Chanson Du Jour 11/24/16: Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France -“Echoes of France”
Django and and violinist Stéphane Grappelli tear it up playing the French national anthem, La Marseillaise – jazz manouche style.
Chanson Du Jour: Mille Bouches
Chanson Du Jour 11/22/2016 Camille Hardouin “Mille Bouches”
Camille channels the great Peggy Lee is this bluesy chanson dans la Chapelle Saint-Louis à La Rochelle.
Merveilleux!
French secularism: Anti-religious or safeguarding freedoms?
This week we take a closer look at France’s cherished state secularism. Laïcité [secularism], a product of French history and philosophy, is central to how France defines itself. But critics say it is anti-religious and increasingly used to stigmatise Muslims. Is laïcité compatible with a multicultural society?
We spoke to Jean-Louis Bianco, the President of the National Observatory on Secularism, to find out more. […]
Full Story: French secularism: Anti-religious or safeguarding freedoms? – France 24
Charotte Gainsbourg and Degas
“I loved this exhibition. It was Degas’s monotypes – a very interesting process of printing – mostly of women, prostitutes, who were willing to pose for him. But it could become very abstract, with the repetition; he was interested not in the drawing as a result but in the accumulation in his work of the same subject. It was very modern for his time. Then you have the other part – it’s very hard when you know that someone was such a horrible person in real life, and such an antisemite. It’s hard to avoid thinking about it and focus on the art. It’s the same with so many other people, like Céline. But it was really worth going.”
– Charlotte Gainsborg / A Strange New Beauty at MoMA.Photograph: Andrew Toth/Getty
Ballet Scene (1879) pastel | more
Charlotte Gainsbourg
How to Plan a Tour de France Trip
Since summer is a busy season for travel to France, expect to pay a premium for tickets; Hopper has identified a “good deal price” as being roughly $915, if you’re leaving from U.S. East Coast airports (New York’s JFK, Washington’s Dulles, Boston’s Logan) and $1175 if you’re leaving from San Francisco or Los Angeles. […]
Read Full Story: How to Plan a Tour de France Trip – Bloomberg
Who can stand up to France’s National Front? – Al Jazeera
Republicans in France choose their candidate for the presidential election next May.
French voters are due to head to the polls to elect their next president in less than six months.
The chances of Francois Hollande being re-elected are not looking good.
Opinion polls say the socialist leader is the most unpopular president in recent history.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is currently doing very well in the polls.
Add to that Donald Trump’s victory in the United States, as well as Britons voting for Brexit, and more shockwaves wouldn’t be a surprise. […]
Source: Who can stand up to France’s National Front? – Al Jazeera English
