-> http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/112207-new-video-and-album-from-french-pop-star-benjamin-biolay.html#post128333

Citation :

New video and album from French pop star Benjamin Biolay

October 27, 2009

“La Superbe” is Biolay’s fifth album to date and is presented over two CDs featuring a dazzling assortment of cinematic and Gainsbourg-esque chansons and pop-songs inspired largely by the iconic British bands of the last 50 years - from The Beatles to Morrisey and Joy Division.

With its trademark lush strings and melancholy feel, Benjamin Biolay’s music is as slow-burning and smouldering as his looks. La Superbe feels like a first class trip on Eurostar, straight to the Paris of Etienne Daho, Bashung, Gainsbourg and Michel Legrand.

Among the many stand-out tracks, Tu Es Mon Amour recalls the Gainsbourg Confidentiel of the early sixties, La Toxicomanie nods in the direction of the cool jazz of Chet Baker, while the Penny Lane-like Night Shop features up-and-coming Spanish trumpet-player Ruben Simeo.

There are bursts of electronics akin to Air or Daft Punk, rocking guitar medleys, hip hop beats with the majority of the tracks featuring Biolay’s, mesmerizing but beautiful voice.

-> http://www.recordstore.co.uk/productdetail.jsp?productPK=unittest-BSX8xq6qG2UaSqMTpN3IEb-1

Citation :

French singer, songwriter, musician, actor and record producer, Biolay is a Serge Gainsbourg-like talent, and has worked with a number of female singers including his younger sister Coralie Clément on her three internationally acclaimed albums. He also arranged the strings on Carla Bruni's latest album, Comme Si De Rien N’Etait. "Before she took up singing, she told me she liked Salle des Pas Perdus, the first album I did with Coralie, and Négatif, my second album. When she started singing, she said that if she needed a string arranger, it would absolutely have to be me," he explains matter-of-factly about his collaboration with the First Lady of France.

Francophiles over the world know him as the producer and co-writer of Keren Ann's first two albums, and for the compositions he has penned for the chanson legends Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, Valérie Lagrange, Henri Salvador and Julien Clerc.

Fittingly, 'La Superbe' is also a double album, a rare thing in the era of the single track download. 'La Superbe' is a very filmic album, a dream-like movie of the mind, with characters like Miss Catastrophe."She’s a composite of many people. I wanted to have a Hitchcock-like blonde. To me, she is crying out to be in a film," says Biolay who also has a knack for transporting the listener to specific locations in his songs, be they Lyon Presqu’Ile or Buenos Aires."I love that city. The track mentions the Kim Y Novak bar, a real trashy but lovely place," reminisces the well-travelled musician who was pictured strolling along the Brighton sea-front on the cover of Rose Kennedy.

-> http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article6911296.ece

Citation :

November 14, 2009

Benjamin Biolay : La Superbe

David Hutcheon

Five LPs into his brilliant career, the Frenchman finally gets the first British release of what might just be his masterpiece. Fittingly, it’s a sprawling set that veers from apocalyptic techno to Gang of Four-style post-punk via melancholic chanson, with piano ballads (Night Shop), guitar-driven sounds (L’Espoir Fait Vivre) and orchestral numbers (the title track) sharing space. For such a weighty package, however, it’s remarkably free of anything that should have been trimmed. Superbe, indeed.

-> http://www.franceinlondon.com/en-Events-in-London-3297-Benjamin-Biolays-New-Album-out-on-9th-November-CD-release--new-album-La-Superbe.html

Citation :

Benjamin Biolay's New Album out on 9th November

Benjamin Biolay's new album gives us reasons to fall in love with him and with his music. In gets himself in the very risky business of launching a double CD, however, he is successful in doing it by making sure that he puts forward his strong points - beautiful music, both luxuriant and simple, - he balances types and influences - Then he gives depth to his voice and to his lyrics. Very unexpected.

-> http://www.shazamers.com/category/aroundtheworld/

Citation :

Gainsbourg’s Heirs

October 13th, 2009

The influence of French legend Serge Gainsbourg can still be felt among today’s most forward-minded pop artists. This week two releases by high profile Gallic stars bring his name back to memory.

Since his 2001 debut, ‘Rose Kennedy’, singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay has often been compared to Gainsbourg. His penchant for dramatic string and orchestral arrangements, combined with his XXI century update of ‘La Chanson’ melancholic spirit, has established him as one of the new French pop’s key figures.

