LIVE session: Orouni’s “Speedball”

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Performing at Les Trois Baudets

Monsieur Pas de Merde really likes the sounds these Parisians make. Orouni remind me of London’s hipster indie iconoclasts  “The Leisure Society,” with a similar mix of strings and wind instruments – très groovy.

Orouni claim influences of Leonard Cohen, The Kinks and Stereolab. Their mix of minimalism and lush arrangements also recall The Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Supergrass, Belle & Sebastian, and (Monsieur Pas de Merde favorite) – ’60s Brit Invasion legend, the Zombies!

C’est groovy – non?

Follow Orouni on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Orouni

video courtesy of Le Cargo

Belleville, the Secret Birthplace of Communism 

Learn why you’ve probably never learned about the Belleville Commune in French history class.

Belleville, which encompasses most of the 20th arrondissement of Paris, is a neighborhood that feels a bit like its own country. And that’s not just because the “Beautiful City” is currently Paris’s Chinatown, or, more accurately, its Little Saigon.

This sprawling quartier built on a hill was actually once a suburb of Paris, which was accumulated by the French capital in the early 1800s. But in 1871, the citizens of Belleville worked together with members of the Parisian working class to overthrow the French government in the quartier and form the Commune of Belleville, which lasted for 72 days and resulted in one of the biggest massacres in French history. In one week, known as “the Bloody Week,” more than 15,000 people were killed in Belleville’s fight for working class independence. This event even went on to inspire political leaders like Karl Marx when he wrote his infamous Communist Manifesto.

If you’ve enjoyed this little history lesson, don’t miss more videos from anti-tourist Messy Nessy Chic, including this adventure into the Paris catacombs to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Source: Belleville, the Secret Birthplace of Communism – Frenchly

French government wishes Trump had shown ‘common decency’

Among the problems with Donald Trump’s latest tantrum against France was his unfortunate timing.

Among the problems with Donald Trump’s latest tantrum against France was his timing. As the American president mocked our French allies yesterday – complete with an all-caps missive that read, “Make France Great Again!” – France was recognizing the three-year anniversary of an ISIS terrorist attack in Paris that killed 130 people.

Trump may not have realized the significance of the date, but he didn’t bother to check, either. Reuters reports that this did not go unnoticed.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who attacked his French counterpart in a series of tweets on Tuesday, should have shown “common decency” instead since the country was mourning the anniversary of deadly attacks in Paris, a French government spokesman said.

In five posts sent on the same day France marked the anniversary of the 2015 attacks that killed 130 people, Trump blasted the key U.S. ally over its near defeat to Germany in two world wars, its wine industry and President Emmanuel Macron’s approval ratings.

“Yesterday was November 13, we were marking the murder of 130 of our people,” French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told Reuters. “So I’ll reply in English: ‘common decency’ would have been appropriate.”

It’s a difficult sentiment to disagree with.  [ . . . ]

Continue reading at MSNBC: French government wishes Trump had shown ‘common decency’

Ballaké Sissoko et Vincent Segal

The very first time I heard the magnificent musical dialogue between Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal  – I was blown away by the beautiful mating of sounds between the kora and cello.

Here’s what Songlines says about the latest recording from this unique artist collaboration:

Ballaké Sissoko is one of Mali’s great kora players and Vincent Segal is a French cellist and producer of remarkable refinement. Their debut, Chamber Music, was one of Jo Frost’s picks of 2010 and this is just as good – perhaps better as the duo have performed together so much they seem to respond to each other instinctively. The contrast of plucked and bowed strings is much of the magic, although Segal is frequently playing pizzicato or creating percussive or flute-like sounds on his cello. The title comes from the fact that much of the album was atmospherically recorded at nighttime on Sissoko’s rooftop in Bamako. SB

Listen via Spotify

Thomas Fersen on Thé ou Café: “Un coup de queue de vache”

I love this description of Thomas Fersen, a French singer-songwriter whom I’ve long admired. “Juste un merveilleux poète qui allume des bougies d’anniversaire dans les yeux de qui l’entend”  [Translated] “Fersen is a simply wonderful poet who lights birthday candles in the eyes of those who hear him.”

Here is Fersen performing on on Thé ou Café

And his interview from the same program

 

For the ukelele players, here’s a nice video showing the chords  from Fersen’s most famous tune, “Louise” I’m going to attempt this on my own uke and perhaps post later!

ZAZ Announces Headlining Performance at New York’s Town Hall

The #1 French singer in the world, ZAZ, announces a headlining performance at New York’s legendary Town Hall on April 22, 2019.

Zaz recently announced a new studio album, Effet Miroir [translation: Mirror Effect], comprised entirely of original songs. Combining elements of chanson, South American guitars, pop, salsa and rock, Effet Miroir is an album of hope that is testament to the beliefs of ZAZ, an internationally celebrated artist.

She also recently premiered the album’s first single, “Qué vendrá“ [translation: “Whatever Happens”] which is sung in both French and Spanish, and is about taking life as it comes and having no regrets. In ZAZ’s words: “To me this song is like a walk on the paths of life. The title echoes those last eight years I’ve spent on the road performing around the world, reminding me of all those encounters and learnings that ensued.”

On Effet Miroir, ZAZ hopes listeners can find and recognize themselves: “To accept all our facets with their paradoxes is for me, a way to unite the polarities of our being” ZAZ says. The album serves as an illustration of several faces and genres, just like the diversity of humanity that she had the opportunity to observe and appreciate for several years on the road, in concert or elsewhere.”

ZAZ (born Isabelle Geffroy) has been compared to the likes of Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and Ella Fitzgerald and her signature voice is celebrated all over the world – from South America to Japan, Germany to Eastern Europe, Russia to Mexico and Spain to Canada to name a few. Moving from Bordeaux to Paris as a teen, she set out to seize what would prove a unique destiny. Since the start of her career in 2010 with the seminal hit “Je veux,” ZAZ has won a multitude of awards including French and German Grammys, and has sold in excess of four million records internationally, with Gold status or higher in twelve countries. She has performed 500 shows across five continents, relentlessly proving that music transcends borders. An artist of global resonance, her last album Paris saw her collaborate with the likes of Quincy Jones, Charles Aznavour and Pablo Alborán. Quincy Jones has noted “[ZAZ] has real blues roots in her voice that you’d swear came straight out of the ghetto!” In 2011, ZAZ joined the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble, and has created the project Zazimut to develop and promote projects for a society more respectful of life in all its forms

Source: ZAZ Announces Headlining Performance at New York’s Town Hall