The theme of this night is French music with a wink to the Tour de France.
We will start with the compilation CD:
Café Parisien with 50 original chansons performed by artists like: Yves Montand, Charles Trenet, Serge Gainsbourg, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Becaud and many others.
CD 1 and 2: Café Parisien.
Label: Not Now Music (2010),
code: NOT2CD364.
Video
Julien Clerc was born as Paul-Allen Leclerc in a suburb of Paris. He got piano lessons at an early age and was a huge fan of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. He formed a beat group with friends for which he put the largest part of the music on lyrics of Maurice Vallet. Later on his path crossed with that of Etienne Roda-Gil who then wrote most of his lyrics.
CD: Het Beste van Julien Clerc.
Label: EVA Records (1990), code: 260.730 (Serie: Wereldsterren). Video
Jacques Brel the Master série.
A compilation which contains 16 unforgettable songs performed by the famous Belgian poet: Ne me quitte pas, Le Plat Pays, Amsterdam, Madeleine. In Ne me quitte pas (from 1959) it seems like love hurt more than it did good and this is the first song from a series about death. There were three themes which constantly appeared in Brel’s lyrics from then on.
CD: Jacques Brel, Master Série.
Label: Polygram (1988), code: 816 458-2.
Video
LéoParleur is a band which was founded by Jozef and Simon Oster in 1992 and has been a part of the new French scene ever since. They started with performances in bars and on national rock stages. Now the band is defined as an explosive mix of funk tinted psychedelic rock.
CD: Tout ce qui brille by LéoParleur.
Label: Pias (2005),
code: Piasf130CD.
Video
Léo Ferré was born in Monaco in 1916 and died on the French national holiday in Italy on 14 July 1993.
Initially he wrote Paris Canaille for French singer Catherine Sauvage and this was immediately a huge success. In 1950 he signed his first contract with record company Chant du Monde. In the same year he wrote an opera, La Vie d’Artiste, which showed his talent as composer. In 1955 he played in the Parisian Olympia for the first time and accompanied himself on the piano. The events in France of May 1968 marked him deeply. He organised a gala night for anarchists in Paris on 10 May. In 1969 he released the album Blanc inspired by the turbulent period of May 1968 with titles L’Eté 68, Anarchisten and C’est extra.
CD: Léo Férré 1953, Paris Canaille.
Label: La Mémoire et la mer (2004), code: 9 951. Video
