Editorial: March 2016

Another month kicks off,  with more French music and related news than ever it seems. When we
 kicked things off here some years ago, I thought that there might be the occasional current French music news to share, and I'd spend a lot of time looking back at gems the anglo audience might have missed over several decades of quality francosphere music.

  But with so much material emerging that merits attention, new acts that deserve  a mention and news about the latest developments from established acts, there's never been so much  to write about.
Maybe our contacts are getting better at letting us know about things, or maybe it reflects that French music has itself become more confident about its place in the global music scene.

However, this being said, apologies for things getting quiet towards the end of February. As the month comes towards its end, it's always tough to decide whether to continue to add posts for that month or to plan ahead for forthcoming weeks.

Careful use of my time is key to making the  blog work, so given a choice between organising and writing a few (hopefully better) articles for the weeks ahead will  always take precedence over shorter pieces written on the day just to keep things ticking over.

Still, at the end of the day I still managed more posts in February this year than I did in the while first year of the blog's existence.

Which of course brings us to one of the most significant dates of the year, with March 16 marking the sixth birthday of the blog. We've covered a lot of ground and listened to some great music since then for sure.

February was a busy month, and March sees no  slackening in what's going on in the world of French music, with significant releases ahead as well as some key French acts playing in the UK.

Christine and the Queens play in London later this month, a sold-out show at Koko following the UK release of her debut album at the end of February.  Selah Sue  and Gaspard Royant are also visitors to our shores this month.

As always, I can be contacted on 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 get in touch.

The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq or you can find me at @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 French Music Office in London and to the Institut francais in London for their help and encouragement.

Merci et à bientôt

John K