Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Bonjour Chanson Series 6, Episode 30

Bonjour Chanson Series 6, Episode 30

Play Track 01 seconds 0 to 33? “Le Carnaval”.

Start text segment 1 ? Welcome to “Bonjour Chanson”. French popular music is a genre all on its own. Don’t be intimidated. No need to speak the language to enjoy the beautiful melodies and feel the emotion. We’ll tell you about the artists and songs in English. You heard an excerpt from the song “The Carnaval” by Da Silva. More about Da Silva at the end of the show when we’ll play the entire song.

Our first song is by La Grande Sophie, (Tall Sophie), who came by her name honestly, being almost six feet tall. She is an unconventional songwriter who grew up near Marseille in the South of France. She started performing in a group she created when only 13 years old. She loves to travel throughout France with her guitar and bass drum and prefers to perform in small venues. Her songs are melodious and leave her audiences in a “feel good” mood. We’ll hear her interpretation of “Someone Else” from 2009. “It’s funny, but quite frequently I have thought of changing my role, To be born again, to know something different. Tomorrow when everything blows up, we’d want to be someone different. Just once in our life, let everything be different.” La Grande Sophie”. ? End text segment 1

Play Track 02 ? Quelqu’un d’Autre

Start Text segment 2 ? That was La Grande Sophie in “Quelqu’un D’Autre”

Albin de la Simone was born in Amiens in the Picardie region of France. His father was a jazz clarinet player and perhaps not surprisingly Albin’s goal was to become a jazz musician. However, when he met musician Jerome Godet, the latter introduced him to artists such as Matthieu Boogaerts and Jean-Louis Aubert, Albin realized there were other avenues to express his musical talents besides jazz and he became a much sought after studio pianist. At night he worked on his own compositions. Alain Souchon thought highly of him and invited him to join him in a concert tour as his opening act. Fast forward to 2007 when Albin publishes his third album “Bungalow” that was conceived during a stay on the Island of Bali. We listen to the track “Talk to Me” from that album. “Stretched out naked on a futon, awake but playing dead. I wait for your hands that I adore, to pass by. From my tailbone to my neck, running along the reef of my vertebrae, your caresses sweet as sugar will enchant me. Talk to me with your hands. ” Albin de la Simone ? End Text segment 2.

Play Track 03 (Start at second 22) ? Parle-Moi

Text segment 3 ? Albin de la Simone interpreted « Parle Moi ».

When Olivia Ruiz’s first album “I do not like Love” burst on the French music scene in 2003 it marked a new chapter in French Chanson. This young woman with her unusual voice, exotic accent and influenced by her Spanish heritage, found her place at the head of the table of New French Music, while still retaining the essential characteristic of French Chanson. One would be hard pressed to find a better example of enrichment through diversity. We listen to the “Weeping Willow” from 2009. My father bought me a baby weeping willow for my fifth birthday, that would live beyond my hundredth. He tended it so it would watch over me. Then he abandoned it, as he did mother and myself. The weeping willow is dying, from the water of bad faith. ” Ms. Olivia Ruiz. ? End of Text segment 3.

Play Track 04 ? Le Saule Pleureur.

Text segment 4 ? Olivia Ruiz brought you “Le Saule Pleureur”

The group Volo consists of two brothers Frederic and Olivier Volovitch, from the region around Tours. Frederic, the older one has been a member of the group “The Wriggles” for about 10 years. Olivier was working in the mean time on his Master’s Degree in Philosophy and attempted to pass some of the National Education exams, but his passion for music caught up with him. In 2001 the brothers decide to join forces and form the group Volo. Their first concerts were in a bar in Saint-Etienne. They received excellent reviews. Their songs are in touch with the common man and woman, their joys and setbacks, their place in the community. We’ll listen to the song “Sunday” that came out in 2009 as a single. “Summing us up, we are parents, siblings, children, folks who love one another and like to talk about ourselves from time to time. And on Sunday we take a stroll, hands in our pockets, so far from, yet so close to the coming week. Summing us up, it’s narrow forest paths, lakesides, town centers and squares, gardens and parks.” We listen to Volo in “Sunday." ? End of text segment 4.

Play Track 05 ? Dimanche

Text segment 5 ? We listened to Volo in « Dimanche »

Coralie Clement knew all the instruments of the orchestra when she was 3 years old. She started studying musical theory at 5 and shortly thereafter took up the violin, but did not think of herself as a singer. She loved the Beatles, Serge Gainsbourg and Francoise Hardy. Her brother Benjamin Biolay is a highly successful singer/songwriter and Coralie started privately to re-interpret his compositions in her own manner. When at a get-together he started to strum his guitar, she sang along to his great astonishment. This spontaneous event led to her first album “The Waiting Room” which appeared in 2002 in which all songs were composed by Benjamin. We’ll listen to the song “It was worth it”. “I did not dare to tell you, even less putting it in writing. I waited for the opportune moment. I did not know how to go about it. My God this is hell. Where to start? I knew nothing of life, I had not been around the block, totally ignorant of how to live together. Yes, I had to decide to bite the bullet, one evening at water’s edge. ” Here is Coralie Clement. ? End of text segment 5.

Play Track 06 ? Ca Valait la Peine

Text segment 6 ? Coralie Clement brought you “Ca Valait la Peine”

The French singer/songwriter Da Silva, born in Nevers in 1976, has engaged in many projects since he was 15 years old, and doing so he has traveled all over France. He started off his career with a taste for Punk and although he evolved toward a more acoustic sound, he is still decisively a rock artist. We’ll listen to the song “The Carnaval from 2009” . “I have thrown myself into the parade, in the midst of the brasses and the drums. Here at least I could be certain that my pain could not be heard. I have marched with the parade which stretches all along the pavement. I have not touched firm ground, My arms, raising my heavy head and the breaking dawn, remind me of every forgotten moment, that if life is terrible, the days can be so beautiful”. We listen to Da Silva ? End of text segment 6

Play Track 01 ? Le Carnaval

Text segment 7 ? We heard “Da Silva in “Le Carnaval”.

We have reached the end of our show. We wish to thank members of l’Alliance Française de Washington for using Bonjour Chanson! This program was recorded in the studios of WYPR in Baltimore. Jonathan Ehrens is the producer. I am Charles Spira.. Please, seek us out when we are on the air. We enjoy your company!