Nolwenn Leroy's Folk: Versions Originales

With the release last week of an album of covers by Nolwenn Leroy focusing on the work of French singer-songwriters of the 1970s, I thought it was worth taking a look and a listen to some of the original versions of the songs she's re-made for the 21st century audience.

Much as I like Nolwenn, and appreciate her new versions of the songs, the originals of these songs have their own charm.  Her album inspires a dive into some of the forgotten rivers of French music, where cheesy album covers and Greatest Hits compilations congregate, along with artists who haven't had much of a media profile for years or who are written off artistically as well past their peak. But there are some gems that are worth investigation.

If you want to explore further, it won't take much expense. You'll find vinyl or CDs by many of the acts she's covered in the cheap section of pretty much any record shop in France.

Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime originally appeared on Jacques Higelin's 1979 Caviar pour les autres... album. Higelin released two albums simultaneously, Champagne pour tout le monde now combined with its partner as a double album. A later version that saw Higelin duet with actor Isabelle Adjani was probably the definitive Higelin version of the song.




So far away from LA was a hit for Nicolas Peyrac in 1975 and helped establish his career. It featured on his debut album D'où venez-vous ? Peyrac continues to perform and release new music, and is also a successful author.




Diabolo menthe was written by Yves Simon for the soundtrack of the film of the same name by director Diane Kurys. According to legend, the song was written in the space of two hours before a concert. The film, set in the early 60s, tells the story of two young girls growing up in Paris during that time. The song was also recently covered by La Grande Sophie.



Suzanne is obviously a cover of the Leonard Cohen classic, but the French version was adapted by Graeme Allwright. Allwright, a singer songwriter with a long career, covered and adapted many of Cohen's songs. It initially appeared on his 1968 Le Jour De Clarté album, along with an adaptation of Cohen's Stranger Song.

Allwright's French version was covered by Francoise Hardy in 1968 on her Comment Te Dire Adieu album. The song was also covered Alain Bashung, appearing on his final album Bleu pétrole in 2008, the year before Bashung's death.



Virages was a hit for Yves Duteil in 1972. His first single, it would feature on his 1974 debut album L'Écritoire. Duteil would go on to write the song Prendre un Enfant, a song that has been widely covered in different languages by a number of artists.




Hollywood was originally by David McNeil and appeared on his 1974 album L'Assassinat. McNeil, the son of painter Marc Chagall, has had a long musical career from his 1972 self-titled debut to his 2014 album Un lézard en septembre and his songs have been performed by artists including Yves Montand, Jacques Dutronc and Renaud.




Petite fille de rêve was a 1974 single by Jean-michel Caradec. It featured on the album of the same name, following his Mords la vie debut the previous year.  One of his best known songs, Ma Bretagne quand elle pleut was covered by Nolwenn Leroy on her 2010 Bretonne album. Caradec  died aged 34 in a car accident in 1981.




Je t'aimais, je t'aime, je t'aimerai was a single in 1994, from Francis Cabrel's Samedi soir sur la Terre. It's one of his best known songs, with previous covers by France Gall amongs others. It's a spectacularly beautiful song. Cabrel recorded an album of Dylan covers in 2012. If Dylan covered this song in English, it would be regarded as a masterpiece.



On est comme on est is the title track of the 1981 debut album by Renaud Detressan. He went on to release three solo albums, before forming the band Soldat Louis in 1988. The band took traditional Breton and celtic music and combined it with rock, with considerable commercial success. From their 1988 Première Bordée album to their 2017 Quelques nouvelles du front, they have remained one of the most prominent names in contemporary Breton music.



la rua madureira came from Nino Ferrer's 1969 album Agata, his third album. Ferrer had been active since 1959 and already enjoyed considerable success in France and Italy. A version of this song by Cali appeared on a tribute album to Ferrer - On dirait Nino - that was released in 2005. Ferrer died in 1998, five years after the release of his final album.



Marions les roses features on the second album by the band Malicorne, and came out in 1975. Malicorne were a folk act who fitten in well with the more pastoral tendancies of then-contemporary progressive rock. Manstay of the band Gabriel Yacoub had previously played with Alan Stivell on his key Chemins de terre and À l'Olympia albums anb.d founded the band with his partner Marie Yacoub. The band enjoyed considerable success in the 70s, and Malicorne 2 sold over 100,000 copies.



Jolie Louise was originally by Daniel Lanois from his 1989 album Acadie. Lanois was by then well-known as a producer, having worked with U2 and Brian Eno, and having played a considerable role in re-inventing the music career of Bob Dylan through his work on his Oh Mercy album. Lanois' debut solo album saw him explore the cajun folk sounds of  French America and did much to revive an international interest in this style of music.



Sacré Géranium by Dick Annegarn is unique in the collection, in that Nolwenn duets with the original artist. The song is the title track from Annegarn's 1974 debut album, although the album technically is just titled 'Dick Annegarn'. Annegarn has continued to record and perform, his most recent release being 2018's 12 villes, 12 chansons.

