French female chansonniers. What is chanson, history of chanson
Chanson translated from French means song. At first glance, the frivolous musical genre has enough big story. Back in the 10th century, poems and epic songs (chanson de geste) appeared, glorifying the brave and valiant knights - the defenders of France. And the founders of this musical genre are considered to be the French-Flemish composers of the Dutch school.
Already in the 16th century, music in a style that can be considered a prototype of classical chanson was created French composers Renaissance era such as Janequin, Sermizi, Moulou, Serton, Cautlet, Lejeune, Gudimel, and at the beginning of the 17th century these compositions were gradually squeezed out into song-romance genres. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, pop songs appeared in France, the authors of which were chansonniers - French pop singers, performers of verses and genre songs in the style “a la Montmartre”.
After the First World War, the rhythms of overseas foxtrot and tango came into fashion. You can also hear notes of these fiery melodies in the songs of French performers. But the French always remained original, and the singers of that time - Mistenget, Maurice Chevalier, Josephine Becker - worked in the style of revue - a small theatrical and circus performance, close to cabaret, British music hall or American vaudeville. The 30-40s of the 20th century were marked by the appearance of Edith Piaf, who is rightfully considered in France the founder of modern pop song. Piaf’s songs reflected her own life and the life of every Frenchman, which is why the songs themselves are so loved in France, and far beyond its borders. Piaf's songs were distinguished by their sincerity, emphasizing in a bright voice and the sensuality of the performance. More than one generation of French performers grew up on songs such as “ Non, Je ne regrette rien », « Padam, Padam », « Milord », « La Vie En Rose"(you can listen to the compositions online by following the link).
After the Second World War, a galaxy of such singers appeared on the stage: Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Leo Ferret, Boris Vian, Yves Montand. Their work combines the best traditions of French art song: lyricism of performance, a certain intimacy and elusive musicality.
But it is difficult to talk about French chanson in general; in order to try to understand it, it is worth touching the work of the most prominent representatives of this genre.
Charles Aznavour Immediately after the end of the war, together with his friend and accompanist Pierre Roche, he hit the thresholds of Parisian nightclubs and variety shows in search of work. Sometimes they were allowed to go on stage, sing a few songs and earn a few francs. Sometimes it was possible to sell a song or two. The friends composed them in Rocha's huge apartment in the center of Paris. One of these songs, “I'm Drunk,” became a hit performed by Georges Ulmer.
Once Piaf herself attended one of their concerts in a Parisian restaurant. After meeting the musicians, she invited them to perform in the first part of her tour. However, the tour turned out to be very short, Piaf flew to America, and Aznavour and Roche remained in Paris to collect money for the trip overseas. Having difficulty reaching the USA and finding Piaf there, the musicians realized that there would be no joint tour, and on the singer’s advice they went to Canada, where unexpected success awaited them. Legendary singer largely influenced the work of Charles, he wrote several songs for her: “ Jezebel", "Compagnons de la Chanson". After breaking up with Piaf, Aznavour began solo career. His songs were performed by many talented chansonniers of that time: Juliette Greco, Gilbert Becaud, Patasha. Song " J"ai bu", recorded by Georges Ulmer, was awarded the Grand Prix as the best disc of 1947. Subsequently, Aznavour wrote more than a dozen songs that became not only pearls of French chanson, but also world-famous hits, among them: “Sa jeunesse”, “Parce que”, “Sur ma vie”, “Apres l" amour”, "La Boheme" , « Comme ils disent », « She"and of course immortal" Une Vie D'Amour”, sounded in the Soviet film “Tehran-43” and sung by Aznavour himself in Russian (“Eternal Love”).
Another chansonnier well known far beyond the borders of France is Yves Montand. It can also be attributed to the discoveries of Edith Piaf. “When he started singing,” recalled Edith Piaf, “I immediately fell under his charm. The artist’s original personality, the impression of strength and masculinity, beautiful artistic hands, an interesting expressive face, a soulful voice...” Edith Piaf gave him a piece of her talent. She taught Yves Montand the beauty of singing that made him great. International hits are associated with the name Yves Montand " Sous Le Ciel" "De Paris", "Les feuilles mortes », « C'est si bon », « Les grands boulevards », « A Paris"and many, many more surprisingly melodic and lyrical songs characteristic of French chanson of the 40s - 60s of the last century.
