Alex Ferrari: Bara Bará Bere Berê

Most days listening to what's going in in the French music scene is an absolute joy.

There's a huge number of artists I've come across, whether old or new, whose work has impresssed me deeply. many of these I listened to for the first time as a consequence of putting together this blog.

Of course, this isn't always the case.

This is one such tune, and associated video. Alex Ferrari, the current number one in the French charts with Bara Bará Bere Berê.

There are those who hold French music in low esteem. They'll point to the likes of Renée la Taupe, forgetting the musical careers of Bob the Builder, Crazy Frog and Mr Blobby.

I'll always fight the corner defending French music. But sometimes I can't, however hard I try.

If you thought a singer with a name like Alex Ferrari would deliver some Eurotrash summer dance tune, you won't be disappointed. Maybe Brazil is the new home for cheesy summer Europop.

In its favour I suppose is that at least it's not Carly Rae Jepsen, who has been at number one for long enough.





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Chart: Sexion D'Assaut: Ma Direction

Another appearance in the top area of the French singles chart by rap collective Sexion D'Assaut, with the song Ma Direction.

It's another track from their album l'Apogée, released earlier this year and already a double platinum seller and number one album in France.

The previous track Avant qu'elle parte made the top five in France and number one in Belgium, a song dedicated to their mothers perhaps appealing as it did to an audience that would normally be outwith the regular hip hop scene.

The band with their huge number of personnel, sub groups and collaborations are a major force in French rap,  and while the releases under the Sexion D'Assaut name attract huge attention and sales, the members off the band maintain an active presence across France's hip hop scene.

 Probably the closest equivalent would be an act like the Wu Tang Clan, a band whose influence spread across the entire hip hop scene on account of not only the number of members but also their continuous work outwith the 'mother ship'

This week's top five singles in France, according to SNEP's disque en France website at http://www.disqueenfrance.com

1) Gotye: Somebody that I used to know
2) Gusttavo Lima: Balada
3) Carly Rae Jespen: Call me maybe
4) Tacabro: Tacata
5) Sexion D'Assaut: Ma Direction

Festival: Les Eurockéennes

An announcement of some of the first names confirmed for this year's Les Eurockéennes festival in Belfort at the end of June.

While the Cure have been confirmed as a headliner, a line-up that so far includes Justice, Jack White, Cypress Hill, Lana Del Rey, 1995, Mastodon, Refused, Orelsan, The Kooks, Dropkick Murphy, Whiz Khalifa, Charlie Winston, Shaka Ponk and HF Thiéfaine has been revealed.

The event is one of Europe's biggest festivals and has been running since 1989. Last year saw sets by Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age and Arcade Fire at the top of the bill.

Full details of this year's bill will be unveiled on April 17.

Charts - Don Omar and Lucenzo: Danza Kuduro

An unusual number that has been doing some considerable business in the French charts recently, unusual because it has also been getting a considerable amount of airplay in the UK.

Danza Kuduro is a Portuguese/Spanish song by Puerto Rican reggaeton star Don Omar, featuring Lucenzo, a French artist of Portuguese origin, who wrote and produced the song.

Its based on an earlier sony by Lucenzo, Vem Dançar Kuduro, written in Portuguese and English that reached number two in Portugal and number one in the country's club charts. Kuduro is a style of Angolan dace music popular in Portugal

The vesion here comes from Don Omar's Meet the Orphans album, a collection that sees him collaborating with other artists, and it made number one in the US's Billboard Hit Latin Songs chart.

It also made number one in a number of other countries, and hit the top 20 in the UK, no small achievement for a non-English language song.

In the constantly mutating and evolving world of dance music, there's also a host of different remixes of the song, including one featuring Pitbull.

This week's top five:

1: Rod Janois - Ca Ira Mon Amour
2: Moussier Tombola - Logobitombo
3: Rene la Taupe - Rock la Vie
4: Don Omar & Lucenzo - Danza Kuduro
5: Land Del Rey - Video Games

Charts: Merwan Rim - Vous

The French charts continue to be fairly static, but I missed featuring the song Vous by Merwan Rim which continues to keep a place in the top five.

There's perhaps a certain similarity to James Blunt's Beautiful in the song, but with Blunt becoming a huge star and his influence still being heard in UK artists like Ed Sheeran, it's obvious that there's also a huge market for contemporary singer-songwriters in France as well.

He is a graduate of a number of musical theatre, having worked in the field since 2004. His appearance in the musical Le Roi Soleil in 2005 leading to a higher profile for the Sarcelles-born singer.

In 2007 a duet with singer Marilou, entitled Danser sur la Lune was released in France and Canada en 2007, leading to him singing a duet with Céline Dion in Montréal. He's also appeared previously in soundtrack albums of the musicals he has appeared in.

Vous is his first solo single, and an album by Merwan Rim is expected to be released next month.

He has also been nominated for an NRJ Music award for Révélation francophine de l'anée, where he's been shorlisted with Inna Modja, Keen V and Mickael Miro.

This week's top five in France

1) Moussier Tombola - Logobitombo
2) Lucenzo - Danza Kuduro
3) Rene La Taupe -Rock La Vie
4) Collectif Metisse - Sexy Lady
5) Merwan Rim - Vous

Elisa Tovati & Tom Dice - Il Nous Faut

I've not been updating with the latest from the Franch charts for the last few weeks on account of them being pretty static, with David Guetta's gradual world domination taking over the Franch charts as much as elsewhere, and the likes on LMFAO sitting in the top areas of the French charts.

However, one exception was the song Il Nous Faut by Elisa Tovati & Tom Dice.

