes afrobeat, pop in French. We know how complicated the language requirement is to export. There are very few songs 100% in French in the ears of the whole world like his. Aya managed to impose her music by choosing words and very melodic writing by ear. She writes in French but makes it sound international. She deserves great, great respect.”