Another prominent representative of French chanson is Jacques Brel, born in Belgium. He made his first recordings in 1953. I recorded it and went to conquer Paris. For about a year, Jacques spent the night in attics and unsuccessfully knocked on thresholds concert halls and cabaret of Paris. However, despite the merciless criticism of his songs, he continued to write songs. He was supported by the musician Brassens, the singer Juliette Greco, who included his songs in her repertoire, and, of course, Jacques Canetti, who did not heed the voices of the Philips skeptics and still insisted on recording Jacques Brel's first disc in 1954. Among the songs on this album, only one stands out - “Useful Video
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Topic 5. Author's song Author's song, or bard music, is a song genre that arose in the middle of the 20th century in different countries. His distinctive features is the combination in one person of the author of the music, the text and the performer, guitar accompaniment, the priority of the significance of the text over the music. In Russia, urban romance and song miniatures by Alexander Vertinsky can be considered the predecessors of the original song. At first, the basis of the genre was made up of student and tourist songs, which differed from the “official” ones (disseminated through state channels) by their dominant personal intonation and lively, informal approach to the topic. Selected works genre appeared back in the 1930s (romantic songs composed by P. Kogan and G. Lepsky, the most famous of which was “Brigantine”, as well as early songs: for example, “Baksanskaya” is considered a classic of tourist and art songs - a song written by mountaineering warriors in the winter of 1943 to the melody of the famous tango by B. Terentyev “Let the days pass.” But they are written in exactly the same way and publicly famous song“The Blue Handkerchief” (the first version of the text, written by a professional composer, was soon replaced by the “folk” version, which was distributed throughout the country) and the symbol of the besieged Leningrad “Volkhov Table” (to the melody of the song “Our Toast”). Most often (though not always), performers of songs in this genre are simultaneously the authors of both poetry and music - hence the name. In the early 1950s, a powerful layer of original songs appeared among students, in particular, at the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University (the most famous authors of this galaxy were G. Shangin-Berezovsky, D. Sukharev, L. Rozanova) and in Pedagogical Institute, including nationally famous ones, also wrote “pure” poets - for example, Valentin Berestov, Gleb Gorbovsky (“When the night lanterns swing ...”, “At the beer and water pavilion ...”), Victor Sosnora (“Liteiny flew towards the station ..."). The author's song was one of the forms of self-expression of the “sixties”. Several stages can be distinguished in the development of an author's song. The first stage - the romantic one, the leader of which was B. Okudzhava, lasted until approximately the mid-1960s. The main sphere of realization of the romantic principle was the “song of wanderings” with its central images of friendship (friend) and the road as a “life line” - a path into the unknown and a path to self-knowledge. At this stage, the original song practically did not go beyond the boundaries of the environment that gave birth to it, spreading “from company to company” orally or in tape recordings. It was performed publicly extremely rarely and, again, almost exclusively “in one’s own circle” - in amateur student “reviews”, “cabbets” of the creative intelligentsia, etc., as well as at tourist gatherings, which gradually turned into art song festivals . At this stage, the authorities paid almost no attention to the author's song, considering it a harmless manifestation of amateur creativity, an element of intellectual life.“The war, the suffering it caused, its inhumanity (“Goodbye, boys!” by B. Okudzhava, “The Ballad of Eternal Fire” by A. Galich, “It so happened, the men left” by V. Vysotsky and many other songs). Seeing the power of influence such author's song, the authorities moved to persecute her. The doors of concert organizations were tightly closed before the poets-singers (in 1981, after the XXV Moscow meeting of the Communist Party of the Union, a letter was sent to the regions through the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, prohibiting the provision of any platforms for stage performances to Yuli Kim, Alexander Mirzayan and Alexander Tkachev), publishing houses, radio and television studios , they were expelled from creative unions, pushed into emigration (A. Galich), vilified in every possible way in the press, etc. At the same time, thanks to “magnitizdat”, they knew it, sang it, listened to it, copied it from each other. The regular samizdat newspaper “Minstrel” of the Moscow Amateur Song Club wrote about the life of the author’s song in 1979-1990 (from 1979 - editor-in-chief A. E. Krylov, from 1986 - B. B. Zhukov), distributed