France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
, France has produced several prominent
romantic composer
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''.
The letter ...
s, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the
chanson
A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...
and
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
style. The oldest playable musical recordings were made in France using the earlist known sound recording device in the world, the
phonautograph
The phonautograph is the earliest known device for recording sound. Previously, tracings had been obtained of the sound-producing vibratory motions of tuning forks and other objects by physical contact with them, but not of actual sound waves ...
in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, and its music industry has produced many internationally renowned artists, especially in the
nouvelle chanson
Nouvelle Chanson (, meaning "New Song"), derived from the French expression ''nouvelle scène française'', sometimes anglicized as New Chanson, is a musical genre of Chanson which emerged in France in the 1990s and developed in the 2000s. This gen ...
and
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
.
Classical music
Medieval
French
music history
Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...
dates back to
organum
''Organum'' () is, in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bass line (or '' bourdon'') may be sung on the sam ...
in the 10th century, followed by the
Notre Dame School
The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced.
The only composers whose names ha ...
, an organum composition style.
Troubadour
A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''.
The tr ...
songs of
chivalry
Chivalry, or the chivalric language, is an informal and varying code of conduct that developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It is associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood, with knights being members of ...
and
courtly love
Courtly love ( ; ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies b ...
were composed in the
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
language between the 10th and 13th centuries, and the
Trouvère
''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word '' troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to po ...
poet-composers flourished in Northern France during this period. The fiddle was their instrument of choice. By the end of the 12th century, a form of song called the
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
arose, accompanied by traveling musicians called
jongleur
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enterta ...
s. In the 14th century, France produced two notable styles of music,
Ars Nova
''Ars nova'' ()Fallows, David. (2001). "Ars nova". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan. refers to a musical style which flourished in the Kingdom of ...
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
, which was the mostly
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
-speaking area unified with the
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...
in 1477, had become a major center for musical development in the musical continent Europe. This was followed by the rise of
chanson
A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...
s and the
Burgundian School
The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. The school inaugurated the music of Burgundy.
Th ...
.
Baroque
Influential composers included
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...
,
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'' ''H.146, Marche en rondeau''. This theme is st ...
,
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth''
* Princess Elizabeth ...
,
Louis Couperin
Louis Couperin (; – 29 August 1661) was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the ...
,
François Couperin
François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque music, Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musi ...
and
Jacques Champion de Chambonnières
Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (Jacques Champion, commonly referred to as Chambonnières) (c. 1601/2 – 1672) was a French harpsichordist, dancer and composer. Born into a musical family, Chambonnières made an illustrious career as court harp ...
.
Jean Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera a ...
, a prominent opera composer, wrote an influential treatise on musical theory, especially in the subject of
harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
; he also introduced the
clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
into his orchestras. In the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, a type of popular secular vocal music called ''
Air de cour
The ''air de cour'' was a popular type of secular vocal music in France in the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, from about 1570 until around 1650. From approximately 1610 to 1635, during the reign of Louis XIII, this was the predominant ...
'' spread throughout France.
Opera
The first French
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
Carpentras
Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal dialect, Provençal Occitan language, Occitan: ''Carpentrà s'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the ...
Issy
Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called in French. It is one of Paris's entrances and is located from Notre Dame Cathedral, whic ...
, was a success, and the pair moved to Paris to produce '' Pomone'' (1671) and ''
Les Peines et les Plaisirs de l'Amour
LES or Les may refer to:
People
* Les (given name)
* Les (surname)
* L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer
Space flight
* Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews
* Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies
* Lincoln Experimental S ...
'' (1672).
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...
, who had become well known for composing
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
, began creating a French version of the Italian ''
opera seria
''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...
Cadmus
In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes, Greece, Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a ...
'' from 1673. Lully's forays into operatic tragedy were accompanied by the pinnacle of French theatrical tragedy, led by
Corneille
Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage o ...
and
Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tra ...
.
Lully also developed the common beat patterns used by conductors to this day and was the first to take the role of leading the orchestra from the position of the first violin.
The French composer
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...
Claude Balbastre
Claude Balbastre (8 December 1724 – 9 May 1799) was a French composer, organist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time.
Life
Claude Balbastre was born in Dijon in 1724. Although his exact birthda ...
was an organist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time.
Jacques Duphly
Jacques Duphly (also Dufly, Du Phly; 12 January 1715 – 15 July 1789) was a French harpsichordist and composer.
Early career as an organist
He was born in Rouen, France, the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, he s ...
contributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau dictionary, for articles relating to the art of playing the harpsichord.
Romantic era
One of the major French composers of the time, and one of the most innovative composers of the early Romantic era, was
Hector Berlioz
Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
.
In the late 19th century, pioneers such as
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
and
Claude Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
revitalized French music. The last two had an enormous impact on 20th-century music - both in France and abroad - and influenced many major composers such as
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...
.
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...
The early 20th century saw neo-classical music flourish in France, especially composers such as
Lili Boulanger
Marie-Juliette Boulanger (; 21 August 189315 March 1918), professionally known as Lili Boulanger (), was a French composer and musician who was the first female winner of the Grand Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted ...
,
Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...
,
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...
and
Les Six
"Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name has its origins in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in '' Comœdia'' (see Bibliography). Their mu ...
, a group of musicians who gathered around Satie. Later in the century,
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...
,
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...
and
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.
Born in Montb ...
proved influential. The latter was a leading figure of
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
while Messiaen incorporated Asian (particularly Indian) influences and
bird song
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs (often simply ''birdsong'') are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalization ...
and Dutilleux translated the innovations of Debussy, BartĂłk and Stravinsky into his own, very personal, musical idiom.
The most important French contribution to musical innovation of the past 35 years is a form of
computer-assisted composition
Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ap ...
called "
spectral music
Spectral music uses the acoustic properties of sound – or sound spectra – as a basis for composition.
Definition
Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where compositional decisions are often inform ...
". The astonishing technical advances of the spectralist composers in the 1970s are only recently beginning to achieve wide recognition in the United States; major composers in this vein include
Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the " spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''.
Early life and studies
Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His f ...
Traditional styles of music have survived most in remote areas such as the island of Corsica and mountainous Auvergne, as well as the more nationalistic regions of the
Basques
The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...
and the
Bretons
The Bretons (; or , ) are an ethnic group native to Brittany, north-western France. Originally, the demonym designated groups of Common Brittonic, Brittonic speakers who emigrated from Dumnonia, southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwal ...
. In many cases, folk traditions were revived in relatively recent years to cater to tourists. These ''groupes folkloriques'' tend to focus on very early 20th-century
melodies
A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term ca ...
and the use of the
piano accordion
A piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more that of an organ than a piano, as they are both aerophones, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deir ...
.
Paris
In 1900 in Paris, a new style of waltz emerged, the "Valse musette" an evolution of
Bal-musette
Bal-musette is a style of French instrumental music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1880s. Although it began with bagpipes as the main instrument, this instrument was eventually replaced by the accordion, on which a variety of ...
also known as "French Waltz". Aimable,
Émile Vacher
Émile Vacher (May 7, 1883 - April 8, 1969) was a French accordionist associated with, and often deemed the creator of, the bal-musette
Bal-musette is a style of French instrumental music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1880s ...
