Editorial: February 2018

If 2017 went out with a sombre note with the passing of Johnny, 2018 seemed to continue that theme with the death of France Gall. 

A few years ago I noticed that in my day job I was having to write an increasing number of obit pieces for stars of the 60s and 70s, as time began to take its toll. Inevitably there will be more losses to the music scene over 2018, that's part of life and there's no escaping it. But no point in getting too maudlin, I've always been keener to celebrate what's happening now and in the future than to dwell on what has been. The likes of Johnny and France Gall will never be forgotten, but those who continue the work these pioneers began deserve our attention.

As I mentioned elsewhere, 2018 has so far been a year of acts I've previously featured on this blog returning with strong new material. Bagarre, Cats on Trees, Feu! Chatterton, Dominique A and Owlle to name just a few.

It's also been worth noting how France's female artists have been getting some serious recognition. Maybe it's a consequence of Christine and the Queens carrying the flag for French music to an international audience like few others have done in recent years, but maybe France has been a more fertile place for female artists over the preceding decades.

While the likes of Mylene Farmer, Jane Birkin and France Gall have been measured by critics in terms of their male collaborators, their enduring careers tell a story of a popular audience that perhaps welcomes the female artist more that the male music critic does.

Did you notice, incidentally, the run of posts featuring female artists in January? It actually wasn't intentional and just unfolded that way, with the likes of Cats on Trees, Mylene, Owlle etc all getting my attention over a period of time and before I noticed there was more than ten female artists in a row.

One other female artists who will hopefully be attracting some attention in the UK in the near future is Halo Maud, who plays live dates across the country supporting Baxter Dury. Many of the shows are already sold out.

Also taking to the road around the UK is Barbagallo, ahead of their new album to be released in March. Their L'echappee video was one of January's real delights, and their album is likely to be one of 2018's real highlights.

There are also London shows from a few key French acts, with Petit Biscuit at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town on February 10, Kungs playing Ministry of Sound on February 17 and a sold-out show from Ibeyi on February 28 at the Electric in Brixton.

Weird statistics this month in terms of visitor numbers, but the only statistic that really matters to us here is the number of posts we managed to make. I know we're a long way from delivering anything like the number of short pieces we did a few years ago, but any month that sees more than 24 posts leaves me happy that I've been doing my job here.

Why 24 posts? Because that was the total we managed to do on the first year of the vive le roq blog. That's right. 24 posts over A WHOLE YEAR. So more than that in a month always feels like some kind of victory!

As always, you can contact us at johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, with the appropriate punctuation where you'd expect it to be.

I'm always pleased to hear from record companies, PR companies and promoters, so do drop me an email. I'm always keen to hear new things, and relay information about acts I already know and love.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq, although that's pretty much just an autofeed when we update with a new article. You can usually find me on my personal Twitter account quicker, @karnag

If you're around Facebook, remember to like the French Music Podcast UK page, where you can get regular updates with both fresh and vintage French music.

Thanks as always to the good folks at Oui Love Music From France.

John K

France Gall tribute

If the closing weeks of 2017 were dominated by the death of Johnny Hallyday, it's sad that 2018 begins with news of the death of another legend of French music.

France Gall lost her battle with cancer at the weekend at the age of 70.

France Gall began her career as the icon of 60s yéyé style, but unlike many of her contemporaries she went on to have a career that lasted for decades.

Gall was, like many female singers in both France and elsewhere, measured according to the men who collaborated with her. Whether Serge Gainsbourg or Michel Berger it was presumed that she was acting on behalf of the greater - male - talent. The music industry has always had this kind of sexism, and it was if anything more prevalent during France Gall's early career.




But perhaps without France Gall, Gainsbourg would not have reached the creative peaks he did in the late 60s, the Eurovision win with Poupée de cire, poupée de son establishing the international reputation of Gainsbourg as a composer every bit as much as it established France Gall as a singer. It's worth remembering that it was France Gall herself who chose the song from a shortlist presented to her.




It's easy to see why she remains best known for her work in the 60s, as she pretty much established the template for generations of French female stars. Her songs were sweet, but also subversive and smarter than they first seemed. And she wasn't afraid of new or controversial ideas.



Her work in the 1970s with her husband Michel Berger, which whom she worked until his death in 1992, established her as a more mature artist. While perhaps her work wasn't as edgy as some of her earlier songs, many of her songs from this period have gone on to be standards in France.



Her involvement in Berger's musical Starmania would give her even greater acclaim in France. The rock opera was a huge success in the French speaking world, and later singles like Résiste and Ella elle l'a proving that she was an artist that wasn't tied to one particular decade.




While she essentially retired in the late 90s, France Gall remained visible with high profile albums of cover versions and the musical theatre show Résiste featuring her songs.

She was a unique artist whose talent helped give French music its unique style.

Michel Berger: Un dimanche au bord de l'eau

An unreleased track by Michel Berger has emerged, 23 years after the death of the French singer
songwriter.