in photographs and photocopies countrywide. However, the state’s attitude towards the authors was far from uniform. Thus, the Writers' Union took an extremely hostile position - “what kind of singing poets are these”; at the same time, the Union of Composers did a lot for the authors of amateur songs, believing that their creativity, with all the homemade nature of their melodies, compensates for some of the neglect of mass song that appeared among in the 60s compared to pre-war times (in particular, this opinion was voiced in the famous 1967 documentary film “Urgently Needed a Song”). Despite all the measures taken to prohibit songs along other lines, songs by S. Nikitin, V. Berkovsky, A. Gorodnitsky, A. Dulov and others were regularly included in the music and text collections of mass songs released by the UK. And for such a famous author of the 70s and 80s as Evgeniy Bachurin, the Union of Composers actually became a producer - releasing his first vinyl album, and soon his second. Also, no persecution of the author’s song affected the frequency of Sergei Nikitin’s appearances on the radio. Among the works of professional composers, the intonation of the original song sounds recognizable in Mikael Tariverdiev, Alexandra Pakhmutova and Andrei Petrov. The authorities tried to take control of the original song from the inside, taking under the “roof” of the Komsomol the “amateur (initially student) song clubs” that spontaneously arose everywhere. But they didn't succeed very well. The matured “bards”, the founders of the genre, continued to develop a lyrical line, but it sounded more and more clearly nostalgia for the past, the bitterness of losses and betrayals, the desire to preserve oneself, one’s ideals, a thinning circle of friends, anxiety about the future - moods summarized in the minted line of B. Okudzhava: “Let’s join hands, friends, so as not to perish alone.” This lyrical-romantic line was continued in the works of S. Nikitin, A. Dolsky, V. Dolina, as well as bard-rockers (A. Makarevich, B. Grebenshchikov). Since the early 1990s. the development of the author's song moved into a calm direction. The number of “singing poets” and their performing arts, the number of their professional organizations, concerts, festivals, cassettes and discs sold; Even original “classics” of the author’s song are being formalized (the popular albums “Songs of Our Century”). Radio and television programs dedicated to the original song appear: for example, Mikhail Kochetkov organized and hosted a TV show about the original song “ famous authors The 2000s are usually considered to be G. Danskoy, O. Medvedev, T. Shaov and O. Chikina. For a wide range of lovers of bard songs, in 2001 in the village of Listvyanka, Irkutsk region, actor Evgeniy Kravkl and his friends completed and opened the “Author’s Song Theater on Baikal”. History in other countries The author's song is not a phenomenon of Russian culture only. This phenomenon emerged in the 1960s simultaneously in different countries. Singer-songwriters everywhere ( Liedermacher- in the GDR and Germany, cantautor- in Italy and Latin America, auteur-compositeur-interprète- in France, singer-songwriter- in the USA) sang songs of their own composition with a guitar. Everywhere such poets with guitars were deeply connected with the local tradition, but at the same time, everywhere their songs contained criticism of society and the state - no matter socialist or capitalist, they represented an experiment with different genres. The founders of this trend are considered to be the zongs of Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler, which appeared in the 1930s. The works of Edward Stahura and Jacek Kaczmarski in Poland, Karel Kryl and Jaromir Nogavica in Czechoslovakia, Wolf Biermann in the GDR and Franz-Josef Degenhardt in Germany, Georges Brassens in France, Luigi Tenco and Fabrizio De Andre in Italy, Victor Jara in Chile, Phil Oakes, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton and Bob Dylan in the USA contributed to the formation in these countries of a critically minded and democratically organized public that accepted the rituals of author performance, collective listening to tape recordings and independent, amateur singing in companies. Also, simple but emotional melodies and choruses were an incentive to sing together at concerts; the performers themselves called for this. In Cuba, the songs of Carlos Puebla and Compay Segnundo were similar in genre to art song in other countries, but the important difference was that these performers were officially recognized by the Fidel Castro regime, which used them to increase their popularity both in Cuba and abroad. In the countries of the “socialist camp”, as a result of the censorship policy of the authorities, the distribution of art songs took the form of semi-official festivals and meetings, concerts in private apartments, home tape recordings that were distributed free of charge among friends and acquaintances or bought on the “black market”. Outside the “socialist camp,” concerts and recordings of the original song