,
Marcel Azzola
Marcel Azzola (10 July 1927 – 21 January 2019) was a French accordionist.
He performed with Stan Getz and Jacques Brel, among others. The famous line "" ("Heat up, Marcel") in Brel's song "Vesoul" refers to Azzola, who played the accordion duri ...
,
Yvette Horner
Yvette Horner ( Hornère; – ) was a French accordionist, pianist and composer known for performing with the Tour de France during the 1950s and 1960s. During her 70-year long career, she gave more than two thousand concerts and released around ...
Yann Tiersen
Yann Pierre Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical ...
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, and the
Poitou-Charentes
Poitou-Charentes (; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ) was an administrative region on the southwest coast of France. It comprised four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. It included the historical provinces of Angoumo ...
region. Traditions of
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
-singing, dance-songs and
fiddle
A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
collected extensively in the area, and his 2-volume work "Chants et chansons populaires des provinces de l'ouest:
Poitou
Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...
,
Saintonge
Saintonge may refer to:
*County of Saintonge, a historical province of France on the Atlantic coast
* Saintonge (region), a region of France corresponding to the historical province
* Saintonge ware, a medieval pottery type produced in Saintes reg ...
,
Aunis
Aunis () is a historical Provinces of France, province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Châtelaillon-Plage, Castrum Allionis (Châtelaillon) t ...
Niort
Niort (; Poitevin: ''Nià u''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres.
The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area.
Geography
T ...
, 1866) remains the principal scholarly collection of music and songs. In recent decades John Wright and Claude Ribouillault (amongst others) have done much to collect, analyse and promote the surviving traditions.
The
bagpipe
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
-maker and player
Thierry Bertrand
Thierry is a French male given name, derived from the Germanic "Theodoric". It is the cognate of German "Dietrich" and " Dieter", Italian Teodorico, Derek and Derrick, and of various forms in other European languages. It is also a surname.
Peop ...
- and for traditional singers such as Pierre Burgaud.
Folk dances
A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances are usu ...
specific to the West of France include the
courante
The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically pair ...
s in triple time have been noted in the 19th century by Bujeaud, and more recently, in Angoumois. Circle- or chain-dances accompanied by caller-and-response singing have been noted in the West, and also in other regions such as
Gascony
Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...
,
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
and
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
.
Notable contemporary folk musicians include
Christian Pacher
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...
La Marienne
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
*La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
*"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
in character, the folk music of Lower
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
has had perhaps the most successful revival of its traditions, partly thanks to the city of
Lorient
Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France.
History
Prehistory and classical antiquity
Beginn ...
, which hosts France's most popular music festival:
Festival Interceltique de Lorient
__NOTOC__
The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celts (modern), Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by .
This annual ...
Sonneur
A ''sonneur'' – or, in Breton, ''soner'' (plural: ''sonerien'') – is a player of traditional music in Brittany: i.e., someone who plays the bombarde, biniou (Breton bagpipe), or clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrume ...
s couples, consisting of a bombard and a biniou (bagpipe), is usually played at festoĂą-noz (
Fest Noz
A (sometimes hyphenated as ; "night festival" in Breton) is a Breton traditional festival, with dancing in groups and live musicians playing acoustic instruments.
Although easy to write off the and as modern inventions, most of the traditio ...
) celebrations (some are famous, such as ). It is swift
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...
and has an older vocal counterpart called ''
kan ha diskan
is probably the most common type of traditional music of Brittany. It is a vocal tradition ( translates from Breton as, roughly, '' call and response singing''). The style is the most commonly used to accompany dances. It has become perhaps the ...
''. Unaccompanied
call and response
Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...
singing was interspersed with the ''
gwerz
Gwerz (, "ballad", "lament", plural ) is a type of folk song of Brittany. In Breton music, the tells a story which can be epic, historical, or mythological. The stories are usually of a tragic nature. The gwerz is characterised by an often mon ...
'', a form of
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
.
Probably the most popular form of Breton folk is the
bagad
A bagad (, ) is a Music of Brittany, Breton band, composed of bagpipes (, ), bombard (music), bombards and drums (including Snare drum, snare, tenor and bass drums). The pipe band tradition in Brittany was inspired by the Pipe Band, Scottish exa ...
pipe band, which features native instruments such as biniou and bombard alongside drums and, in more modern groups, biniou braz pipes. Modern revivalists include
Kevrenn Alre
Kevrenn Alre ("Bagad and Celtic Circle of Auray" in Breton language) is a group of music and dance of Breton traditional inspiration, created in 1951, by railroad employees of the marshalling yard of Auray (Morbihan, Brittany).
Eight times nati ...
Bagad and
Bagad Kemper Bagad Kemper (using the Breton name for the town of Quimper) is one of the oldest bagad, Breton pipe bands. Formed in 1949, its first president was none other than LoeĂŻz Ropars, renovator of the Fest Noz (dance party) and kan ha diskan singer (B ...
.
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell (; born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a Breton people, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specif ...
is perhaps the most influential folk-rock performer of continental Europe. After 1971's '' Renaissance of the Celtic Harp'', Breton and other Celtic traditional music achieved mainstream success internationally. With
Chemins de Terre
''Chemins de Terre'' is a folk rock album by Alan Stivell, originally released in 1973. It was produced by Franck Giboni. It was retitled ''From Celtic Roots...'' in the United Kingdom and ''Celtic Rock'' in Germany.
Track listing
*All selection ...
'' (1974), which launched Breton folk-rock. This set the stage for stars such as Malicorne in the ensuing decades.
In later years much has been done to collect and popularize the musical traditions of the Pays Gallo of
Upper Brittany
Upper Brittany (; ; Gallo: ''Haùtt-Bertaèyn'') is the eastern part of Brittany, France, which is historically associated with the Gallo language. The name is in counterpoint to Lower Brittany, the western part of the ancient province and presen ...
Anne-Marie Jan
Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. She has attained various charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", "Ciao ...
,
Anne Auffret
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in ...
Gwerz
Gwerz (, "ballad", "lament", plural ) is a type of folk song of Brittany. In Breton music, the tells a story which can be epic, historical, or mythological. The stories are usually of a tragic nature. The gwerz is characterised by an often mon ...
Sonerien Du
Sonerien Du is a group of Breton music adapted for the dances in Fest Noz. The group was born in 1972, in Alan Stivell's trail, harpist of the Celtic Revival. Driving force of the Breton culture, the group crossed periods of concerts and'' fes ...
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France.
As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...
,
Limousin
Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
Berry
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...
. The lands are the home to a significant
bagpipe
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
tradition, as well as the iconic
hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...
and hurdy-gurdy, while the former is found in the north and includes virtuoso players.
Bagpipe and Hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy, or ''vielle-Ă -roue'', is essentially a mechanical violin, with keys or buttons instead of a fingerboard. It is made up of a curved, oval body, a set of keys and a curved handle, which is turned and connected to a wheel which bows the strings that are stopped by the keys. There is a moveable bridge, a variable number of drones and optional
sympathetic strings
Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments.
