Stromae: Formidable in Montreal

A video's emerged of Belgian rapper Stromae in Montreal, reprising his performance in the video for the song Formidable, this time in a Montreal metro train.

Stromae's original ground-rbeaking video saw him acting drunk in the streets of Brussels, the situation and ye reactions of passers-by - including police officers - caught on hidden camera.

His album Racine Carrée has been one of this year's biggest sellers, with the tracks Formidable and Papaoute giving him even greater success than Alors on Danse did from his debut album.

I'm surprised that other artist's haven't 'been inspired by' (ie ripped off) the Formidable video, but in the meantime, Stromae himself does a pretty good job of it.

IAM: Manœuvres sombres/Sombres manœuvres

Another video has come out by Marseilles rappers IAM, with Manœuvres sombres/Sombres manœuvres a
follow-up to the clip released for the song Après la fête which came out last week.

It continues the narrative of the first clip, in effect a short film set in the band's home town.

The song comes from their Arts Martiens album that was released in April this year, and re-established the act as one of France's leading hip hop acts.

They performed at the Urban Peace festival at the Stade de France last weekend and are about to embark on further live dates around France, including a show in Paris on November 20.

Meanwhile, a new album is to be released before the end of the year. To be entitled simply Iam, the collection comes out on November 18.

French Rap feature on France 24

A nice little video feature on France 24 English about rap in France.

The report makes the point that the genre has been around in France for 30 years now, and the market for rap music in France is second only to the USA.

Nice to see France 24 giving a platform to French music, something it could perhaps do a bit more of, but it's good to see a serious news source giving respect to music, in particular one that is still seen by many as fundamentally controversial.

As last week's Urban Peace festival shows, rap is not only popular in France, but it is an artistically vibrant scene with a huge variety of voices and styles.

Hopefully it's only a matter of time until a French rapper makes a breakthrough into the international scene, There's not really been a French rap figure getting recognition in the anglo-saxon music world since MC Solaar in the 90s so it's certainly about time.

Again, the music industry and media remain shy of using music in a language other than English, but with the internet making entertainment less parochial, this may well change.

In the meantime, hats off to France 24 for running this. Now can we have more features about French  music?

Mylène Farmer: Monkey Me

A new video has emerged for the track Monkey Me, the new single by Mylène Farmer.

The song is the title track from Farmer's most recent studio album , the release coincides with her Timeless 2013 tour, that has so far seen her play a lengthy engagement in Paris, and is currently touring around France.

The video is by Eric Delmotte and Luc Froehlicher, Froehlicher having worked on visual aspects of Farmer's tour. It had been expected that there wouldn't be a video released to accompany the song, but

Mylène herself doesn't feature in the video, perhaps she's been a little busy putting the tour together to get involved.

The single gets a physical release at the beginning of next week, it will be interesting to see if it gives her another number one single to add to her growing collection.

The cover for the single was chosen from potential designs submitted by fans in a competition, with Mylène selecting her favourite to appear on the cover.

It's the third track to be released as a single from the album which emerged last year, following À L'Ombre and Je te dis tout.

Farmer's tour continues, Monkey Me being one of the tracks featured in her set, and some of her earlier albums get a special release as picture discs next week, while there's speculation that a recording of one of her shows might be releases as a live DVD before the end of the year.

Indochine: Black City Parade

A clip's recently  been released for the title track from Indochine's most recent album Black City parade.

Indochine have this year shown that even bands that have been around for a few years can remain relevant artistically, critically and commercially.

The album Black City Parade, the band's 12th album, was released in February  and it reached number one in France.

Memoria preceded it as a single, the song College Boy being released in May. That song caused considerable controversy on account of its video, the homophobic violence portrayed in it resulting in a ban from daytime television, its release coinciding with the debate about equal marriage in France.

The new video was shot in New York and was directed by photographer Richard Kern.

Indochine have been touring extensively this year, with more dates resuming at Zénith sized venues around France later this month and into next year. They play at the Stade de France in June 2014.

Zaz: Je Veux (live at the Institut français in London)

A great little clip of French singer Zaz at the Institut français in London for a private concert on the terrace of
the French corner of the UK capital.

She performs the song Je Veux, a track from her 2010 self-titled debut album.

The album was a number one hit in France, several of the songs including Je Veux going on to make a mark on the charts. The track La fée made it into the top ten.

Since then, she's released a live album and a follow up  studio collection entitled Recto Verso, which was  realeased in France earlier this year, with the song On ira giving her another hit single.

Her debut UK album,  entitled Zaz is released this week on Dramatico.

Editorial: October 2013

Another buy month here at vive le roq, and while never managing to get all the content on the site that I want
to do, getting some great material on and hopefully reflecting some of the exciting things that are going on in the French music scene.

The big event of last month was probably Mylene Farmer's tour, with one of France's most popular acts undertaking her long-awaited tour. The tour continues this month, with a show being recorded for release, potentially before the year is out.

Meanwhile, the end of the month sees some of France's best acts play in London under the banner of the Oohlala festival.

This month sees little let up, with a huge number of releases expected to hit the shelves in the run-up to the holiday season.

Among this month's releases is the new one by Sébastien Tellier, which certainly should be an interesting album if the single that was released last month is anything to go by.

In terms of the site we've again had a good month for visitors to the site, so if you're coming back, good to see you again, and if you're visiting for the first time, bienvenue. Hope you like what we're doing.

As always, I can be contacted on johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, with the appropriate punctuation where you'd expect it to be.

We're also on Twitter as @viveleroq or you can find me at @karnag

Thanks again are due to the various record companies and promoters who have been in touch, and  thanks as always to the Institut francais in London and the French Music Office in London for help and encouragement.

Merci et à bientôt

John K