This Sunday’s FRENCH CONNECTION on WRIU 90.3 FM began with a set of avant-garde French pop with electronic textures; We then played songs from a great rock band from Cabestany, Pyrénées-Orientales – The Limiñanas; ending with a set celebrating the French poet/anarchist Georges Brassens.

( This program originally aired on WRIU, Kingston, 90.3 FM on Sunday, August 10 )

Notes from the August 10, 2025, Episode 6

By Michael Stevenson

• Up top, we heard The Masons doing their song “Bottle of Love.” (1998). The Masons are a creation of Kraig Jordan, the Rhode Island-based musician/songwriter/producer who has collaborated with Tanya Donnelly (Throwing Muses, Belly), Mark Cutler (The Schemers, Raindogs), Bob Kendall (Blood Oranges), and other notables.

• Next, we heard Bertrand Belin performing “Hypernuit”. A brilliant storyteller, Bertrand Belin’s lyrics depict a character seeking vengeance on a village that wronged him. 

“He surrounds the house – the one aptly named the Beast…”. 

“Hypernuit” is from Belin’s third album, of the same name. Belin is currently touring in support of his latest album, Tambour Vision with upcoming concerts in France and Switzerland.

• Camille Hardouin , also known by the stage name “Demoiselle Inconnue”, is a French musician and illustrator. Her song “J’veux Pas” (“I Don’t Want To”) from her 2017 album Mille Bouches.. 

• Next, we heard Rodolphe Burger with  “Les Danses Anglaises” –  from his collection of remote concerts recorded by Burger and his musician friends from their homes during the Covid confinement.

Guitarist/singer/songwriter , Rodolphe Burger has been performing music for 30 years, as a solo artist, and also fronting the band Kat Onoma. As summer comes to a close, Burger is busy with his role as the artistic director of the annual Festival C’est Dans la Vallée, which takes place each October in a geographical triangular region—where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet. 

Burger’s friend, Bertrand Belin, begins the spoken song, with Sarah Murcia contributing additional backup vocals later on. Burger’s guitar work utilizes fuzz effects to create that gritty texture. He was greatly influenced by Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, and has recorded a tribute album to that band.

• Next, we heard the song “Pas Dupe” (“Not Fooled”) from Jeanne Balibar 2006 album Paramour. Again, that’s the well-traveled sessionman Rodolphe Burger on lead guitar. Balibar was born in Paris, raised in an intellectually stimulating environment. (She’s the daughter of a prominent Marxist philosopher and a mother a physicist.)

Balibar has recorded two excellent solo albums of music, but she’s best known for her work in movies, having some 87 acting credits in films. Her latest is in Let Me Go, a drama about self-discovery set in the Swiss Alps.

• The Limiñanas are a French rock band from Cabestany, Pyrénées-Orientales, in the southwest of France. The couple have been making records since 2009. Lionel and Marie Limiñana met during high school, fell in love, opened up a record store, and eventually formed a band. He plays guitar, she drums. The ghost of Serge Gainsbourg and ’60s era Yé-Yé music is felt most keenly in their first song “Votre côté yé-yé m’emmerde”, a softly spoken-word litany of cultural icons and celebrities. Not hero worship, but more of an eye-roll, the title translates to something like, “Your yé-yé views really annoy me”.

We next heard Lionel and Marie perform “Migas 2000” from the band’s album Trouble In Mind.

 The Limiñanas are currently promoting their latest album, Faded, which features collaborations with artists like Bobby Gillespie (The Jesus and Mary Chain) and Bertrand Belin.

• Georges Brassens is widely considered to be one of the most important voices in post-war France.

He was a self-proclaimed anarchist who used his songs to express anti-authoritarian sentiments, often criticizing hypocrisy in society, including religious figures, the wealthy, and all those in power.

First, we heard Brassens singing “Mavaise Réputation” (1952) with lyrics that confirm his image as a rebel against societal norms.

• After that, we heard two versions of a classic Brassens’ song “Lovers on Public Benches” – first sung in French by Montreal singer Elizabeth Sheperd, and then with an English translation, performed by Pierre de Gaillande.

In an interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, Gaillande (born in France, now living in Brooklyn) says Brassens’ message is simple: 

“It’s not about money,” he said. “It’s not that ‘God told me to do this’, it’s not about ‘I’m stronger than you.’ (The real message is ) We’re all in it together; let’s eat a great meal and have a bottle of wine.”

• Next : two songs that display the “joie de vie” side of Brassens, we heard “Les Prénoms Effaces” followed by “J’ai Connu de Veux.” The two songs are from the album Chante les Chansons de sa Jeunesse. Released in 1982, it is a nostalgic look back at Brassens’ musical influences, including the great Charles Trenet, who wrote “J’ai Connu de Veux”. 

• Finally, we hear one of Brassens’ most famous songs, “Gorriile,” in this LIVE concert version by the French duo who call themselves “Mountain Men.”

The song “Gorille” tells the story of a gorilla who escapes a local zoo, and once on the “outside” mistakes a judge for a female gorilla and rapes him, leading to the memorable refrain, “Gare au gorille!” (Beware the gorilla!). The concert-goers recorded on the track were clearly rooting for the gorilla, not the judge.

• Closing our episode numero six of THE FRENCH CONNECTION, we leave with mon homme, Francis Cabrel singing the country-tinged “Quand j’aime une fois j’aime Pour Toujours,” from the singer’s classic Double Live album (1999.) The song was written by the Québécois folk singer and film director Richard Desjardin.