They are typically not played directly by the performer (ex ...
. Other forms of the hurdy-gurdy are found all over Europe.
The bagpipe is found in a wide array of forms in France. The ''cabrette'' and ''grande cornemuse'' from
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France.
As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...
and
Berry
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...
are best known. These forms are found at least as far back as the 17th century. Prominent bagpipers include
Bernard Blanc
Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern ...
Philippe Prieur
Philippe Prieur (born 2 March 1960) is a former professional footballer. He played as a striker. He was a member of the French squad that won a silver medal at the 1987 Mediterranean Games
The X Mediterranean Games (), commonly known as the 1 ...
, as well as bandleader
Jean Blanchard
Jean-Pierre rançoisBlanchard (; 4 July 1753 – 7 March 1809) was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon. Notable for his successful hydrogen balloon ...
Quintette de Cornemuses Quintette may refer to:
*Quintette, California
*Quintette du Hot Club de France
See also
*Quintet (disambiguation)
A quintet is a group or formation of five members, particularly musicians
Quintet or The Quintet may also refer to:
* Quintet (com ...
folk revival
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Early folk music performers include Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl (UK), Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie ...
music festival
A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...
held annually near
Châteauroux
Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French.
Climate
Châteauroux te ...
, has been a focal point for the music of Auvergne and Limousin.
The regions of
Nivernais
Nivernais (, ) was a province of France, around the city of Nevers, which forms the modern department of Nièvre. It roughly coincides with the former Duchy of Nevers.Faubourg de Boignard and
Achille Millien
Achille Millien (4 September 1838 – 12 January 1927) was a French poet and folklore, folklorist.
His poetic work includes a dozen collections of rustic inspiration: ''La Moisson'', ''Chants agrestes'', ''Musettes et clairons'', ''Chez nous'', ...
was also notable in the early part of the 20th century.
xirula
The xirula (, spelled ''chiroula'' in French, also pronounced ''txirula'', ''(t)xĂĽlĂĽla'' in Zuberoan Basque; Gascon: ''flabuta''; French: ''galoubet'') is a small three holed woodwind instrument or flute usually made of wood akin to the Basqu ...
should be highlighted in traditional folk music (especially in the province of
) as a tabor and pipe like pair.
Mixel Etxekopar or Jean Mixel Bedaxagar have played a major role in Basque traditional music as xirula players as well as traditional singers. Other popular performers such as Benat Achiary take on a more experimental approach. These performers refer to a former tradition collected and restored by figures such as Etxahun Iruri (1908–1979) where singing improviser poets (
bertsolari
Bertsolaritza or bertsolarism is the art of singing improvised songs in Basque according to various melodies and rhyming patterns. Bertsos can be composed at a variety of occasions but are performed generally by one or various ''bertsolaris'' ...
s) played an important role in popular culture. This ''bertsolari'' tradition relies almost exclusively on younger generations, and efforts are being made now to restore it along the lines of the "southern" tradition, i.e. of the
Spanish Basque Country
The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community (), also officially called Euskadi (), is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa. It surrounds two enclaves called Treviño ...
.
Music from the Basque Country nowadays caters to almost all the tastes of music, with a wide range of music being played in Basque, from choral music ( Oldarra in
) to elaborate music bands (e.g. Bidaia) to ska or hardcore trends, while it is much praised lately for the fine bare voices that have arisen with the likes of Maddi Oihenart, Maialen Errotabehere or Amaren Alabak, to mention but a few.
Corsica
Corsican polyphonic singing is perhaps the most unusual of the French regional music varieties. Sung by male trios, it is strongly harmonic and occasionally dissonant. Works can be either spiritual or secular. Modern groups include Canta u Populu Corsu,
I Muvrini
I Muvrini is a Corsican folk music group, who sing traditional Corsican music in their native Corsican language.
History
The group was formed in the early 1980s by the brothers Jean-François Bernardini and Alain Bernardini both born in the vil ...
,
Tavagna
Tavagna is a former Corsican piève. Located in northeast Corsica, it belonged to the province of Bastia in political terms and the diocese of Mariana in religious terms.
Geography
The land of Tavagna corresponded to the territories of the com ...
and Chjami Aghjalesi; some groups have been associated with Corsican
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
.
Corsican
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
s include the ''
caramusa
The caramusa is a type of bagpipe played in Corsica
Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island ...
'' (
cornemuse
French bagpipes cover a wide range and variety of styles of bagpipes and piping, from the Celtic piping and Music of Brittany to the Northern Occitan's cabrette.
The Center-France bagpipes (called in French ''cornemuse du centre'' or ''musette d ...
bagpipe), ''
cetera
The ''cetera'' or ''cetara'' is a plucked string instrument played in Corsica. It has sixteen, or sometimes eighteen, metal strings, running in paired courses, with a body similar to the mandolin, but larger, and is plucked with a plectrum mad ...
'' (16-stringed
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lu ...
mandolin
A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
), ''
pifana The pifana is a type of gemshorn played in Corsica
Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island ...
'' (a type of
gemshorn
The gemshorn is an instrument of the ocarina family that was historically made from the horn of a chamois, goat, or other suitable animal.
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
).
Popular music
The 20th century saw the apogee of the
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
style with
Yvette Guilbert
Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque.
Biography
Emma Laure Esther Guilbert was born in Paris on 20 January 1865 to a modestly w ...
as a major star. The era lasted through to the 1930s and saw the likes of
Édith Piaf
Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...
,
Charles Trenet
Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics for nearly 1,000 songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These songs inclu ...
,
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...
,
Tino Rossi
Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin.
Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...
Lucienne Boyer
Lucienne Boyer (18 August 1901 – 6 December 1983) was a French diseuse and singer, best known for her song " Parlez-moi d'amour". Her impresario was Bruno Coquatrix. According to the New York Times, she "reigned as queen of Paris nightlife du ...
Marie Dubas
Marie Dubas (3 September 1894 – 21 February 1972) was a French music-hall singer, diseuse and comedian.
Biography
Born in Paris, France, Marie Dubas began her career as a stage actress but became famous as a singer. Using the great Yvette Gui ...
Georges Guibourg
Georges Guibourg (June 3, 1891 – January 8, 1970) was a French singer, author, writer, playwright, and actor, George Guibourg, alias ''Georgius'', alias ''Theodore Crapulet'', was one of the most popular and versatile performers in Paris for mo ...
and
Jean Sablon
Jean Sablon (Nogent-sur-Marne 25 March 1906 – Cannes 24 February 1994) was a French singer, songwriter, composer and actor. He was one of the first French singers to immerse himself in jazz. The man behind several songs by big French and Amer ...
.
During the 50s and 60s, it was the golden age of ''Chanson Française'':
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu (; born July 22, 1946) is a French singer. She has recorded over 1,200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 122 million records sold worldwide.
Biography and career
Early years
Mireille Mathieu was born on July 22, 1946, ...
