French Music Seen From Abroad Nov. 2006

Great Reputations

Paris 

15/11/2006 - 

The anarchist who hated all forms of official ceremony would have been delighted – on the 25th anniversary of his death, Georges Brassens is being commemorated just about everywhere! Meanwhile, rising young French stars Emilie Simon and Nouvelle Vague are making waves abroad.

After a lifetime stirring up controversy and hitting out at the church, the army, the police and the French judicial system, legendary chanson star Georges Brassens finds himself rehabilitated 25 years after his death. The anarchist-poet who wrote Les Copains d'abord and the infamous Mauvaise Réputation (Bad Reputation) is now, according to the Spanish newspaper El Periodico, (29/10), enjoying a "great reputation" and commemorations to mark the anniversary of his death have been organised right across France.

Brassens has also become something of a cult icon abroad and a number of admirers are currently reviving his songs on stage. One of the weightiest tributes comes from veteran Spanish star Paco Ibáñez, who claims "poetry is the air that we breathe" (Diario de Noticias Navarra, 26/10). The 72-year-old singer, who performed his Brassens tribute concert at the Auditori, in Barcelona, at the end of October "got to know Brassens in Paris in 1955 and two years later recorded the album Paco Ibáñez canta a Brassens'" (Panorama-Actual, 27/10). The following evening at the Auditori, "a second tribute recital was performed by the Eva Dénia Trio," (El Periodico, 27/10). "Dénia, a young (Spanish) singer released her second album last year. Entitled Chante Brassens, it features 13 Brassens' works in their original language."

Meanwhile, a number of other artists on the Hispanic music scene have been confessing to a passion for Brassens. The news portal Terra España (28/10) recently revealed that "the Colombian singer Yuri Buenaventura, particularly well-known in France thanks to his salsa version of Ne me quitte pas", considers Brassens as "a real troubadour and communicator. He's an authentic 'salsero'," declared Buenaventura who recently recorded a Latin version of Brassens' Dans l’eau de la claire fontaine. Throughout November, an impressive number of tributes are also scheduled in Germany, Russia, the U.K. and even Chile.

Meanwhile, closer to home, Joey Starr, the notorious bad boy of French rap, has also sought inspiration in the work of Brassens, the famous wordsmith from Sète. However, the rapper's take on Brassens has not gone down well with the singer's heirs who recently went to court to get Starr's new album removed from record stores, claiming that the song Gare au Jaguarr makes illegal use of the Brassens classic Gorille. The courts have decided that Joey Starr's album must now be reissued without the incriminating track. Commenting on the decision in Belgium's La Dernière Heure (27/10) the former Suprême NTM frontman griped, "This is more about business than anything else… even though I believe that the fact that I don't have a nice clean-cut image has got a lot to do with it. We played by the rules and requested authorisation (from Brassens' estate) but received a scornful reply. The whole thing dragged on and on after that – and finally all we got was a 'no' a week before the release of the album."

Thus, Starr's own bad reputation has ruled out his use of lyrics by the songwriter who once penned La Mauvaise Réputation. Meanwhile, elsewhere on Planet Music one of the most avant-garde talents on the current French music scene has been busy building her own reputation. "Acclaimed by the critics," Emilie Simon "will make her American debut on 13 November live on stage at Joe’s Pub in New York. This will be followed by a series of concerts on the West Coast," announced the American music magazine Filter on its website (30/10). "The songs Emilie will perform in concert will mostly be tracks taken from The Flower Book, her first American release, due out on 14 November on Milan Records."

While Ms. Simon sets out to conquer America, the group Nouvelle Vague have their sights set on Europe. According to Spain's  Zona Musical (25/10), "producers and multi-instrumentalists Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux – more commonly known as Nouvelle Vague – are currently in Spain presenting their debut album Bande à part… Nouvelle Vague have taken the music world by surprise with their bossa nova and easy listening reworkings of punk and post-punk hits. The latter feature sensual female vocals and delicate instrumentation spiced up with Spanish guitars, acoustic piano, accordions and jazzy drums." Spanish fans will be treated to two more Nouvelle Vague shows in December when the group appear in Madrid (4 December) and Barcelona (5 December).

We end our international press round-up this month with a sad piece of news. The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant made a laconic announcement on 4 November, stating that "The French conductor, composer and arranger Paul Mauriat has died at the age of 81 in Perpignan, in the south of France." Paul Mauriat, who scored a huge international hit in 1968 with his instrumental Love Is Blue, is the only French artist to date who managed to reach no.1 in the album chart in the U.S. He will be sorely missed.

 

Gilles  Rio

Translation : Julie  Street