His reputation has been cemented not only through his own records, but also by giving a hand to other artists; both veteran – Henri Salvador, Françoise Hardy – and new – his sister Coralie Clement and Keren Ann. He was also one of the arrangers in France’s first lady, Carla Bruni, recording debut ‘Quelqu’un M’a Dit’.

Biolay will unveil on October the 19th ‘La Superbe’, his sixth studio work. An ambitious double album, conceived as a cinematographic narration through characters such as Miss Catastrophe, in which the singer-songwriter reflects about the moments when a person is forced to reconsider his life. It mixes his country’s nostalgia-tinged pop heritage with a rich diversity of elements taken from classical, jazz, post-punk and his personal admiration for such British pop-rock greats as The Beatles or The Smiths. The title track track can be downloaded through his website.

And if Biolay is often considered one of Gaingsbourg’s musical heirs; his real daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg has also grown up to become a multidisciplinary artist. Her 2006 debut album ‘5:55′ was largely ignored, despite having on board such illustrious guests as Air and Jarvis Cocker.

While she’s now better known for her film career, after scooping the best actress gong at Cannes film festival for her disturbing performance in Lars Von Trier’s latest shocker ‘Antichrist’. Charlotte is ready to show the world that music is on her genes with the arrival early next year of her second album ‘IRM’. This time she’s hired Beck on production duties - with whom she sings first single ‘Heaven Can Wait’. However, to start the anticipation building process, the title track is now also available as a free download.

Ailleursetici a écrit:

Emilie a écrit:

Ailleursetici a écrit:

Emilie a écrit:

Je vais faire une tentative de lobbying BBien ici aussi ce soir

tu devrais demander à être sa RP en fait, je suis sûre que ça marcherait du tonnerre

On avait pas dit que j'arrêtais de lui demander des trucs ?

ah mais non, c'est trop amusant

elle est sadique

ça a marché ton lobbying émilie ?

il est français à la base ? parce que si je vais chez un anglais je vais préférer qu'il me fasse écouter des groupes brit lol

oulaaaaaaaaa alors on s'incline

pire que sinclair en boucle ? lol me dis pas qu'il est maé-maniaque ?

ahhhhhhhhhh c'est lui

Hannah Westley Last Updated: January 19. 2010 10:03PM UAE / January 19. 2010 6:03PM GMT

It is indicative of the rather sorry state of the music scene in France that the hot favourite for Best Album and Best Concert of the 2010 Victoires de la Musique (the French equivalent of the Brit Awards) is a group that made its debut more than 30 years ago and whose name was almost entirely forgotten for 10 years.

Back in 1977, the group Indochine was the closest that France got to new wave (think Depeche Mode meets The Cure). Today, this is a group that has truly stood the test of time, including the death of one of its musicians and a fair number of commercial flops. The only member of the original line-up is the guitarist and lyricist Nicola Sirkis, who has astutely managed over the years to work with young musicians who were fans of the original band. Musically, its more audacious sounds attenuated through accessible melodies, Indochine appeals both to its die-hard new wave fan base while also reaching out to younger generations of wannabe goths. La République Des Meteors, released last March and up for Best Album when the Victoires are announced later this year, pursues the group’s eternal themes of the fear of death, separation and fantasies. With lyrics that express a sense of malaise and revolt in the face of the modern world, Indochine appears to reflect on issues without ever becoming offensive or distributing blame.


Indochine’s current success cannot only be attributed to the lack of any other serious musical contenders but also to the nostalgic tendencies of a nation that, caught in the cold grip of the global economic crisis and with waning faith in its once popular president, prefers to look to the past for reassurance and happy memories. However, like other groups that cross the cult divide to achieve greater popularity, Indochine has its detractors as well as its admirers. A Facebook group with more than 10,000 members vocally expresses its distaste for the group.


The music scene in France, rather like its political parties, is polarised and allows for little or no middle ground. There are the staunch admirers of the long tradition of the French chanson. Despite Anglo-Saxon prejudice, the chanson, which can be defined only by its emphasis on text rather than music, is alive and kicking. Following in the wake of such illustrious names as Edith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré and Serge Gainsbourg, the chanson has over recent years had a new lease of life and today its representatives carry nationwide appeal and appear on the covers of magazines that aren’t exclusively about music. Then there are the new generations for whom pop stars are created through television programmes such as Star Academy (a reality TV talent show) and who do their best to emulate their American heroes – whether they be hip-hop, rock or rap.

Nowhere is this musical divide more evident than when contesting 2009’s title of Album of the Year. According to iTunes, the musician and singer Benjamin Biolay won the title with his album La Superbe. Biolay’s music is firmly within the chanson tradition, although his public profile, including a well-publicised relationship with Chiara Mastroianni (the daughter of the actors Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni), his penchant for badmouthing and even picking fights with fellow musicians, hints that he sees himself more in the bad-boy tradition.