,
Georges Brassens
Georges Charles Brassens (; ; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet.
As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and ...
,
Jacques Brel
Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
and
Alain Barrière
Alain Barrière (; born Alain Bellec; 18 November 1935 – 18 December 2019) was a French singer, who was active from the 1950s until his death and was known for participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963.
Early life
After growing u ...
Sheila
Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''SĂle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name ''Caelia'', the feminine form of the Roman clan name ''Caelius' ...
,
Claude François
Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of " Comme d'habitude" ( ...
,
Françoise Hardy
Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; 17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024) was a French singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in F ...
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...
and
Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin ( ; 14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British and French actress, singer, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema.
A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, ...
experiment with avant-garde pop, integrating provocative themes and diverse musical styles, marking French pop as emotionally sophisticated and distinct.
The 1970s brought disco, progressive rock, and electronic influences. Artists like
Michel Sardou
Michel Charles Sardou (; born 26 January 1947) is a French singer and occasional actor.
He is known not only for his love songs ("La maladie d'amour", "Je vais t'aimer"), but also for songs dealing with various social and political issues, su ...
,
Claude François
Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of " Comme d'habitude" ( ...
, and
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
pioneered electronic music, notably with Oxygène, pushing French music onto the world stage. In the 1980s, French pop fused international genres with artists like
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Chantal Paradis (; born 22 December 1972) is a French singer, model and actress. Paradis became a star at the age of 14 with the international success of her single " Joe le taxi" (1987). At age 18, she was awarded France's highest ho ...
and
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a French singer and songwriter. Having sold more than 30 million records worldwide, she is among the most successful recording artists of all time ...
, alongside the rise of chanson nouvelle, led by Etienne Daho and
Alain Bashung
Alain Bashung (born Alain Claude Baschung, ; 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded as the most importan ...
. This era was marked by new wave, synth-pop, and rock influences, reflecting France’s shifting cultural landscape. By the 1990s, French pop achieved global success, especially through electronic music with Daft Punk,
Air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
Zazie
Isabelle Marie Anne de Truchis de Varennes (born 18 April 1964), better known by her stage name Zazie, is a French pop singer and songwriter. Her greatest hits include " Je suis un homme", " À ma place" and "Speed". She co-produces all her alb ...
gaining international acclaim while staying rooted in French culture.
Cabaret
''Cabaret'' is a typical form of French musical entertainment featuring
chanson
A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...
,
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
,
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
and
spectacle
In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French ''spectacle'', itself a reflection of the ...
s. The audience usually sits at tables, often dining or drinking, and performances are sometimes introduced by a master of ceremonies. The first cabaret was opened in 1881 in
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...
, Paris, by
Rodolphe Salis
Louis Rodolphe Salis (29 May 1851 – 20 March 1897) was the creator, host and owner of the ('The Black Cat') cabaret (known briefly in 1881 at its beginning as ) in the Montmartre district of Paris. With this establishment, Salis is remembered ...
and was called ''
Le Chat Noir
(; French for "The Black Cat") was a 19th century entertainment establishment in the Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard de Rochechouart by impresario Rodolphe Salis, and closed in 1897 not long ...
'' (The Black Cat). Built in 1889, ''
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...
'' is famous for the large red windmill on its roof. Other popular French cabarets include the ''
Folies Bergère
150px, Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg">Walery, 1927
The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the arc ...
''. Cabarets were a key venue in the careers of many singers such as
Mistinguett
Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois (5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956), known professionally as Mistinguett (), was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world.
Early life
The daughter of Antoine Bo ...
Charles Trenet
Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics for nearly 1,000 songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These songs inclu ...
and
Edith Piaf
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...
. More recently,
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Noëlle Kaas (; born 5 December 1966) is a French singer. Her music is a mix of pop, cabaret, jazz, and chanson.
Since the appearance of her 1988 debut album '' Mademoiselle chante...,'' Kaas won 6 Victoires de la Musique awards and ...
embodies the revival of the French cabaret style.
Cancan
The ''Cancan'', also called ''French-Cancan'', is a high-energy and physically demanding musical dance, traditionally performed by a
chorus line
A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. While synchronized dancing indicative of a chorus line was vogue during the first half of th ...
of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings. The main features of the dance are the lifting and manipulation of the skirts, with high kicking and suggestive, provocative body movements. The ''Infernal Galop'' from
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...
'' is the tune most associated with the ''Cancan''. The ''Cancan'' first appeared in the working-class ballrooms of
Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in around 1830. It was a more lively version of the
Galop
In dance, the galop, named after the fastest running gait of a horse (see Gallop), a shortened version of the original term galoppade, is a lively country dance, introduced in the late 1820s to Parisian society by the Duchesse de Berry and popu ...
, a dance in quick
2/4 time
Duple metre (or Am. duple meter, also known as duple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples ( compound) in the upper figure of the ti ...
, which often featured as the final figure in the
Quadrille
The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...
.
Chanson
Chanson Française is the typical style of French music (chanson means "song" in French) and is still very popular in France. Some of the most important artists included:
Édith Piaf
Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu (; born July 22, 1946) is a French singer. She has recorded over 1,200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 122 million records sold worldwide.
Biography and career
Early years
Mireille Mathieu was born on July 22, 1946, ...
,
Jacques Brel
Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...
,
Georges Brassens
Georges Charles Brassens (; ; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet.
As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and ...
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
,
Salvatore Adamo
Salvatore Adamo (November 1, 1943) is a Belgian-Italian musician, singer, and composer, who is known for his romantic ballads. Adamo was born in Comiso, Sicily, Italy, and has lived in Belgium since the age of three, which is why he has dual citiz ...
and
Dalida
Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida (, ; ), was an Italian naturalized French singer and actress. Leading an international career, Dalida has sold over 140 million records worldwide. Some ...
plus the more art-house musicians like
Brigitte Fontaine
Brigitte Fontaine (born 24 June 1939) is a French singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereola ...
. Also during the 1950s one of the more representative of Montmartre cabaret singers was
.
During the 1970s, new artists modernized the chanson Française (
Michel Fugain
Michel Fugain (; born 12 May 1942) is a French singer and composer. He was born in Grenoble, Isère. He started composing after quitting medical school, and became a solo artist releasing his first album, ''Je n'aurai pas le temps'', in 1967. T ...
Francis Cabrel
Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...
,
Alain Souchon
Alain Souchon (; born Alain Édouard Kienast ; 27 May 1944) is a French singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films.
Profile
Alain Souchon was born in Casablanca, Morocco. His family on his moth ...
,
Jacques Higelin
Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin (; 18 October 1940 – 6 April 2018) was a French pop singer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s.
Early life
Higelin was born on 18 October 1940. His father, Paul, a railway worker and musician of Alsatian de ...
,
Alain Chamfort
Alain Chamfort (; born Alain Joseph Yves Le Govic; 2 March 1949) is a French singer of Breton origin.
Life and career
Chamfort was a promising pianist in his youth, and the piano became his instrument of choice. His first band The Dreamers h ...
