Career
During these years Élie, baptised Pierre, drew the inspiration for songs like "À bicyclette", "Des ronds dans l"eau", "Les Filles du dimanche". After the war he was a sports journalist and played for the national volley-ball team He spent some months in Portugal and discovered Brazilian song.
He visited Brazil and on his return to Paris got to know the principal Brazilian writers and composers of bossa nova.
As an actor, he played the role of the gipsy leader in the film Doctorate"ou viens-tu Johnny? and appeared in Lelouch"s Une fille et des fusils. As writer/performer he had success with Louisiana Plage – immortalised by Marie Laforêt and the guitarist Claude Ciari -, Tes dix-huit ans and Monsieur de Furstenberg.
With his earnings he bought the mill by the river in the Vendée where he had spent part of his childhood. There he established a recording studio and welcomed other artists, using it to advance the talent of others and creating his own label Saravah.
With the label he wished to mix musicians and styles, to multiply musical encounters.
He worked, notably, with Pierre Akendengué, Areski Belkacem, Brigitte Fontaine, Nana Vasconcelos, Gérard Ansaloni, Jacques Higelin, Alfred Panou, Maurane, David McNeil, Elis Regina.