were completely legal, but still the connection between the original song and music industry was never in any way strong, and the “barrier policy” of television and radio companies in the USA, Germany, Italy and France, which for a long time did not want to broadcast an original song with its sometimes sharp and unpredictable social criticism and risky, carnival humor, also gave it these countries have a certain aura of “illegality.” In Chile, after the military coup of 1973, all public performances nueva cancion Bob Dylan with an electric guitar at the festival (English)Russian. in Newport in 1965 broke this taboo and was greeted with deafening boos from the audience. Genres and terms There is still no clear and unified terminological system associated with song genres. Sometimes the terms “art song” and “bard song” are used interchangeably. But, for example, Vladimir Vysotsky categorically did not like to be called a “bard” or “minstrel.” Chronicles show that in the 1950s and early 1960s, the most commonly used term in relation to the genre was “amateur song” - in particular, it was used by the authors themselves. The question of the name of the song genre did not immediately interest fans of art songs. As Igor Karimov writes in his book “The History of Moscow KSP,” the abbreviation KSP was used back in the late 1950s, but at that time it stood for “student song competition.” At the conference on amateur song issues in Petushki (May 1967), which became a milestone in the history of the KSP, the issue was discussed in a focused manner. The options considered were “guitar song”, “amateur song”, “tourist song” and a number of others. As a result of the meeting, the name “amateur song” was chosen, and the combination of KSP was assigned the meaning “Amateur Song Club”. At the same time, in May 1967, the first all-Moscow meeting of the PCB took place. At the intersection of art song and folk music in the 90s, a “minstrel” movement was formed, associated with fans
role playing games
and historical reconstruction. Its representatives - Tam and Yovin, Chancellor Gi, Aire and Saruman, Elhe Niennach and others, perform acoustic songs own composition, often on the theme of the Middle Ages or fantasy (mainly the works of J. R. R. Tolkien).
Everyone knows that this word itself - chanson - simply means “song”. Less known is that modern French chanson, which became one of the main symbols of the country’s culture in the 20th century, traces its ancestry back to the Middle Ages. The starting point is considered to be the work of trouvères, singing poets of the late 11th - beginning of the XIV century, especially the great Guillaume de Machaut, who was highly valued by the author of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, and was called by his contemporaries nothing more than “the god of harmony.” However, that chanson had its own, rather complex, canon and, to put it mildly, has an indirect family relationship with the current one.
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1. Nice, February 1974: Jacques Brel on the set of Denis Héroux’s film, named quite in the spirit of the famous song by the Russian chansonnier Vysotsky about “don’t worry, I haven’t left”: “Jacques Brel is alive, well and lives in Paris.” Brel, a Belgian and subtle poet, became one of the icons of French chanson - unique genre, in which the talent of a poet and the utmost charismatic sincerity of a rock star are equally in demand |
Chanson as we know it was formed at the end of the century before last within the walls of cabaret theaters. Then they not only danced the cancan, but also sang. And then it took shape main principle chanson: this is a song performed by the author, usually in a chamber room, a song in which the music is inseparable from the text, usually with a plot. Chanson became the song embodiment of the “ideal Gallic character” - romantic and explosive, caustic and maximalist, sensitive to any injustice.
The first chansonniers in our current understanding were Aristide Bruant (1851-1925) and Mistenguette (1875-1956). The first, an artistic slacker from Montmartre, sang caustic anti-bourgeois songs in Parisian argot and appeared on stage in a spectacular “outfit”: a velvet jacket, black trousers tucked into Wellingtons, on the neck is a red scarf. This is how he was depicted on posters by Toulouse-Lautrec (and collections of his songs were illustrated by Théophile Steinlen, also not one of the last artists). The second pseudonym, funnily enough, was originally “English-speaking” (Miss Tenguette), but, merged into one word, it sounded Francophone. The beautiful daughter of a handyman and a dressmaker, she began with humorous songs, acted in films, performed on the same stage with Jean Gabin, sang together with Maurice Chevalier (they were lovers for 10 years), and in connection with her separation she sang the song Mon homme, and this song remained in the history of chanson forever. It was she who invented the feather headdresses for which the Moulin Rouge is still famous. Mistenguette died at 80 and retired from the stage at 75.