,
Joe Dassin
Joseph Ira Dassin (; November 5, 1938 – August 20, 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter. In his career spanning sixteen years (1964–1980), he enjoyed numerous successes in France and the French-speaking world, as well as singing ...
) and also in the 80s (
Étienne Daho
Étienne Daho (; ; born 14 January 1956) is a French singer-songwriter. He has released a number of synth-driven and rock- surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981.
Career
Daho was born in Oran, French Algeria. He sings in a low, whispery vo ...
,
TĂŞtes Raides
TĂŞtes Raides is a French folk rock group.
Group history
The group was founded in Paris during the 1980s. Originally, they played music heavily influenced by the punk movement and depended on electric instruments. Their third album featured A ...
Zaz
ZAZ or Zaporizhzhia Automobile Building Plant (, ''Zaporiz'kyi avtomobilebudivnyi zavod'' or ''Zaporiz'kyi avtozavod'') is the main automobile manufacturer of Ukraine, based in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia. It also produces buses and t ...
,
Vincent Delerm
Vincent Delerm (born 31 August 1976) is a French singer-songwriter, pianist and composer. He is the son of the writer Philippe Delerm and illustrator Martine Delerm.
His first album was released in 2002, the second, ''Kensington Square'', in ...
Jean-Louis Murat
Jean-Louis Bergheaud (28 January 1952 – 25 May 2023), better known by the stage name Jean-Louis Murat, was a French musician.
Life
Jean-Louis Bergheaud was born in Chamalières, France to a father who was a carpenter and a non-professional ...
,
Miossec
Christophe Miossec (born 24 December 1964 in Brest, Brittany, France) is a French singer and songwriter.
Beginnings
Christophe Miossec was not new to the world of music when he met his first success. Between 14 and 17, he was in a teenage ban ...
, Juliette,
Mano Solo
Mano Solo (24 April 1963 – 10 January 2010), born Emmanuel Cabut, was a French singer. He was born in Châlons-sur-Marne on 24 April 1963 to the illustrator Cabu and Isabelle Monin, co-founder of the ecology-related magazine, ''La Gueule ouv ...
, Jacques Higelin,
Matthieu Chedid
Matthieu Chedid (born 21 December 1971) is a French multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter.
Chedid began his career as a session musician playing both acoustic and electric guitar. In the late 1990s, he rose to fame as a singer-songwriter ...
,
Mathieu Boogaerts
Mathieu Boogaerts (born 1970) is a French singer-songwriter.
Biography
The son of a pharmacist mother and antiquarian father, Mathieu was born in Fontenay-sous-Bois, where he spent his early childhood before acquainting himself with the piano. ...
,
Daniel Darc
Daniel Rozoum (20 May 1959 – 28 February 2013), known as Daniel Darc, was a French singer, who achieved success with his band Taxi Girl (together with Mirwais Ahmadzaï) between 1978 and 1986, and also as a solo artist.
After Taxi Girl was di ...
,
Maurane
Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane (; 12 November 1960 – 7 May 2018), was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.
Brought to light in the 1980s with her role as Marie-Jeanne in the second version of the rock opera ''Starmania'', h ...
Renan Luce
Renan Luce (; born 5 March 1980) is a French singer-songwriter from Paris. His songs are inspired by the 20th-century singer Georges Brassens and depict everyday life with a dose of humour and poetry. He is the voice of Wirt in the French dub of ...
). Singer-songwriter
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...
began as a jazz musician in the 1950s and spanned several eras of French popular music including pop, rock, reggae, new wave, disco and even hip hop.
Musette
''Musette'' is a style of French music and dance that became popular in Paris in the 1880s. Musette uses the
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
as main instrument, and often symbolizes the French art of living abroad.
Émile Vacher
Émile Vacher (May 7, 1883 - April 8, 1969) was a French accordionist associated with, and often deemed the creator of, the bal-musette
Bal-musette is a style of French instrumental music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1880s ...
(1883-1969) was the star of the new style. Other popular musette accordionists include Aimable Pluchard,
Yvette Horner
Yvette Horner ( Hornère; – ) was a French accordionist, pianist and composer known for performing with the Tour de France during the 1950s and 1960s. During her 70-year long career, she gave more than two thousand concerts and released around ...
Yann Tiersen
Yann Pierre Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical ...
Eddy Mitchell
Claude Moine (; born 3 July 1942), known professionally as Eddy Mitchell, is a French singer and actor. He began his career in the late 1950s, with the group Les Chaussettes Noires (The Black Socks). He took the name ''Eddy'' from the American ...
Sheila
Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''SĂle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name ''Caelia'', the feminine form of the Roman clan name ''Caelius' ...
Dalida
Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida (, ; ), was an Italian naturalized French singer and actress. Leading an international career, Dalida has sold over 140 million records worldwide. Some ...
or
Claude François
Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of " Comme d'habitude" ( ...
. These were popular female
teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers themselves. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups.
By region Asia
Ea ...
s, and included
Françoise Hardy
Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; 17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024) was a French singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in F ...
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Chantal Paradis (; born 22 December 1972) is a French singer, model and actress. Paradis became a star at the age of 14 with the international success of her single " Joe le taxi" (1987). At age 18, she was awarded France's highest ho ...
,
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Noëlle Kaas (; born 5 December 1966) is a French singer. Her music is a mix of pop, cabaret, jazz, and chanson.
Since the appearance of her 1988 debut album '' Mademoiselle chante...,'' Kaas won 6 Victoires de la Musique awards and ...
,
Patrick Bruel
Patrick Benguigui (; born 14 May 1959), better known by his stage name Patrick Bruel (), is a French singer-songwriter, actor and professional poker player.
Biography
Early life
Patrick is the son of Pierre Benguigui and Augusta Kammoun, d ...
,
Marc Lavoine
Marc Lucien Lavoine (; born 6 August 1962) is a French singer and actor. In 1985, his hit single " Elle a les yeux revolver..." reached number four on the French Singles chart and marked the beginning of his successful singing career. He starre ...
Francis Cabrel
Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...
,
Étienne Daho
Étienne Daho (; ; born 14 January 1956) is a French singer-songwriter. He has released a number of synth-driven and rock- surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981.
Career
Daho was born in Oran, French Algeria. He sings in a low, whispery vo ...
,
Alain Souchon
Alain Souchon (; born Alain Édouard Kienast ; 27 May 1944) is a French singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films.
Profile
Alain Souchon was born in Casablanca, Morocco. His family on his moth ...
Jean-Jacques Goldman
Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a retired French singer-songwriter and record producer whose work remains hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017, he has been the highest-grossing ...
. The superstar status of diva
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a French singer and songwriter. Having sold more than 30 million records worldwide, she is among the most successful recording artists of all time ...
inspired pop-rock performers such as
Zazie
Isabelle Marie Anne de Truchis de Varennes (born 18 April 1964), better known by her stage name Zazie, is a French pop singer and songwriter. Her greatest hits include " Je suis un homme", " À ma place" and "Speed". She co-produces all her alb ...
