ダフト・パンクが解散　「エピローグ」と題した動画公開

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスの人気エレクトロミュージックデュオで、ダンス音楽の一時代を築いたダフト・パンクが22日、解散を発表した。発表は、メンバーの1人が砂漠で爆発する動画を通じて行われ、ダフト・パンクらしい謎めいた引退表明となった。（写真はフランスの人気エレクトロミュージックデュオ、ダフト・パンク）
　「エピローグ」と題した動画では、ダフト・パンクが手掛けた２００６年の映画『ダフト・パンク　エレクトロマ』から、砂漠で２人のロボットのうちの一つが相手の起爆スイッチを押して爆破するシーンが映された後、「１９９３─２０２１」との文言が表示された。
　広報担当者のキャスリン・フレイジャー氏はＡＦＰへの電子メールでダフト・パンクの解散を認めたが、その理由については明らかにしなかった。
　トーマ・バンガルテルとギマニュエル・ド・オメンクリストの２人からなるダフト・パンクはこれまで人目を避け、トレードマークのヘルメットを外す姿が目撃されたことはほとんどなかった。
　初期のシングル「ダ・ファンク」、「アラウンド・ザ・ワールド」はすぐにクラブシーンの定番曲となり、１９９７年のデビューアルバム「ホームワーク」は大ヒットとなった。
　２００１年のアルバム「ディスカバリー」はデビューアルバム以上の成功を収め、「ワン・モア・タイム」や「仕事は終わらない」などのヒット曲を生んだ。
　最大のヒット曲は、ファレル・ウィリアムスとナイル・ロジャースが参加した２０１３年のシングル「ゲット・ラッキー」で、世界で数百万枚の売り上げを記録し、グラミー賞２部門を受賞。この曲を収録したアルバム「ランダム・アクセス・メモリーズ」もグラミー賞でさらに２部門を受賞した。
　ダフト・パンクは２００６～０７年の伝説的なツアーを最後にライブ活動をほとんど行っておらず、その後の成功も望まれ続けたツアーの再開につながることはなかった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/24-14:26）

Electronic music stars Daft Punk have split up, their publicist confirmed on Monday, ending one of the era's defining dancefloor acts.
The French duo released a video titled Epilogue excerpted from their 2006 film Electroma, in which one of the robot duo is blown up in the desert, followed by a cutaway reading 1993-2021.
Their publicist, Kathryn Frazier, confirmed the news to AFP by email, without giving any reason for the split.
The reclusive pair -- real names Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo -- shunned publicity and were almost never spotted without their iconic robot helmets.
Early singles Da Funk and Around the World quickly became club fixtures, and led to massive success for their debut album Homework in 1997.
They followed up with the even more successful Discovery in 2001, which spawned the hits One More Time and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.
Their 2013 single Get Lucky, featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers was their biggest hit of all, selling millions of copies around the world and winning them two Grammys, which came with two more for the album Random Access Memories.
Their success did not lead to the much hoped-for return to live touring, which they largely stopped after a legendary series of shows through 2006 and 2007.
Their appearance at the Grammy Awards show in 2014 was their last public appearance for three years, before they showed up for the same ceremony in 2017 alongside The Weeknd, after collaborating with him on his most recent album.
There was a very rare insight into the duo's career in 2015, when they gave approval for a BBC documentary, which recounted their false start as Parisian youngsters in a 1992 rock band Darlin'.
One review in the British music press dismissed the band as daft punky thrash -- giving them their new moniker.
- 'Human After All' -
The helmets first appeared in the video for Around the World and never left, allowing them to control the fame that quickly encircled them.
We have daily lives that are a lot more normal... than the lives of artists who have the same level of fame as us but who might be attached to being physically recognised, Bangalter said in the BBC documentary.
The pair also insisted on keeping creative control from an early stage, and took plenty of left-field business decisions along the way, including producing the 2003 film Interstella 5555 by Japanese anime master Leiji Matsumoto, which featured music from Discovery.
If their next album, a more sombre Human After All in 2005, was relatively poorly received, they quickly bounced back with a series of pioneering festival shows around the world over the next two years.
Still, few could have predicted the phenomenal success that awaited with 2013's Random Access Memories, for which they gave up their usual makeshift home rig for a full commercial studio -- and used entirely live instruments.
The results dominated album-of-the-year lists and helped lift their total worldwide sales to 12 million.