Posts under Music

French Music - Vanessa Paradis

Posted by Chanda
Oct
18
2009

Possibly most famous in the US as Johnny Depp’s long-time love and mother of his two children, Vanessa Paradis was born on December 22, 1972 in a town near Paris where she took piano and dance lessons.  Now a successful singer, actress and Chanel model, she became a child star in 1987 at just 14 years of age after the release of her single Joe le taxi, which was #1 on the French charts for 11 weeks and rose to #3 on the UK charts.   In 1990, she won the Victoire de la Musique Female Performer of the Year award with her second album, Variations sur le même t’aime. In 1992, she moved to the US to work with Lenny Kravitz, who wrote and produced her English-language album “Vanessa Paradis”, the most successful single from which was entitled “Be My Baby”.  Bliss was released in 2000 and Divinidylle in 2007, with which she won several music awards and nominations in France.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBFna8sPpOg

She is rumored to currently be working on a Greatest Hits album.
She filmed her first movie as an actress, Noce blanche, in 1989, for which she received the 1990 César Award for Most Promising Actress despite her later claim that the filming process with the Director was not a good experience for her.  In 1994, she worked with Gérard Depardieu in the film Elisa.  Perhaps one of her most famous films in the US is the French movie La fille sur le pont (The Girl on the Bridge), released in 1999 in France and in 2000 abroad, and for which she was nominated for another César Award. Her official website is Vanessa Paradis de A à Z.

 
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French Music - Cleopâtre

Posted by Chanda
Sep
30
2009

One of the most popular musicals right now in France, Switzerland and Belgium is Cleopâtre: La Dernière Reine d’Egypte (Cleopatra: The Last Queen of Egypt).  Having opened at the Palais des Sports in Paris in January 2009, the show has been on tour throughout these three countries since May 2009 and will be returning to Paris at the beginning of 2010 for an extended showing.  Cleopatra is played by Sofia Essaidi who was a contestant and finalist on the highly successful Star Academy (France’s version of The One: Making a Music Star) back in 2003 when I was living in Paris.  She was born in Casablanca, Morocco and was considered by many to be the best singer and student on the show that year.  After releasing a well-received album Mon cabaret in 2005, she fought hard to get the role of Cleopatra and has since been touring with the musical produced by theater director and choreographer Kamel Ouali, who was also the head choreographer for Star Academy.  Cleopâtre is the biggest musical comedy that has ever been made in France.

Act I begins in 51 B.C. upon the death of Cleopatra’s father.  Cleopatra inherits a huge empire - the land of the Egyptian pharaohs.  Her brother does everything, including an attempted assassination, to take the throne away from her and succeeds; but she is determined to get it back.  The 17-year-old runs away with her most loyal priestess and with her charm, convinces Caesar, who was getting ready to invade her empire, to give her the throne of Egypt.  She stays in Rome, much to the dismay of the Roman senators who see her as a threat.  A few years later, Caesar is assassinated and Cleopatra immediately returns to Egypt.

With Caesar dead in Act II, Octavian and Marcus Antonius decide to split the world where one gets the West and the other the East.  As part of the agreement, Marcus Antonius takes Octavian’s sister as his wife.  At the same time, back in Egypt, Cleopatra gains the respect of her people after setting them free and is at the height of her glory.  She is a brilliant politician and demands an alliance with Marcus Antonius.  The two become involved in a passionate and very public romance which is not at all viewed well by the Romans.  Octavian demands that Marcus Antonius choose between his sister and Cleopatra.  Marcus Antonius chooses Cleopatra and war begins.  The two lovers try to fight Octavian’s warriors, but the story ends tragically.

The soundtrack album has been on sale since August 2008 and features 25 songs, short clips of which you can listen to on the official website. There are also links on the site to buy the album, which reached the 11th spot on the French music charts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy1NtK5ShrM

For more information on the show, tour dates and reservations, you can check out the official Cleopâtre website http://cleopatre.nrj.fr/index.html.

 
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French Music - Chérie FM

Posted by Chanda
Aug
27
2009

Okay, so some people think I’m a bit geeky, but I love to listen to Chérie FM!  The French music they play is just the kind of music I came to love as a student in Paris.  And the rest of the English-language music they play (easy listening/pop) is what I grew up on in Iowa.  And it’s great because even though I’m not in France I can listen to it whenever I want as they stream it over the Internet at http://www.cheriefm.fr/.
If you go to the website, you can read interesting music-related news or entertainment gossip, download podcasts, play games, get information on concerts and theater events and even buy tickets, take part in contests, check out your horoscope, answer poll questions, get advice from Amelie and watch videos and interviews of various musicians and if you click on Ecouter in the top right corner, you can listen to the live stream.

