[hugoamt]

I know I've seen a few francophones on this site, but anyone who can is welcome to help me. I'm looking for some music sung in French. All I have right now which is sung at least in part in French is Paris Combo and Manu Chao (who mostly sing in Spanish). Lately I've been hooked on Portuguese Fado and Brazilian Bossa Nova and MPB: in other words stunning vocals with light accoustic accompaniment, usually guitars. Can anyone reccomend some French music in this vein? Jazz singers too or anything which you particularly enjoy. Thanks.

 

[GirgleMirt]

I'd recommend Jean Leloup. Great musician, one of the few french singers that I can actually listen to. Check out (songs) "je joue de la guitar", "la vie est laide", "I lost my baby", that can give you an idea if you like the genre.

other tries, Les Cowboys fringuants, try to listen to "en berne". Recent stuff..

Anyway french is my 1st language, and its sad how few french singers I like

Others passing thru my mind, Voivod (kinda heavy though), I think they made 3 songs in french

Les colocs are good, "tassez vous d'la" is a good song

anyway, not sure it'd fit in your: "stunning vocals with light accoustic accompaniment, usually guitars", but the above is stuff I could listen to.. (kind of a rock/alternative guy)

Others, Grimskunk, dan bigras: "tu me tueras" (or is it "tue moi"?).. Bleh all I can think of...

 

[JiPi]

Hmm, french lyrics?

Céline Dion?

Hrmm.. I really like Natasha St-Pierre's lyrics in her song 'Je n'ai que mon âme'.
Nice voice too. Humm, I'm not really a fan of 'Les Cowboys Fringants' (very sucky IMO, but
that's IMO..

). Nor do I like Dan Bigras.. Les Colocs are fun to listen to, but then again me and
french music doesn't mix well

.

Depends on what you like. If you only listened to is Manu Chao (puke) then I don't know.. Try
something else. Manu Chao doesn't really represent well french singers actually

. You might
want to be on the look-out for a newcomer from Québec (from a TV show that's playing right now,
kind of like American Idol). Her name is uh.. Suzie something. She screwing rocks!!!

 

[hugoamt]

Hey, thanks for the suggestions. Some are better than others

How about some jazz vocalists? And I could really go for something "parisian" with lots of accordians!

 

[AdamK]

Funny you should ask. I was just in Monaco last week and decided to peruse the cd's available. Saw this cd that looked interesting and bought it on a whim.

It's by Carla Bruni and called Quelqu'Un M'a Dit.

The cd just had this cute young woman on the cover cradling her guitar.

I know no French but she's got a smoky voice and the instrumentation is great. It sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Almost entirely acoustic, mostly guitar-based, some cello, slide guitar, mandolin.

I think you'll like it.

It's funny, I went to check the title on Amazon and found out she's a former Italian supermodel. Who knew?

 

[Lisa]

Try: Jacque Brel - Amsterdam

(is a song not an album)

 

[GirgleMirt]

Quote:

Humm, I'm not really a fan of 'Les Cowboys Fringants' (very sucky IMO, but that's IMO.. ). Nor do I like Dan Bigras..

hehe for the cowboys you really have to understand the lyrics, thats where the real power of the song comes from

Bigras, lol, not a fan either, but anyway, he was kinda popular..

others, (sucky) Ginette Reno :lol:, Celine Dion, Isabelle Boulay is new, also popular, ANYWAY!! Really not a fan so....

 

[LobsterSan]

For old French classics with accordian accompaniment, you could try both the "Story of Chanson" and "Cafe de Paris". Both have a variety of old favorites. Of course, recording quality is pretty low, but you can just imagine them spinning on the 'ole victrola and into the warm evening air of summer nights past (or something like that...)

 

[00940]

Hum, for the guitar, my god is Georges Brassens. But it could not appeal to you, the parols matter a lot. The same for Boulay and most of what i like.

I second Carla Bruni (a reconverted top-model) because the parols don't matter at all.

in a more classic rock vein, Indochine and Telephone are truly enjoyable.

Edit : for jazz singers, it must be about nothing. Even in France, most jazz is done in English.

 

[JiPi]

Quote:

Originally posted by GirgleMirt hehe for the cowboys you really have to understand the lyrics, thats where the real power of the song comes from

I understand them perfectly.. At least I can understand every word, but maybe
not the meaning. I mean, I like songs that have content. I don't like to hear a guy
singing about the weather or his ex-girlfriend or what he ate for dinner.. I don't
give a fine **** about that stuff TBH

And how they love winter/autumn/whatever
doesn't really do it for me..

But yeah, I understand perfectly what they're saying

'Anyway, chu content que tu rviennes, t'arrives en même temps qu'l'automne, tsé ksa m'a faite bin d'la peine, de t'voir partir ma mignonne..' Blerrgh.

 

[daycart1]

Songs written by Chausson and Faure are quite wonderful. And there is Faure's famous requium. Enjoy!

 

[jamont]

Hector Berlioz' lovely song cycle "Les Nuit d'Ete".

 

[stuartr]

I cannot believe nobody has said Stereolab yet! They sing largely in French, and they are a great band. Just ask redshifter...he is a bigtime fan. They are a lot of fun, and they use a Moog! I think they even use a Theramon on Sound Dust....very retro, but not in a banal way. You owe it to yourself to check them out. They are recorded very well too...

 

[GirgleMirt]

http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/cowboys-fr...e-pjxd613.html

well I don't know about all of their songs (cowboys fringuants) but I was talking about the song en berne!

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally posted by stuartr I cannot believe nobody has said Stereolab yet! They sing largely in French, and they are a great band. Just ask redshifter...he is a bigtime fan. They are a lot of fun, and they use a Moog! I think they even use a Theramon on Sound Dust....very retro, but not in a banal way. You owe it to yourself to check them out. They are recorded very well too...

oui, stereolab is a great band with lots of french lyrics. i just got my stereolab "live project 1990 - 2002" 3 disc set in the mail from the uk last night. i am so psyched right now.