On the other hand, the young listeners’ music-only radio channel NRJ awarded the title to Mylène Farmer, the 48-year-old ( déjà !) Canadian-born French singer and songwriter. If her age is more than twice that of her youthful fans, her success is uncontested and she holds the record for the most No 1 hits on the French charts – nine and counting.

Nevertheless, Farmer’s age shouldn’t come as a surprise to any devotee of French music. It is typical of French musicians that they refuse to hang up the mike with the passing of the years and the weakening of vocal cords. The name on everybody’s tongue at the close of 2009 was the unfortunate Johnny Hallyday, known in the foreign press as the French Elvis ( ça me fait toujours marrer ce surnom) , who at the tender age of 66 was on the final leg of a farewell world tour when he was struck with a devastating infection after an operation on his back. Now convalescing in Los Angeles, fans are pretty sure this won’t be Hallyday’s last appearance – after all, the popular singer Charles Aznavour has just returned to the recording studio at the age of 85

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100120/ART/701199988/1214/review

France celebrates la chanson

It's a pity that the Anglo-Saxon pop world doesn't pay more attention to what's happening on the other side of the English Channel. It's true that some French acts have been enjoying success in the UK but they are instrumental or sing in English -- like Air, David Guetta, Phoenix and Sliimy.

Last night the best of current Gallic pop was on display at the Victoires de la Musique, the annual industry awards. The two stars of the night were Oivia Ruiz, who won best female singer and best clip for Elle Panique [video above]. Benjamin Biolay won for best male and also for his pop-operatic album La Suberbe [video here]. The great Alain Bashung won posthumously the award for best concert DVD.

Biolay and Ruiz are part of the recent renaissance in la chanson française, the poetic, rather self-conscious, style which had its last big boom in the 1960s with Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel, Barbara and others (Yes, Brel was Belgian. This is about French-language song). Like their predecessors, the new generation take themselves seriously as auteurs-compositeurs-interprètes, the rather pompous term for their profession. The current crop are producing some pretty good tunes. Ruiz, 30, a south-westerner with a playful gamine act, is less solemn than Biolay, 37, a fine tunesmith with a taste for melodrama.



Charles Aznavour, honorary president of the Victoires and one of the last post-war chansonniers, is enthusiastic about the new talent. "They are the heirs to Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Gilbert Bécaud, Barbara and myself," he modestly told last night's ceremony (which included a live performance by Stevie Wonder). Aznavour expanded on the revival in this week's Express magazine. La Chanson Française is back after a slump, he said. "In recent years, they were only writing empty love ditties with frills.. or English imitations. I was despairing."

The lyrics are what makes French song different from English-language popular music, Aznavour said. "If you compare texts on the same themes, no Anglo-Saxon has managed to equal us. Take Yesterday, a very great song carried by extraordinary music, but it will never be Léo Ferré'sAvec le Temps. That's indisputable. You could fill a big library just with the works of Trenet, Brel, Ferré, Barbara..."

Defining la chanson françaiseis a bit like trying to sum up Gaullism. The late General unhelpfully explained his doctrine as "une certaine idée de la France". The chanson is about Frenchness. You recognise it when you hear it. In contrast, British pop-rock, with its near one-track love themes, is not about the national soul. American music, especially country and R&B is more like the French though it doesn't have the French leftwing slant. The big difference is the way that French lyrics can cover almost any subject. L'Express pointed out that recent hits have included a complaint by pancakes to mushrooms (Olivia Ruiz), a football tackle by Patrick Vieira (Vincent Delerm) and an MRI scan (Charlotte Gainsbourg, who, incidentally failed last night to pick up her expected Victoires). You don't have to be French or Belgian to do chanson, but it helps. Carla Bruni, Italian-born but French-raised, is a member of the club. Her insipid oeuvre has become something of a joke in Paris.

The poorly drafted French Wikipedia entry even defines chanson française as "fed by a desire for linguistic and cultural resistance to a form of economic, linguistic and aesthetic domination." In case you don't know who the enemy is, it explains later that it wants to be different from "the dominant, Anglo-Saxon forms of the music industry." That's the politics. You don't need that to enjoy Olivia Ruiz and Benjamin Biolay.

Posted by Charles Bremner on March 07, 2010 at 12:24 PM in

http://timescorrespondents.typepad.com/charles_bremner/2010/03/celebrating-french-song.html

Cette lili, elle est partout !

i am