Feist performs Leonard Cohen at Juno Awards

A wonderful and emotional perfomance by Feist at Canada's Juno Awards as she took to the stage with a version of Leonard Cohen's hey that aint no way to say goodbye.

The ceremony is the Canadian equivalent of the Brit Awards or the Grammys.

Cohen, who died in November, won the award for Album of the Year and Artist of the year, following the release of his final album, You want it darker.

Cohen is of course no stranger to the Juno awards, having won many through the course of his long career.

It was impressive to see Canada's prime minister take to the stage to pay tribute to Cohen, a man he knew personally.

Justin Trudeau, is such a natural on the stage that if the politics game fails to work out for him he could probably consider a career as a  TV presenter. Or perhaps not.

Leonard Cohen RIP

Terribly saddened by the death of Leonard Cohen.

Few artists explored the human condition as thoroughly as he did, and fewer still were able to report back with such wisdom and eloquence.

The songs of love and hate, of the uncertainties and the hope, of the despair and the joy.

Leonard was the songwriter, the poet, the writer. The others were just entertainers.

I only saw him once, when he played in Glasgow in 1988, having listened to him for years. I'll still be listening to him for years to come.

Take your pick of a favourite song, choose your favourite song lyric or quote. There are so many to choose from. The videos below are just to illustrate the length of his career, from the 60s to his last ever show in Paris.

 We'll not see his like again and the world is a better place because of him.

Louis Bertignac: Hallelujah

A magnificent live version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah performed by Louis Bertignac.

Bertignac dedicates it simply: "For Paris and France."

It, of course, recalls the version of the song recorded at the Bataclan club by Jeff Buckley, from his 1995 EP.

Bertignac has been playing solo shows as part of the tour following the release of his solo album Suis-Moi last year,  and he's also played a few shows with two fellow Téléphone veterans under the name Les Insus, to huge demand.

Téléphone  are enjoying a higher profile than ever, with a raft of re-issues and re-packages on the market, along with a new various artists tribute CD.

 Bertignac has a show scheduled at La Cigale in Paris on December 3.

M Pokora: Live à Bercy

Been a while since i've looked at the French charts, so perhaps worth a mention of former boy band star M Pokora knocking Indochine off the number one position with his Live à Bercy album

The singer, known to his family as Matthieu Tota, was last at number one in the album charts in 2006,with his second album Player,  his last album A la Poursuite du Bonheur missing the top spot when it was released this time last year.

The live collection is a memento of the tour Pokora undertook following the release of the album. A la Poursuite du Bonheur has sold over 300,000 copies in France, his most successful album of his career, on the back of three successful singles Juste un Instant, On est là and Merci d'etre.

Since then, he's been even more high profile with his involvement in the Generation Goldman various artists collection which featured his duet with Tal Envole-moi. This recording went on to become a top five hit.

The Generation Goldman album, which was the number one seller before Indochine, is France's number two album this week.

Pokora first came to public attention as part of the Popstars reality show boyband band Linkup, whose 2003 Notre étoile album and single Mon étoile both reached number one in their respective charts France.

His solo career began the following year when the band split, his self-titled debut released in 2004 going platinum, the follow up in 2006, Player, hitting number one.

Pokora's shortly taking the part of Robin Hood in the musical Robin des Bois, Ne Renoncez Jamais from September, and a soundtrack CD due for release beforehand

Adam Cohen - What Other Guy

While his new release is in English, Adam Cohen merits a mention here on account of his previous francophone work.

I've features Thomas Dutronc, as well as Lulu and Charlotte Gainsbourg recently, artists who have carved out their own musical identities while coming from famous musical families.

Of course, while a famous surname can open doors, the weight of expectation can be a burden. How does an artist live up to the high water mark of the last generation?

For Adam Cohen it must be more difficult than most, as the son of Leonard Cohen - to these ears at least the greatest songwriter ever - the standard that he is expected to reach could hardly be higher.

But with his new album, his third, he carries the weigh lightly, both confident in his own ability and at ease with his family legacy.

Cohen, although born in Montreal, spent much of his childhood in France after his parents separated. He was signed as a solo artist in 1997 after he moved to LA, having spent some time in bands in New York.

His self-titled debut album was released in 1998 and in 2004 a French language collection entitled Mélancolista was released. Between then and now Cohen was involved in the band Low Millions.

Cohen now accepts the legacy of his father, performing his work, and has said that his songs on this collection are reminiscent of his father's earlier work, a sound that Cohen senior has long moved away from as he embraced changes in style over the decades.

While his previous projects have met with critical approval, they've never achieved a commercial breakthrough. Cohen, older and wiser, looks set to finally get some of the credit he deserves in his own right for Like a Man.

Adam Cohen is touring extensively in Europe until the end of the year.