The Jazz Age also changed the French song, which in pre-war Paris was personified by Charles Trenet, who performed in a duet with jazz pianist Johnny Hessom. Trenet's style looks like something completely new: he brings jazz rhythms and gags from American comedies to the French music hall. Still the flesh of the music hall, comedian, entertainer, after World War II, Trenet easily conquered America. And when in 1990 Bernardo Bertolucci's film "Under the Shelter of Heaven" requires musical color characterizing a happy pre-war life, the electronic age composer Ryuichi Sakamoto stops at Charles Train, on his famous Je chante. After the war, chanson becomes more serious. He no longer needs comedians and beauties in feathers, he wants an honest conversation with the listener (or rather, the listener wants such a conversation). Real poets and writers come to chanson - Boris Vian, for example, is also not one of the last chansonniers, although he is better known as a jazzman and prose writer. Introvert Jacques Brel comes from Belgium - the only non-Frenchman who became one of the main icons of chanson, a great poet who wrote and lived on a ruptured aorta. Georges Brassens (who escaped from forced labor in Germany during the war and immediately became an anarchist) takes up the guitar. He composes songs based on other people's poems - and whose ones: François Villon, Pierre Corneille, Victor Hugo!.. Let us imagine not only the current “Russian chansonnier”, but at least Soviet bard, setting the poems of Trediakovsky or Derzhavin to music... - no, it doesn’t work out, it’s impossible to imagine such a degree of historical continuity of a changing culture. All roads of Russian chanson, alas, lead at most to Yesenin.
The world of French chanson is immensely diverse - both at the level of cultural connections and at the level of individuals. The Jew Jean Ferrat, whose father died in the Holocaust, is an uncompromising defender of the working class, a convinced communist and at the same time a subtle stylist. The favorite and songwriter of Edith Piaf herself, the Parisian Armenian Vakhinak Aznavourian, aka Charles Aznavour, is gentle and artistic. He seems to be more of a entertainer than a chansonnier, but still one of his own, still from here. Piaf herself, the “Sparrow of Paris,” the legend and pain of France... All of them - and many others - are people of chanson, representatives of a single poetic brotherhood-sisterhood, to which characters a generation younger, who at first seem strangers, easily join. The second Belgian in our history, Italian by blood, Salvatore Adamo, for example. He was accused of being pop, until it became clear that Tombe la neige was not just notes from a phenologist, but a song not much inferior to the great Brelev song Ne me quitte pas. Serge Gainsbourg, the “brilliant hooligan” who played “Marseillaise” in a reggae rhythm, is almost a freak, a “quasimodo”, but a breaker of women’s hearts, who changed the canon of love chanson with his phrase Je t’aime... moi non plus (“I love you... I don’t either”), close in spirit and way of life (alcohol and smoking without measure) rather to rockers - and he is also from the brotherhood of chanson.
The frames are moving wider and wider. Today's chansonnier Benjamin Biolet uses electronics. The recently deceased Mano Solo, a subtle poet, played punk rock. In the 1970s, it never occurred to anyone to classify the main rock legend of France, Johnny Hallyday, as a chanson - today it seems natural. The new chanson has no stylistic restrictions; it absorbs drum and bass and bossa nova, rhythms Latin America(as Dominic A) and Balkan (as the group Têtes Raides). Emily Simon, for example, generally now sings in English and performs canonical electropop, but what she does in French is chanson, period.
And Russian chanson... if we remember anyone here, the result is predictable: Okudzhava and Vysotsky. And not even because the first sang about François Villon, and the second had his songs translated into French by one of the main chansonniers of the 1970s, Maxime Le Forestier - it’s just that they are the closest in terms of the quality of the verse, the degree of sincerity and relevance, the distance between the author and the listener to the French model. But even they are still a different story. Chanson, “the property of the republic,” is inseparable from the culture of his country, in which philosophical movements matured in bistros, and “ new wave“cinema was born behind the bar. This is a uniquely Gallic way of talking about life, love, politics, happiness and unhappiness. And, no matter how the rhythms and fashions change, it will not disappear as long as at least someone on this planet speaks French.
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Soviet universities of French song
In 1972, the Melodiya company released two monophonic vinyl records with songs by French chansonniers under the general title “Under the Roofs of Paris”. This collection was extremely representative - there were songs by Yvette Guilbert, Mistenguette, Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour (pictured above) and Georges Brassens. Fernandel and Bourville, known among us primarily as actors, performed as singers here. There wasn’t a single intelligent house in Moscow in the 1970s that didn’t have at least one of these records.
