Zaz charms Europe

It’s been years since a musician singing in French has made such big waves abroad. Could it be because the young singer Zaz, whose first album was released a year ago, sums up the real France?

Album review

It’s just over a year since Benjamin Biolay released the hit double album, La Superbe. His new collection of music and songs, Pourquoi tu pleures? was inspired by the film of the same name directed by Katia Lewkovicz and starring Biolay himself.

Anniversary

30 years of Fête de la Musique

In the space of three decades we’ve got used to looking forward to it like we wait for summer. On this 21 June 2011, the Fête de la Musique is an ultramarine affair, taking on the theme of the Année de l’Outre-mer (French overseas territories year). We look back on a far-sighted initiative that has inspired the globe.

French pop

Jacno on all fronts

The lavish re-releases, tribute album (Jacno future), and concert at Paris’s Cité de la Musique are a reminder of the legacy that the incomparable Jacno left to French pop.

French chanson

Catherine Ringer back in the ring

With her first solo album since the death of her partner Fred Chichin in 2007, Catherine Ringer, one half of the duet Rita Mitousko, is back in the ring with Ring n’Roll, a raw, rough album that lays her emotions bare.

French Songs

Tels Alain Bashung

Rarely has a tribute album aroused such interest. Tels Alain Bashung looks back in an ethereal way at Bashung’s repertoire from the 90s and brings together some of the singer’s most beautiful songs; Bashung died two years ago. The line-up in this little collection of remakes is amongst others, M, Vanessa Paradis, Miossec… and Noir Désir, who have released their latest song on the album.

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French chanson

Enrico Macias’s ongoing journey

In the run-up to the 2012 anniversary that will mark his 50 years in the business, Enrico Macias has released Voyage d’une mélodie, a collection that takes the listener on a nomadic ballad into the Sefarad and Ashkenazi traditions. Co-produced with a pair of experts at the helm, his son Jean-Claude Ghrenassia and the Montreal-based DJ So Called, the sound track opens up new perspectives for the seventy-something singer as he makes a rejuvenating voyage into new, melodious duets.

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French chanson

Patricia Kaas celebrates Edith Piaf

In the run-up to the fifty-year anniversary of Edith Piaf’s death, Patricia Kaas kicks off a long list of celebrations with Kaas chante Piaf, a tribute album recorded with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Abel Korzeniowski, and devotes a whole stage show to the “Little Sparrow”.