Tovati is an actress who has also been active as a singer since 2002, when she released her debut Ange Étrange.

This song is a duet with Belgian singer Tom Dice, who competed for Belgium in 2010, coming sixth in the competition.

Dice had previously won the country's X Factor in 2008, and released his debut album Teardrops in 2010, a number one album in the Belgian Flemish charts. His song Me and My Guitar was number one across the country the same year.

The song is on Tovati's most recent album, which was released in June 2011, Le Syndrome de Peter Pan. The album, her third, has been ber most successful so far, and the single her biggest hit, with a top five placing in France and reaching the number one position in Belgium.

This week's top five:

1) Mika: Elle me dit
2) Moussier: Tombola Logobitombo
3) Pitbull feat Marc Anthony: Rain Over Me
4) Inna Modja: French cancan
5) Elisa Tovati & Tom Dice Il Nous Faut

Charts: Collectif Metissé

A new number one in France this week, with Collectif Metissé's Laisse Tomber tes Problèmes.

In fact, it's an entirely French top five this week, with Black Eyed Peas and Jessie J moving out of the top of the charts.

It's very much an upbeat summer song with an electro dancehall feel from the French seven piece.

They've already sold over 300,000 records in their short career, with each song aiming directly for the fun-loving summer audience.

Previously they had a number two single with their debut single Laisse-Toi Aller Bébé in 2009 from their self-titled debut album, and last year Debout Pour Danser from their second album L'esprit de la Fête reached number one in France.

This week's top five:

1) Collectif Metissé - Laisse Tomber tes Problèmes
2) M. Pokora - A Nos Actes Manques
3) David Guetta - Where Them Girls At
4) Magic System - Chérie Coco
5) Snoop Dogg - Sweat (Snoop Dogg v David Guetta)

Black Eyed Peas on Taratata with Stromae

The Black Eyed Peas are big in France, like pretty much everywhere else, with their most recent single Just Can't Get Enough getting into the top five recently.

The band also played at the Stade de France in Paris on June 25

Meanwhile, an interesting version of one of ther best known recent songs has also emerged in a nice international collaboration.

The band appeared on a special edition of the French music TV show Taratata in June, performing songs like Pump It, The Time (Dirty Bit), Just Can’t Get Enough and an exclusive mashup of Don’t Stop The Party vs. Alors On Danse, by Belgium's Stromae.

French charts: Snoop Dogg v David Guetta

Nothing of note new in the French charts this week, all I've featured in previous weeks, but I thought it worth a link to the Snoop Dogg remix by David Guetta as I've not mentioned that one before.

Different from the Dogg's last big chart collaboration which was with Katy Perry, this track seems to fit in with a trend at the moment for US dance acts to collaborate with European DJs and prducers, maybe to bring a new flavour to their tracks

Guetta's already worked with Kelly Rowland, Kelis, Flo Rida and the Black Eyed Peas. His new album's due out in September.

This week's top five:

1)M Pokora: A nos Actes Manques
2)Magic System: Chérie Coco
3)Snoop Dogg: Sweat (Snoop Dogg v David Guetta remix)
4)René la Taupe: Ou la la
5)Jessie J: Price Tag

Charts: Sisi K & Logobi GT

Some new French music in the French top five this week, with Sisi K & Logobi GT's Elle Danse Sexy.

The track comes from the album la Puissance, which came out in November 2010.

The song combines an electro sound with an African style.

Logobi GT's record label Five Music say that Logobi has become the new dance phenonenon, taking over from Tektonic electro dance in the public spaces around the train stations, schools and colleges of Paris

The music has established itself with the young French African community, and will certainly be getting a lot of play over the summer.

Charts: René La Taupe

An update on the top end of the French charts, and a new one in the top five for France's David Guetta, who seems to be contining his programme of collaborating with all the biggest international names.

Meanwhile, M Pokora and Magic System continue to remain in the top five, and an appearance by Anglo act Jessie J.

However, there's a significant new French entry from René La Taupe, who continues to raise the artistic standard of the French music charts.

It follows the classic that was Mignon Mignon which went to number one, and the under-rated Tu Parles Trop, which went to number three.

OK, I can't keep it up. It's rubbish. Utter rubbish. Like Crazy Frog but more rubbish.

It does however seem a long time since there was a novelty record in the top five in the UK. Maybe cynical X Factor marketing and the torrent of US product has killed them off forever in the UK.

Also worth noticing how the French charts still give a good showing for domestic acts, while in the UK the number of home-grown acts seems to be falling drastically.

This has led to some media in Britain reporting calls for a "French-like quota system", (read article here > )

as the only way to keep up the profile of British music in the face of European dance music and American hip hop and R'n'B.

Changed times indeed.

This week's top five in France:

1) M Pokora: A Nos Actes Manques
2) Snoop Dogg: Sweat (Snoop Dogg Vs. David Guetta remix)
3) Magic System: Chérie Coco
4) Jessie J: Price Tag
5) René La Taupe: Ou la la

Chart: M. Pokora - À nos Actes Manqués

A huge pop tune today, with France's number one À nos Actes Manqués by M. Pokora.

The singer, who also goes by the name Matthieu Tota, featured in Popstars in 2003, and was briefly in the band Linkup that was formed as a result.

When they split following an unsuccessful follow-up to their number one debut Mon Etoile, he began a solo career and has so far released four albums.

His second solo album, Player, which featured a duet with Ricky Martin, topped the French album charts in 2006

His third, 2008's MP3, saw a move towards English lyrics, and collaboration with Timbaland on the track Dangerous which went to number one in France.

Mise à Jour, album number four, came out last year, and a special version of the album came out in April including À nos Actes Manqués.