When they hear the word “chanson”, some people remember the criminal songs of the 90s, performed by our compatriots. However, what new world arises when remembering French chanson! Nostalgia, joy, slight sadness - that’s what we feel when plunging into this touching music, which, without exaggeration, can be called immortal. What is the charm of such creations? Let's look at the example of specific performers.
Aristide Bruant- is considered one of the first chansonniers. In principle, we can say that the prerequisites for the formation of the described genre originated in the Middle Ages. At that time, singing poets were popular, who responded quite subtly to topical events. But chanson in the usual sense was given to the world by a slacker from Montmartre - that’s what Aristide Bruant was called. It was difficult not to pay attention to this man - he stood out too much, coming out in spectacular clothes and singing anti-bourgeois songs. He was just as spectacular on the posters of Théophile Steinlen, who, by the way, was very famous artist. Despite the brightness, he sang about the street poor, conveying the most complete picture of the life of Paris at night.
Mistanget- the first female chansonnier. Her creative path was very diverse and at first included the performance of humorous songs, then there was cinema. She had the opportunity to perform with such legends as Jean Gabin and Maurice Chevalier. WITH the last woman tied up and love relationship, after which she gave the world the composition “ Mon homme" This song was destined to go down in history. And her famous feather headdresses are immortalized in the Moulin Rouge. Yes, yes, French chanson has something in common with cabaret besides medieval motifs! This is such an amazing phenomenon - a poetic masterpiece in which the emphasis is on the content, and not on the external form.
Charles Trenet– and this performer brought a little jazz to the chanson. In the pre-war era, it was difficult to resist such a step. Trenet, for example, performed in a duet with Johnny Hess, a famous jazz pianist. In addition, Trenet introduced elements of gags and good American comedies into chanson - this manner was certainly unusual, but is French chanson ordinary in itself? Moreover, if the viewer perceives it with delight - for example, this is how the song “ Je chante" It turned out to be extremely exciting and “ La Mer”, which was later covered more than once.
Boris Vian- symbolizes post-war chanson. Now chanson refuses perky and humorous notes, he prefers to communicate with his listener in an honest and serious conversation. Paradox: given the relationship between the chanson and the viewer, Vian himself wrote his first song for fun. And at first, no one really wanted to perform his “Deserter”. Except, perhaps, Muludzhi. He was able to discern a contradiction in the creation, after correcting which the composition became popular. The main anti-war song - how do you like this title? It has been translated into many languages and performed by many performers.
Charles Aznavour- rather, it relates to the stage, but in chanson it’s still “one of our own”. Irony, melancholy, nostalgia - all these themes were traced in his work from the beginning, and initially they were considered to belong to the “taboo” category. The path to his recognition was long and persistent, starting with the song “Apres l'amour”, but, in the end, he managed to achieve success. And such that many never dreamed of. The problems of people, their tragedies - that’s what worried the performer in present and reflected in creativity.
Edith Piaf– rose to the heights of popularity thanks to her determination, hard work, amazing dramatic talent and unusual voice. True fame came to her with the song “ La vie en rose" Everyone could listen to Edith with equal delight - the sophisticated intelligentsia and ordinary workers, even the Queen of Great Britain was delighted with the performer. For millions of people, it was Piaf’s voice that became a symbol of France. One can also feel a constant charm in her work, which distinguishes the “French sparrow” from the galaxy of chanson talents.
Serge Gainsbourg– both the life and work of this person are filled with colors. He literally changed French chanson! New images, previously unseen outlines - this is what the genre has been enriched with the appearance of this amazing man. Unique voice and experiments in style contributed to this in the best possible way. The paradox is that, being a talented experimenter, Gainsbourg vehemently denied his involvement in poetry. But how else can we explain the frequent presence of puns and unusual rhymes in his work, if not by his talent in poetic skill? Old-fashionedness, conventions - the chansonnier fought against all this as best he could. But the use of English speech patterns, converted into the French way - this was practiced.
French chanson is the whole world, which cannot be described in a nutshell, and whose representatives cannot be listed in one article. This genre is truly multifaceted. You just have to listen to something from him and you will see for yourself. And to also learn to understand the lyrics, we invite you to.
