French Music Seen from Abroad October 2008

Gallic Girl Power

Paris 

21/10/2008 - 

Generally speaking, French music is still struggling to make an impact on the export front. But this has not stopped a new generation of young French 'chanteuses'  - including Camille, Yelle, Emilie Simon and Alizée - from breaking through the language barrier and winning an increasing number of fans abroad.

Back home in France, Alizée has gradually fallen out of favour, spiralling down from teen stardom to head towards pop oblivion. Mylène Farmer's former protégée - whose single Moi lolita scored a hit across Europe in 2000 - is now struggling to shift copies of her latest album, Psychédélices, and struggling even harder to fill venues on her French tour. But down Mexico way Alizée is a local superstar. For the past nine months, Psychédélices has hovered around the top of Mexico's album charts and the album recently won the singer a gold disc (after selling 40,000 copies). Meanwhile, a compilation entitled Tout Alizée has climbed up the Mexican charts to number 22. And it looks as though France's former pop Lolita could find even greater fame in Mexico in the future. As a journalist from El Economista (15/10) points out, "The next edition of the 'Premios MTV Latin American Awards' are soon to be held in Guadalajara. Those in the running for awards this year include the Argentine singer Gustavo Ceratti, the Mexican group Motel, French singer Alizée and Amy Winehouse and Coldplay from the U.K.."

As Alizée builds a new army of Mexican fans, another young French singer, Camille, is making it big in Japan. The Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri (3/10) reported that the Parisian pop diva recently put in an acclaimed performance at Tokyo's Club Quattro. On this occasion, the Daily Yomiuri critic noted that "'Music Hole' is the Parisian singer's second studio album to date. Whereas her first album, 'Le fil', was exclusively recorded in French, her latest offering includes lyrics in both French and English - a move which the singer admits was a conscious decision on her part. 'Music Hole' touches on an impressive number of musical styles (…) and Camille claims that sounds and emotions were very important to her throughout."  And, one might add, eclectic musical influences and bilingual songs have proved equally important in breaking the international market.

On tour in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Yelle, the hot new French pop sensation 'du jour', has been busy consolidating her reputation out on the road in the U.S. Yelle's catchy brand of Gallic synth-pop appears to have gone down well with American audiences - if the review in the Boston Globe (17/10) of Yelle's recent concert at The Roxy is anything to go by. "The fact that Yelle, who sings entirely in French, could fill half the Roxy on the same night Madonna was in town, speaks to the buoyancy of her songs.," raved the Globe's reporter, although he did temper his review by noting that "There is a limited audience for this music, which appears to be mostly kids who shop at American Apparel and French expatriates. There was also some discussion in the crowd about how much of Yelle's appeal is based solely on the fact that she is French." But who said there was anything wrong with a touch of exotica every now and then?

Yelle's compatriot, the inventive French indie singer-songwriter Emilie Simon has also been building up a fan base in North America. The New Yorker (20/10) announced Ms. Simon's concerts at the Cutting Room, in the Big Apple, noting that "The French singer Emilie Simon favors layered songs that often incorporate unusual instrumentation. For a song on the soundtrack of the original French release of 'March of the Penguins', she clicked ice cubes together to create a beat. Her work has been somewhat difficult to find to date - her sole U.S. release is The Flower Book, an album released in 2006."

The legend lives on

As new generations of French 'chanteuses' unleash their songs on the world's stages, it looks as though the ghost of Edith Piaf is still roaming freely in the wings. Piaf's legacy, it appears, lives on very much intact. The British newspaper Daily Star (30/9) recently reported that "The next ambition of loudmouth American rock chick Pink is to learn French… The star admits that she has been listening to a lot of French music, especially old singers like Edith Piaf, and it has been inspiring." According to the Daily Star, Pink is now taking French classes and has given herself the target of being fluent by the time she reaches 35. Meanwhile, The Belfast Telegraph (17/10) reported that over at the Belfast Festival "Tina May brought the music of the legendary French singer Edith Piaf back to life… and her hypnotic stage presence was perfectly suited to classics such as 'La Vie en Rose', 'Milord' and 'Je ne Regrette Rien.'" Down Under in Australia, the French singer Caroline Nin also paid tribute to the Little Sparrow. "One of the reasons Gold Coast Arts Centre boss Kelvin Cordell persisted in bringing Caroline Nin to the Gold Coast Festival is that the Gold Coast has its hard-core Piaf fans… 'Mention a Piaf performance and they'll turn up in droves,' he says." (Gold Coast, 10/10)

One might say the same about Charles Aznavour, who began his career as Piaf's personal secretary and went on to pen some of the most famous French love songs known to man. Talking of the great Charles, the British magazine Music Week (23/9) reported that Aznavour "without doubt the most famous French singer throughout the world, a living legend in the pantheon of 'chanson française'… will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the next Midem fair (to be held in Cannes 18 - 21 January 2009)."  Another deserved trophy for Piaf's male successor!

Gilles  Rio

Translation : Julie  Street