 
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French Music - Alizée

Posted by Chanda
Jul
25
2009

French pop/electro-rock singer Alizée Jacotey was born on Corsica on August 21, 1984.  She started studying dance at the age of 4 and continued at a renowned dance school until she was 15.  A friend signed her up for a national television singing contest.  She performed the song ‘Ma Prière’ and won the talent show Graines de Star in 1999.  Famous French singing duo Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat saw her on the show and carefully arranged Alizeé’s launch as a singing sensation.  She has since released three studio albums, a live album and a for Mexico-only compilation album (Tout Alizée).  Her single Moi…Lolita is her most famous song and was a hit all over the world.  That song was featured on her debut album Gourmandises.  Because of this, Alizée was the highest selling female French singer in 2001.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2t6m8y0mao

Despite the sexy image she gained from her songs, she actually has a squeaky-clean image and is said to be a very private and shy person.
Her other albums include Mes Courants Électriques (2003) and Psychédélices (2007), which was released after taking some time out of the public eye to take in her quick success at such a young age and get a better understanding of herself.  A live album (Alizée En Concert) was also released in 2004 following her French tour.  In all, she has sold over 5 million albums.  Recently she has begun gaining fans in the United States, having released two English-language versions of her French songs “I’m Fed Up” and “I’m Not Twenty”.
Alizée married French singer and former Star Academy contestant Jérémy Chatelain in Las Vegas and they have one daughter.
Her official website is http://alizee-officiel.com/.

 
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French Music - Patrick Bruel

Posted by Chanda
Jun
12
2009

Another of my favorite French singers is Patrick Bruel and he just released a new album called Seul o presque (Alone or almost) with live acoustic versions of his songs that were recorded while he was on tour.  Born Maurice Benguigui on May 14, 1959, in Tlemcen, Algeria, he was slow to find success as a singer, but eventually topped the French music charts with six of his albums including Entre Deux (2002), which is a classic chanson française double CD with duets featuring Jean-Jacques Goldman and Renaud, among others.   That CD sold more than 2 million copies and made Bruel the highest-paid French singer that year.  My favorite album of his is Juste avant (another of his #1s) and my favorite song is Tout s’efface.  However, his chart-topping single Qui a le droit (Who has the right) is probably the most well-known of his entire repetoire.  It talks about how people are not upfront and sometimes even lie to children thinking it is best for them, when it really isn’t as they grow up with unanswered questions, fears and anguish, especially as regards the loss of a parent, which is what Patrick himself went through at the tender age of 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPy7ke75OGA

Here are the lyrics:

On m’avait dit : “Te poses pas trop de questions.
Tu sais petit, c’est la vie qui t’ répond.
A quoi ça sert de vouloir tout savoir ?
Regarde en l’air et voit c’ que tu peux voir.”

On m’avait dit : “Faut écouter son père.”
Le mien a rien dit, quand il s’est fait la paire.
Maman m’a dit : “T’es trop p’tit pour comprendre.”
Et j’ai grandi avec une place à prendre.

[Refrain] :
Qui a le droit, qui a le droit,
Qui a le droit d’ faire ça
A un enfant qui croit vraiment
C’ que disent les grands ?

On passe sa vie à dire merci,
Merci à qui, à quoi ?
A faire la pluie et le beau temps
Pour des enfants à qui l’on ment.

On m’avait dit que les hommes sont tous pareils.
Y a plusieurs dieux, mais y’ a qu’un seul soleil.
Oui mais, l’ soleil il brille ou bien il brûle.
Tu meurs de soif ou bien tu bois des bulles.

A toi aussi, j’ suis sur qu’on t’en a dit,
De belles histoires, tu parles… que des conneries !
Alors maintenant, on s’ retrouve sur la route,
Avec nos peurs, nos angoisses et nos doutes.

[Refrain]

On passe sa vie à dire merci,
Merci à qui, à quoi ?
A faire la pluie et le beau temps
Pour des enfants à qui l’on ment.

Besides a best-selling singer, he is also an actor and professional poker player.  He has acted in more than 40 different television and film productions and has won the World Series of Poker.  His official website is www.patrickbruel.com.  There, you can hear his music, read about him and even buy mp3 albums.

 
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