Almost all genres and styles of music are represented in France. But the song genre, as well as throughout the world, is the most popular here. There are a lot in the country bright performers works in the chanson genre, but French chansonniers are very different from the performers of our country. The bottom line is that this music retains the national features inherent only to French songs and does not allow the influence of development trends in world show business.
Perhaps the reason lies in the enormous popularity throughout the world of French cabarets, which arose in the last century and are the hallmark of the country. This type of art has become a self-sufficient movement and has characteristic, very striking features.
Synthesis with other directions is sometimes simply impossible due to inconsistency and disharmony, which is unacceptable in music. It is this originality that makes the hits of French chansonniers incredibly popular and performed at all times.
Very bright stars shine on the horizon of world art and jazz French singers. If in the 70s and 80s this style was an art for the elite and true music connoisseurs, then over time it began to use the techniques of mass art.
Although, most likely, it was the stage that began to use jazz performance techniques.
As it were, contemporary music not only in France, but throughout the whole world, it is distinguished by the fusion of all styles and trends. As a result, the most beautiful songs and bright, talented performers appear.
Many contemporary French singers have gained worldwide fame. Some can be recognized literally by the first notes, thanks to the bright, memorable timbre of their voice.
French singers famous all over the world
The name resounded throughout the world in the last century. Unique, beautiful voice timbre and special charm The singer drove women all over the planet crazy.
Dassin's hits such as “Excuse Me Lady”, “Bip-Bip”, “Ça m'avance à quoi”, “Les Dalton” and others are also covered by modern performers; our generation listens to these songs with pleasure, sometimes without even knowing who is their author and first performer.
Joe Dassin was born in 1938 in New York, the future star’s mother was a famous violinist, his father was a director, when young Joe was 12 years old, the family moved to France. Most likely, it was parental genes and upbringing that played a decisive role in choosing a profession. Joe Dassin spent his entire life acting in films and writing wonderful songs.
French-Canadian singer and actor Garou woke up famous after playing the role of Quasimodo in the musical Notre Dame de Paris. The singer's real name is Pierre Garand, he was born in 1972. His low voice with a slight hoarseness and the highest mastery of performance brought Garu into the ranks of world stars.
Her acting career is also going very well. To date, the singer has released 8 albums.
Gregory Lemarchal born in 1983. The singer became famous in a very at a young age thanks to his incredible talent, agile and bright voice.
IN early childhood The boy was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease that affects lung function. Despite this, Gregory was able to achieve very high results in vocal skills and pleases his fans with very touching and honest songs.
An incurable disease claimed the singer’s life in 2007; the posthumous album “La voix d’un ange” (The Voice of an Angel) received a platinum award in 2008 for one million copies sold in Europe.
Popular French singers
Will always be primarily associated with French music Edith Piaf. There is no person in the civilized world who has not heard the unique voice of this brilliant woman.
The real name of the singer and actress is Giovanna Gassion, she was born in 1915. The childhood and youth of the future world star were spent in terrible poverty and deprivation, this was the reason for poor health, which caused the singer terrible torment throughout her life and caused her premature death.
The songs “Milord”, “Padam Padam”, “Non Je Ne Regrette Rien” are known to almost everyone, regardless of age and musical taste.
The brilliant one invariably attracted the attention of the public with her extraordinary vocal abilities, scandalous events and eventful personal life.
Patricia Kaas is one of the brightest and interesting singers our time. Despite the fact that the singer belongs to the chanson genre, her style, with the charm inherent only to the French, combines chanson, jazz and pop music.
This is precisely the special style of Patricia Kaas; the singer was able to mix incompatible styles, and she did it very tasty.
The world saw 10 albums, each of which is a standard of refined taste and high skill. The singer tours a lot and gives concerts all over the world.
Of the discoveries of our century, the stars of modern times glow very brightly in the sky. French singers, considered one of the most promising young singers, and ZAZ, very boldly and talentedly mixing chanson, folk, jazz and acoustic music.
Of course, the list of talented and popular musicians in France is not limited to the above-mentioned singers.
Read more about classic and contemporary performers, representatives of rock and rap trends. This country has given the world an incredible amount of very high quality and wonderful music. Listening to her, we have the opportunity to touch, at least for a minute, the unique and sophisticated world of grace and charm.
French clip - VIDEO
Listen to the beautiful song “My Angel” performed by “Golden Voice” Gregory Lemarchal
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