The song Un dimanche au bord de l'eau was broadcast on French radio station RTL on Monday.

It dates from sessions in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, and was originally intended for his Beauséjour or Beaurivage albums, but it never saw the light of day.

Berger's widow France Gall mixed the song earlier this year, and added some of her vocals to the song.

The track will feature in the new stage musical Résiste, a show due to begin next month by  Gall, one of the best known interpreters of his work.

Gall aims to do for her and Bergers' work what Mama Mia did for Abba, setting the music in a whole new context and bringing it to a new generation.

A single Les accidents d'amour by Léa Deleau was released at the end of September.

Résiste is staged at the  Palais des Sports de Paris from November 4, before touring France from January 9 2016.

Léa Deleau: Les accidents d'amour

A new version of the France Gall song Les accidents d'amour, interpreted by Léa Deleau ahead of a
new musical based on the music that featured in Gall's career.

The track originally featured on Gall's 1981 Tout pour la musique album, and was written by Michel Berger, Gall's late husband.

The new version comes from the stage musical Résiste, a show based around the music of France Gall and Michel Berger.

Berger, as well as being married to Gall, was a hugely successful singer songwriter in his own right, who had a successful solo career and wrote work for acts including Johnny Hallyday. He also co-wrote the rock musical Starmania, a huge success in late 70s France.

Gall has been one of France's most successful female singers, but has been absent since the late 90s. She has  been working on the new show for three years, Les accidents d'amour following a new version of the title track of the show, a which also featured originally on  Tout pour la musique.

The curtain rises on Résiste on November 4 at the Palais des Sports de Paris, before a tour round France.

Résiste is released as an album on October 23.

Jenifer: Évidemment

The singer Jenifer has released another video promoting her Ma Proposition collection of covers of songs
originally performed by France Gall that came out in June this year.

This time it is the ballad Évidemment, a song that was a hit for France Gall in 1987, and was written by her husband Michel Berger. The song was written in homage to the French singer Daniel Balavoine, a friend of Berger's, who died in a helicopter crash.

Jenifer established herself as a singer after winning the first series of Star Academy in 2001/2002 and Ma déclaration, her collection of France Gall songs, is her sixth album.

There's been a lot of bad blood between the two artists since the collection came out, amid claims that Jenifer did not ask Gall for permission, and counter claims that she did

What's certain is that the work of France Gall been given a huge exposure to a new generation, the album reaching number two in France and number one in Belgium.

The video for Évidemment was filmed in Corsica, where Jenifer is from.

Jenifer is continuing in her role as a coach in the TV music show The Voice, la plus belle voix for the third year in a row alongsinde Mika, Florent Pagny and Garou.

France Gall: Original versions of the songs performed by Jenifer

With Jenifer's album of France Gall covers Ma déclaration released earlier this month, and a row between the two artists over whether or not Jenifer asked Gall's permission to record the songs, I thought it worth presenting France Gall's versions of the songs on Jenifer's album.

While Jenifer might not exactly have needed Gall's permission to record the songs, it certainly would have been good manners to get her blessing for the project. However, I suspect it's more a case of missed communication than any deliberate ill will.

France Gall is perhaps best known outside France for her win at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 with the Serge Gainsbourg song Poupée de cire, poupée de son, but in France she's had a long and respected career.

While her work with Gainsbourg attracts much attention, it was probably more her work with her husband Michel Berger, until his death of a heart attack in 1992, that accounts for the longevity of her career.

While in recent years France Gall has mostly been absent from the public eye, the chance to take a look back over her career, which has seen her move from the epitome of the French teenage yéyé pop star to a sophisticated and mature artist, taking in some magnificent songs along the way.

Evidemment



Ella, Elle L'a



Diego libre dans sa tête,



Résiste



Besoin d'amour



Si maman si



Ça balance pas mal à Paris



Comment lui dire



La déclaration d'amour



Poupée de cire, poupée de son



Laisse tomber les filles



Message personnel

France in the Eurovision Song Contest: Ten highlights

Saturday night sees France's Amandine Bourgeoise represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song L'enfer et moi. It's a strong bluesy rock number, and time will tell how it does at the event in Malmo.



Arguably France's landmark moment in Eurovision was France Gall's victory with Serge Gainsbourg's song Poupée de cire, poupée de son. It was, however, an entry for Luxembourg. A victory for the international spirit of co-operation and cross border artistic collaboration, but not a victory for France.



France's first Eurovision victory came in 1958, with the song Dors Mon Amour, performed by André Claveau. France has so far won the contest five times.



The last time France won Eurovision was in 1977, with the song L'oiseau et l'enfant by Marie Myriam



Recent years have not seen France dominate at Eurovision like they did in the early years of the competition. 2012's entry Anggun came 21st in the contest.



Recent years have seen some big names from French music compete for Eurovision, although with only limited success. One that did give a good account was Patricia Kaas, who performed in 2009 with the song Et s'il fallait le faire, which came eighth.