Nâdiya
Nâdiya (born Nadia Zighem on 19 June 1973) is a French contemporary R&B, R&B singer.
Early life
Nâdiya was born in the city of Tours, France in Algerians, Algerian descent family. At school she displayed a talent for athletics, and gravitat ...
and Ophelie Winter.
More recently, the success of musical television shows have spawned a new generation of young pop-music stars including
Nolwenn Leroy
Nolwenn Le Magueresse (; born 28 September 1982), known by her stage name Nolwenn Leroy (), is a French singer-songwriter and actress.
Originally classically trained (violin and opera singing), she rose to fame after winning the second season o ...
Shy'm
Tamara Marthe (born 28 November 1985), better known as Shy'm , is a French singer and actress. She released her first album, ''Mes fantaisies'', in 2006 and has since released six more albums. She had three Platinum albums, including her number ...
enjoys a status of popstar in France since her first album in 2006, as well as her male counterpart
Matt Pokora
Matthieu Tota (; born 26 September 1985), artistically known as Matt Pokora and later M. Pokora (), is a French pop singer. He is very well known for his catchy melodies and smooth vocals. Pokora mostly sings in French but he has also recorded ...
. Notable pop-rock groups include Niagara and Indochine. Michel Sardou is also known for his love songs ("La maladie d'amour", "Je vais t'aimer").
Rock
Rock'n Roll started to become popular in the 60s with singers like
. There were also innovative musicians in France as the
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
trend was peaking worldwide.
Jean-Pierre Massiera
Jean-Pierre Massiera (10 July 1941 – 28 December 2019),Jean Garand, Larsen Nick, Liner notes for ''Jean-Pierre Massiera: Psychoses Freakoid (1963-1978)'', Mucho Gusto Records, 2008 sometimes referred to by his initials JPM, was a French mus ...
Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek rock and pop band formed in 1967, by Evangelos Papathanassiou, later known professionally as Vangelis (keyboards, flutes), Demis Roussos (bass, acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and v ...
's ''
666
666 may refer to:
* 666 (number)
* 666 BC, a year
* AD 666, a year
* The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament
Places
* 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt
* List of highways numbered 6 ...
'' were the most influential. Later came bands such as
Magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...
,
Martin Circus
Martin Circus was a French band formed in the late 1960s, whose musical style developed over time from progressive rock through pop to disco and new wave music in the 1970s and 1980s.
Career
The band formed in 1968, at a time when the popular mu ...
,
Au Bonheur des Dames
(; ''The Ladies' Delight'' or ''The Ladies' Paradise'') is the eleventh novel in the '' Rougon-Macquart'' series by Émile Zola. It was first serialized in the periodical '' Gil Blas'' from December 17, 1882 to March 1, 1883; and published in ...
,
Trust
Trust often refers to:
* Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality
It may also refer to:
Business and law
* Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit
* Trust (bu ...
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell (; born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a Breton people, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specif ...
('' Renaissance de la Harpe Celtique'') launched the field of French folk-rock by combining psychedelic and progressive rock sounds with Breton and Celtic folk styles. In the 80s and 90s, bands like
Paul Personne
Paul Personne (born 27 December 1949) is a French blues singer and guitarist.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Paul Personne'' (1982, Epic)
* ''Exclusif'' (1983, Philips)
* ''Barjoland'' (1984, Philips)
* ''24/24'' (1985, Philips)
* ''La Chance' ...
carried the torch with grunge and blues influences.
French rock has continued to evolve, blending genres and embracing new influences. Bands like Phoenix and
Air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
brought French rock to international audiences, mixing elements of indie, electronic, and pop with traditional rock. Phoenix’s 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix won global acclaim, blending indie rock with catchy, upbeat sounds. In the 2010s, Indochine,
Shaka Ponk
Shaka Ponk (sometimes abbreviated as SHKPNK) was a French musical band formed in Paris in 2002. They mix different forms of popular music into their songs in addition to world music, although predominantly with an electronic and experimental r ...
, and La Femme pushed the boundaries further, combining rock with electronic, funk, and psychedelic influences. Indochine, a long-standing group, continued to captivate with their mix of new wave and rock.
;Progressive Rock
France became one of the leading producers of
Progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
in the 1970s. Aficionados worldwide were enamoured by recordings such as
Pulsar
A pulsar (''pulsating star, on the model of quasar'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its Poles of astronomical bodies#Magnetic poles, magnetic poles. This radiation can be obse ...
's ''
Halloween
Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
'',
Shylock
Shylock () is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Merchant of Venice'' ( 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal villain. His defeat and forced conversion to Christianity form the climax ...
Atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
Eskaton
Eskaton is a defunct vanity record label created by Coil, exclusively for albums put out by the group and their friends. Its brother labels are Threshold House and Chalice.
The record label is often associated with the symbol of the "Chaos Cr ...
's '' Ardeur''. Most well-known, however, may be the band
Magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...
which created its own genre, Zeuhl music.
;Eighties Rock (1980)
In the 1980s, French rock spawned myriad styles, many closely connected with other Francophone musical scenes in Switzerland, Canada and especially Belgium.
Pub rock
Pub rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the early to mid-1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, which incorporated roots rock, pub rock was a reaction against the expensively-recorded and produced progressive rock ...
(
Telephone
A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
),
psychobilly
Psychobilly (or punkabilly) is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It has been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional country rock, countrified rock ...
pop punk
Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...
(
Les Thugs Les Thugs were a punk band from France. Their records are distributed in North-America by Sub Pop Records.
Biography
Early days and first issue
The founding members of Les Thugs were two brothers, Eric and Christophe Sourice, from Angers, Fran ...
),
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
and
punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
Gill Dougherty
Gill Dougherty (born April 1961) is a French singer and songwriter, heavily influenced by 1970s and 1980s rock, who was born in :fr:Rock Ă Toulouse, Toulouse.
At the end of the 1970s, punk rock was sweeping through France and he found inspira ...
) were among the styles represented in this era. Beginning in the 1980s,
Les Rita Mitsouko
Les Rita Mitsouko (, translation: ''The Rita Mitsukos'') were a French pop rock group formed by Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer. The duo first performed as Rita Mitsouko at Gibus Club in Paris in 1980. They went on to become one of the most a ...
became very popular throughout Europe with their unique blending of punk, new wave, dance and cabaret elements.
Punk rock had arisen in the 1970s and continued into the next decade, perhaps best represented by Minimum Vital who are still active, Oberkampf and
. 80s progressive rock peaked early in the decade, with DĂĽn's ''
Eros
Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite.
He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...
'', Emeraude's '' Geoffroy'' and Terpandre's '' Terpandre'', all from 1981, representing the genre's pinnacle, in French West Indies (Guadeloupe Island) The Bolokos represent the genre.
Metal
French heavy metal bands include
Gojira
is the original Japanese name for Godzilla, a giant monster at the center of a media franchise.
It may also refer to:
Films
*Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' franchise, known as in Japan
**Godzilla (1954 film), ''Godzilla'' (1954 film), relea ...
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin.
Individuals wit ...
,
Hacride
Hacride is a French progressive metal band. Formed in 2001 with musicians coming from an array of different bands, musical backgrounds and styles their sound has evolved from the raw extremities and odd time signatures of technical death metal t ...
Loudblast
Loudblast is a French death/thrash metal band from Villeneuve-d'Ascq that pioneered the genres in France, and one of the most important French metal bands of the 1990s.
History
The band began in 1986 in the northern city of Lille. Its first reco ...
, Carcariass,
Massacra
Massacra was a French death metal band formed in 1986, described as "one of France's leading death metal bands in the early nineties".
After recording three demos in the 1980s, they finally landed a deal with Shark Records from Germany, and re ...
Benighted
Benighted is a French deathgrind band formed in Saint-Étienne in 1998. The group comprises vocalist Julien Truchan, guitarists Emmanuel Dalle and Fabien "Fack" Desgardins, bassist Pierre Arnoux and drummer Kevin Paradis, Benighted have relea ...
,
Necrowretch
Necrowretch is a French death metal band from Valence, RhĂ´ne-Alpes; formed in 2008. After recording demos through Skeleton Plague Records, Aural Offerings Records, and releasing 2 EPs through Detest Records; Necrowretch signed to Century Media ...
, and
Fairyland
Fairyland (Early Modern English: ''Faerie''; ( Scottish mythology; cf. (Norse mythology)) in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of ...
. Many of these bands play in the
death metal
Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...
,
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...
and/or
power metal
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...
styles.
France also has a large black metal movement, including, Belenos,
Deathspell Omega
Deathspell Omega is a French black metal band formed in 1998 in Poitiers. The group is an anonymous collective that has never confirmed the identity of any of its members.
Their lyrical content often deals with metaphysical Satanism, and the ph ...
,
Nocturnal Depression
Nocturnal Depression is a French depressive black metal band formed in 2004.
Founding lead vocalist and guitarist Lord Lokhraed suffers from ectrodactyly, having been born with only two fingers on his left hand. The band has been accused of exp ...
,
Blut Aus Nord
Blut Aus Nord (; ) is a French black metal band from Mondeville, Calvados, that has incorporated avant-garde music, avant-garde and Industrial metal, industrial elements in its music.
History
Vindsval began a solo project, under the name "Vla ...
,
Peste Noire
Peste Noire are a French black metal band from La Chaise-Dieu, France. The band was formed by "La sale Famine de Valfunde" (Ludovic Faure), also known simply as "Famine", in 2000. Their music uses standard black metal elements mixed with tradit ...
Arkhon Infaustus
Arkhon Infaustus is a French blackened death metal band from Paris. They formed in 1997, are signed to Osmose Productions, and have released four albums to date.
History
Arkon Infaustus was created in late 1997 by Dk Deviant, joined by Tortu ...
Antaeus
Antaeus (; , derived from ), known to the Berbers as Anti, was a figure in Traditional Berber religion, Berber and Greek mythology. He was famed for his defeat by Heracles as part of the Labours of Hercules.
Family
In Greek sources, he was ...
MĂĽtiilation
MĂĽtiilation is a French black metal project, traditionally known as a group, but later slimmed to a solo act that consisted solely of founder William "Meyhna'ch" Roussel who maintained activity under the name until its closing in 2017. He late ...
,
Vlad Tepes
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ) or Vlad Dracula (; ; 1428/31 – 1476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most important rulers in Wallachian hi ...
and Torgeist. The '
shoegaze
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...
' black metal movement also has many bands hailing from France, such as
Les Discrets
Les Discrets is a French post-rock project created and led by Fursy Teyssier as a "platform gathering music and art." Teyssier was the sole member of the band until 2009, when he was joined by Audrey Hadorn and Winterhalter. Les Discrets release ...
and
Amesoeurs
Amesoeurs was a French post-punk/ post-black metal band. A side project of Neige of Alcest, the group was formed with musicians Audrey Sylvain and Fursy Teyssier in the summer of 2004. Their goal was to create music that "reflects the dark side ...
.
Electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
Cerrone
Marc CerroneDaryl Easlea, "Supernature Boy", ''Record Collector'', #502, February 2020, pp.60-63 (; born 24 May 1952) is a French disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of concerts. Cerrone is a producer of 1970s and 1980s disco s ...
, achieved a wide French audience. The French electro-pop duos
Air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
and
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
and
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...
artists
Laurent Garnier
Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums.
Early influe ...
and
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
found a wide audience in the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, both locally and internationally. Groups such as
Justice
In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
French house
French house (also referred to as French touch, filter house, or tekfunk) is a style of house music devised by French musicians in the 1990s. It is a form of Eurodisco and a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance music s ...
is a late 1990s form of
house music
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
, part of the 1990s and first decade of the 21st-century European dance music scene and the latest form of
Euro disco
Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions featur ...
. The genre is also known as "Disco house", "Neu-disco" (new disco), "French touch", "filter house" or "tekfunk". The early mid/late 1990s productions was notable for the "filter effect" used by artists such as
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
. Other productions use more mainstream vocals and samples.
French house is greatly influenced by the 1970s
Euro disco
Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions featur ...
and especially the short lived
space disco
Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...
music style (a European (mostly French) variation of
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
As a music genre, typified by its fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the four-on-the-flo ...
disco), and also by
P-Funk
Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...
and the productions of
Thomas Bangalter
Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, alongside Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. He has recorded and released music as a member of the trio Music S ...
.
The first French house experiments (at the time called "disco house" and "neu disco") became notable in the international market between 1997 and 1999.
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
,
Stardust
Stardust may refer to:
* A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space
Entertainment Songs
* “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael
* “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974
* “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012
* ...
and Cassius were the first international successful artists of the genre and their videos show their "space disco" roots.
Several artists played important roles in popularizing the genre, which, in 2000, achieved international success.
Bob Sinclar
Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ, and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions.
Musical career
A native of Paris, Le Friant began D ...
Modjo
Modjo was a French house music duo formed in Paris in 1999 by producer Romain Tranchart (born 9 June 1976) and singer Yann Destagnol (born 14 July 1978). They are best known for their biggest hit, " Lady (Hear Me Tonight)", released in 2000, al ...
released "
Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
"Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" is a song by French house duo Modjo, written and performed by vocalist Yann Destagnol and producer Romain Tranchart. It was released on 19 June 2000 as the lead single from their only album, ''Modjo'' (2001). The song co ...
, which debuted at #1 in the UK and became a top-ten hit in thirteen countries.
Galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal.
They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...
followed the next year.
Today most French house bands and artists have moved on to other music styles, notably a French variation of electro, that is danced on the milky way/ Tecktonik style.
Disco
The
Village People
Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the re ...
, co-founded by the two French composers
Jacques Morali
Jacques Morali (4 July 1947 – 15 November 1991) was a French disco and dance music record producer and songwriter, known for collaborating with Henri Belolo to create acts such as the Ritchie Family and Village People.