That level of success wasn't enjoyed by Sébastien Tellier the previous year who despite one of the most memorable entrances in recent years, came 18th with Divine.



France's entries have traditionally always been in French, one interesting exception was in 1996 with the song Diwanit Bugale, which was in Breton and performed by Dan Ar Braz and L'Héritage des Celtes, featuring vocals by Scotland's Karen Matheson



Another more recent entry that wasn't in French was the 2011 entry, with the number Sognu by Amaury Vassili, which was performed in Corsican.



It was the second time a song in Corsican was entered into Eurovision by France, following 1993's Mama Corsica by Patrick Fiori.



France automatically qualifies for the finals, as one of the five countries that contributes the most to the European Broadcasting Union. Maybe this gives them an unfair advantage, but over the years I reckon France has done better than the UK in the quality of their entries.

And there have been no 'Nul Points' incidents like the UK got in 2003, or last places like the UK graced in 2003, 2008 and 2010.

For all Eurovision is easy to criticise, it's worth remembering that for many in the UK, the event is the only time in the year that they get the chance to hear via prime-time television music from outside the anglophone sphere.

Eurovision is a strange parallel music world, where normal critical judgement can be suspended and the show can be enjoyed for the spectacle that it is.

Therion: Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son

While I was researching an article about Serge Gainsbourg for the  Culturethèque website of the Institut Français, I came across some wonderful clips that I thought deserved a mention here. They didn't really fit into the scope of the article I was writing, but certainly were good enough to highlight here.

You can read the article, with a huge selection of videos of Serge and others, on the Culturethèque website here >

This version of the song Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son by Swedish metal act Therion was one such clip.

The band take the track and re-interpret it as an operatic dark cabaret number, with additional metal muscle.

Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son was of course the winner of the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, written by Serge Gainsbourg and performed by France Gall as the entry for Luxembourg.

Therion have been around since 1987, founded by guitarist Christofer Johnsson. While now known more as a symphonic metal act, they were originally more of a death metal act. I was hugely impressed by their Beyond Sanctorum album when I heard it a few years after it came out, but didn't hear much of their subsequent releases.

It's a long journey from melodic Scandinavian death metal to operatic cabaret covers and I think I've got quite a bit of catching up to do.

This version of the track comes from their album Les Fleurs Du Mal, their fifteenth, which was released in September last year.

The album is a collection of covers of French pop and chanson songs including Gainsbourg's Initials BB and a cover of his Les Sucettes.

Rétro: Michel Berger

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Michel Berger, who died of a heart attack aged 44

Berger's best known work in France was probably the Starmania musical he co-created, but his work with Françoise Hardy and France Gall - who he married in 1976 - as well as his solo career that began in the mid 60s.

As a solo artist his first major success came in 1973 with Écoute la musique (Quelle consolation fantastique), following it in 1975 with the album  Que l'amour est bizarre which spawned to successful songs, the title track and Seras-tu là ?

In 1980, however, his Beauséjour album led to three hits, La Groupie du pianiste, Quelques mots d'amour et Celui qui chante.

His '83 album Voyou featured the memorable songs Diego, libre dans sa tête and La minute de silence.

In 86 he stopped performing as a solo artist, concentrating on writing for France Gall, although he went on to release the album  Ça ne tient pas debout and an album of duets with France Gall entitled  Double jeu in 1992, released just weeks before his death.

His work with Hardy and Gall revitalised the careers of the two singers, ensuring their careers continued into the 70s and beyond. He also worked with Johnny Hallyday, writing and producing his Rock 'n' Roll Attitude album in 1985 and collaborating with him on the Johnny à Bercy live album.

Berger was one of the most significant figures in the French music scene over the 1970s and 80s, and his songs and reputation ensure that even 20 years after his death he's remembered with affection.

Meanwhile, France Gall is currently working on a musical featuring his songs, due to see the light next year. His work looks set to be remembered for years to come.

Rétro: France Gall - Poupée de cire, poupée de son

With this week's attention on the Eurovision song contest, I thought I'd take a look back to one of France's most memorable moments on Eurovision, with the 1965 win by France Gall.

The song  Poupée de cire, poupée de son was written by Serge Gainsbourg. Needless to say, one of France's greatest singers of the time and greatest songwriters ever. Needless to say, it was for Luxembourg.

It was the first time a song that was not a ballad won Eurovision. It was both a great song in the then-contemporary pop style, which also mocked  the genre at the same time. While a perfect example of yéyé pop, its clever wordplay in the lyrics puts it in  a different league from most of the other releases of that era.

Gall and Gainsbourg had worked before, with songs like N'écoute pas les idoles and Laisse tomber les filles proving to be hits before Poupée de cire, poupée de son won the Eurovision contest in Naples in 1965.

Gall and Gainsbourg would work together on other songs, although they would eventually dissolve their artistic partnership at the end of the 60s.

The song was re-recorded by Gall in a number of languages, as the exposure of Eurovision opened up a market for her outwith France.