Early life
...
and
Henri Belolo
Henri Belolo (; 27 November 1936 – 3 August 2019) was a French music producer and songwriter active during the disco era.
Born in Morocco, he started his career as a club DJ and A&R man. In the 1970s, with his friend, composer Jacques Morali ...
, was a major international disco group. Notable French disco singers also include
Dalida
Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida (, ; ), was an Italian naturalized French singer and actress. Leading an international career, Dalida has sold over 140 million records worldwide. Some ...
,
Sheila and B. Devotion
Sheila and B. Devotion (also credited as "Sheila B. Devotion", "Sheila and the Black Devotion" or "S.B. Devotion") was a disco group fronted by French singer Sheila between 1977 and 1980. This formation briefly reached popularity in Europe and t ...
,
Ottawan
Ottawan is a French pop music duo, who had the hit singles "D.I.S.C.O." and "Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)" in the early 1980s. Fronted by Patrick Jean-Baptiste and formerly Annette Eltice, the band were masterminded through a cooperation betwee ...
,
Voyage
Voyage(s) or The Voyage may refer to:
Literature
*''Voyage : A Novel of 1896'', Sterling Hayden
* ''Voyage'' (novel), a 1996 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter
*''The Voyage'', Murray Bail
* "The Voyage" (short story), a 1921 story by ...
,
Cerrone
Marc CerroneDaryl Easlea, "Supernature Boy", ''Record Collector'', #502, February 2020, pp.60-63 (; born 24 May 1952) is a French disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of concerts. Cerrone is a producer of 1970s and 1980s disco s ...
,
Patrick Hernandez
Patrick Pierre Hernandez (born 6 April 1949) is a French singer who had a worldwide hit with " Born to Be Alive" in 1979.
Biography
Born to a Spanish father and an Italian/Austrian mother in Le Blanc-Mesnil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Hernandez grew ...
and
F.R. David
Elli Robert Fitoussi (born 1 January 1947), known professionally as F. R. David, is a French singer and musician. He is best known for his 1982 international hit single " Words", which topped the charts in multiple countries.
Early life, famil ...
D.I.S.C.O.
"D.I.S.C.O." is a song by the French band Ottawan, written by Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger and produced by Daniel Vangarde. Ottawan originally recorded it in French.
It was first released in 1979 and reached number two in the UK Singles Cha ...
Born to Be Alive Born to Be Alive may refer to:
* ''Born to Be Alive'' (album), 1978 debut studio album by Patrick Hernandez
* "Born to Be Alive" (song), 1978 song by French singer Patrick Hernandez
{{Disambiguation ...
" (1979) and "
Words
A word is a basic element of language that carries meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its ...
" (1982).
Hip-Hop
Hip hop music
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...
was exported to France in the 1980s, and French
rappers
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing b ...
and DJs such as
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...
and MC Solaar, also had some success.
Hip hop music
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...
;Zouk
Zouk is a fast jump-up carnival beat originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, popularized by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the 1980s. Very rapid in tempo, the style lost ground in the 1980s due to the strong presence of kadans or compas, the main music of the French Antilles. Today, zouk is the French Antilles compas, also called zouk-love
In Africa, Kassav's zouk and the Haitian compas they featured, gained popularity in francophone and lusophone countries. It is also particularly popular in North America in the Canadian province of Quebec.
;Bouyon
Bouyon music, Bouyon (Boo-Yon) is a form of popular music of Dominica, also known as jump up music in Guadeloupe and Martinique. The best-known band in the genre is Windward Caribbean Kulture (WCK), who originated the style in 1988.
Over the years, thanks to inter-trade with the Dominicans and the mass participation of Guadeloupe at the World Creole Music Festival, the flagship group as Triple kay and MFR band began to democratize and local artists were inducted including the remix Allo Triple kay with Daly and "Big Ting Poppin 'Daly alone.
A popular offshoot within the bouyon is called bouyon music#bouyon hardcore, bouyon hardcore, a style characterized by its lewd and violent lyrics. Popular Bouyon gwada musicians include, Wee Low, Suppa, Doc J, Yellow gaza, etc.
;Antilles hip hop
The French Antilles hip hop is a style of hip hop music originating from the French departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean. Usually in French and Antillean creole, the French Antilles hip hop is most popular in the French Antilles and
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
;Rock In Gwada
Although a minority genre, French Antilles rock groups participate in the broadening of the Caribbean musical spectrum. The spearheads like The Bolokos or Livestocks include themes, rhythms or Caribbean melodies on British or American influences. The "Rock In Gwada" collective brings together some of these groups whose first festival took place in Petit-Bourg in 2016.
International music
French language is spoken worldwide and many international artists contribute to French music.
Europe
The greatest Belgian chansonnier was
Jacques Brel
Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...
, whose classic songs have been covered by several international artists. Others such as
Salvatore Adamo
Salvatore Adamo (November 1, 1943) is a Belgian-Italian musician, singer, and composer, who is known for his romantic ballads. Adamo was born in Comiso, Sicily, Italy, and has lived in Belgium since the age of three, which is why he has dual citiz ...
, Axelle Red, Lara Fabian,
Maurane
Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane (; 12 November 1960 – 7 May 2018), was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.
Brought to light in the 1980s with her role as Marie-Jeanne in the second version of the rock opera ''Starmania'', h ...
Salvatore Adamo
Salvatore Adamo (November 1, 1943) is a Belgian-Italian musician, singer, and composer, who is known for his romantic ballads. Adamo was born in Comiso, Sicily, Italy, and has lived in Belgium since the age of three, which is why he has dual citiz ...
and
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
are widely recognized in America
Asia
One of the most famous French-speaking Asian artists is Anggun, a French-naturalised singer from Indonesia, best known for her single ''La Neige au Sahara'' (Snow on the Sahara (song), Snow on the Sahara) written by Erick Benzi. The song was released in 1997 as her debut international single in 33 countries worldwide, and made the charts in Europe (#1 in Italy), America (#16 in USA Billboard), and Asia (#1 in Indonesia, #3 in Malaysia). French music also found surprising favorable reception in Japan, where the language and culture from France is often seen as romantic. Some Japanese groups use the French language, such as Malice Mizer or Versailles (band), Versailles, named after the Château de Versailles.
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
and
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu (; born July 22, 1946) is a French singer. She has recorded over 1,200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 122 million records sold worldwide.
Biography and career
Early years
Mireille Mathieu was born on July 22, 1946, ...
are widely recognized in Japan.
Africa
Beginning in the 1920s, RaĂŻ, RaĂŻ music developed in Algeria as a combination of rural and urban music. Often viewed as a form of resistance towards censorship, many of the conventional values of the old raĂŻ became modernized with instruments, synthesizers and modern equipment. Later performers added influences from funk, hip hop music, hip hop, rock and roll, rock and other styles, creating most notably a pop genre called lover's raĂŻ. Performers include Rachid Taha and Faudel. Originating of the city of Oran, raĂŻ shot to the top of the French, Swiss and Dutch charts in 1992 with the release of Khaled (musician), Khaled's single ''Didi (song), Didi''.