Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel

Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel
Author: Chris Tinker
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780853237587

The 1950s and 1960s were the golden era of French popular song, known as chanson français, and Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel epitomized both the music and the era. Their fame was worldwide, with writers and artists such as David Bowie and Gabriel García Márquez citing them as key influences. In Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel, Chris Tinker sheds new light on the pair and their work by moving beyond the biographical and linguistic approaches that tend to dominate the study of French song. Instead, Tinker focuses on the social and cultural impact of the music—and public personas—of Brassens and Brel. He explores the fascinating mix of the personal and the general in their lyrics and the way those often opposing impulses played out in their songs and through their careers. Tinker also is careful to give the musical aspects of the songs their proper attention, considering the ways in which they alternately support or undermine the personas developed in the singers' lyrics. Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel will be the definitive look at the work—and the world—of the two greatest figures of chanson français.

Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel

Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel
Author: Chris Tinker
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780853237686

This book explores the various personal and social narratives within the songs of Brassens and Brel, the auteurs-compositeurs-interpretes who epitomised what is now widely regarded as the golden era of chanson francaise during the 1950s and 60s. Tinker's discussion reveals the tensions in thenarrators' relationship with themselves, other individuals, and society. The book builds upon, and moves beyond, the two dominant critical approaches used to write about French song: the exclusively biographical oriented approach and the purely linguistic analysis. Tinker focuses both on identity,viewed primarily as a relational process, and on representation: linguistic, musical, vocal, and gestural.

Post-War French Popular Music: Cultural Identity and the Brel-Brassens-Ferré Myth

Post-War French Popular Music: Cultural Identity and the Brel-Brassens-Ferré Myth
Author: Dr Adeline Cordier
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2014-09-28
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1472403339

Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Léo Ferré are three emblematic figures of post-war French popular music who have been constantly associated with each other by the public and the media. They have been described as the epitome of chanson, and of 'Frenchness'. But there is more to the trio than a musical trinity: this new study examines the factors of cultural and national identity that have held together the myth of the trio since its creation. This book identifies the combination of cultural and historical circumstances from which the works of these three singers emerged. It presents an innovative analysis of the correlation between this iconic trio and the evolution of national myths that nurtured the cultural aspirations of post-war French society. It explores the ways in which Brel, Brassens and Ferré embody the myth of the left-wing intellectual and of the authentic 'Gaul' spirit, and it discusses the ambiguous attitude of post-war French society towards gender relations. The book takes an original look at the trio by demonstrating how it illustrates the popular representation of a key issue of French national identity: the paradoxical aspiration to both revolution and the maintenance of the status quo.

Post-War French Popular Music: Cultural Identity and the Brel-Brassens-Ferré Myth

Post-War French Popular Music: Cultural Identity and the Brel-Brassens-Ferré Myth
Author: Adeline Cordier
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 131707713X

Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Léo Ferré are three emblematic figures of post-war French popular music who have been constantly associated with each other by the public and the media. They have been described as the epitome of chanson, and of 'Frenchness'. But there is more to the trio than a musical trinity: this new study examines the factors of cultural and national identity that have held together the myth of the trio since its creation. This book identifies the combination of cultural and historical circumstances from which the works of these three singers emerged. It presents an innovative analysis of the correlation between this iconic trio and the evolution of national myths that nurtured the cultural aspirations of post-war French society. It explores the ways in which Brel, Brassens and Ferré embody the myth of the left-wing intellectual and of the authentic 'Gaul' spirit, and it discusses the ambiguous attitude of post-war French society towards gender relations. The book takes an original look at the trio by demonstrating how it illustrates the popular representation of a key issue of French national identity: the paradoxical aspiration to both revolution and the maintenance of the status quo.

Chanson

Chanson
Author: Peter Hawkins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351572407

En France, tout finit par des chansons' is the well-known phrase which sums up the importance of chanson for the French. A song tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages and troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, chanson is part of the texture of everyday life in France - a part of the national identity and a barometer of popular taste. In this first study of chanson in English, Peter Hawkins examines the background to the genre and the difficulties in defining what is and what is not chanson. The focus then moves to the development of the singer-songwriter of chanson from 1880 to the present day. This period saw the emergence of national icons from Aristide Bruant at the end of the nineteenth century through to internationally recognized musicians such as Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg. Each of these figures used chanson to express the particular moral dilemmas, tragic situations and moments of euphoria particular to themselves and their times. The book provides bibliographies, discographies and details of video recordings for each of the singer-songwriters that it discusses. It is both an essential reference guide to the genre and a useful case history of the adaptation of an ancient form to the demands of the modern mass media.

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris
Author: Eric Blau
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2000
Genre: Musicals
ISBN: 9780822219057

THE STORY: The poignant, passionate and profound songs of Belgian songwriter Jacques Brel are brought to vivid theatrical life in this intense musical experience. Brel's legendary romance, humor and moral conviction are evoked simply and directly, with fo

Sounds French

Sounds French
Author: Jonathyne Briggs
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2015
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0199377065

'Sounds French' reveals how French society mediated the challenges of globalization through the consumption and production of popular music, itself increasingly an expression of globalized culture. As recorded music became more commonplace and crossed national boundaries in the second half of the twentieth century, French musicians and their audiences articulated new types of communal identities around popular music genres that reflected the impact of social, political, economic, and cultural transformations after the 1950s.

An Anthology of French and Francophone Singers from A to Z

An Anthology of French and Francophone Singers from A to Z
Author: Michaël Abecassis
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 688
Release: 2018-06-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1527512053

Every musical form has had an impact on the linguistic practices of our society. French song is a vector of cultural, social, and stylistic values. Throughout the world, songs in the French language are used in the teaching of French: professors incorporate songs into the curriculum in order to illustrate differences of register and linguistic variation, as well as to raise lexical or grammatical questions. As a form of popular expression, song is a genre that has, in recent years, become the focus of serious academic scholarship and criticism. However, few linguists have paid attention to French song and its linguistic uses. This richly illustrated mini-dictionary about French singers fills this gap by offering a collection of portraits of the greatest singers of the French language and how they have constructed the musical landscape in both France and the larger francophone community and the world as a whole. Through (re)discovering these classic and contemporary artists who contribute to the creation of the sonorous universe of the 20th and 21st centuries, the volume determines how these musical genres influence the French language and nourish our collective imagination. By plunging into francophone song, one can achieve a better understanding of the culture and the language of its speakers.

Translating Song

Translating Song
Author: Peter Low
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2016-10-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317246578

The first textbook guide available to show students how to translate song lyrics Includes a glossary and annotated bibliography to reinforce and aid learning Music videos and audio clips accessible via the translation studies portal provide examples for practice

Stuff Parisians Like

Stuff Parisians Like
Author: Olivier Magny
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2011-07-05
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1101516712

In the tradition of the New York Times bestseller Stuff White People Like, a tongue-in-cheek homage to Parisians. To be mistaken for a Parisian, readers must buy the newspaper Le Monde, fold it, and walk. Then sit at a café and make phone calls. Be sure to order San Pellegrino, not any other kind of fizzy water. They shouldn't be surprised when a waiter brings out two spoons after they order le moelleux au chocolat- it is understood that the dessert is too sinfully delicious not to share. Go to l'île Saint-Louis-all Parisians are irredeemably in love with that island. Feel free to boldly cross the street whenever the impulse strikes-pedestrian crosswalks are too dangerous. If they take a cruise on the Seine, they will want to stand outside, preferably with their collar popped up. If they want to decorate, may we suggest the photographs of Robert Doisneau? To truly be cool in Paris, own an iPhone, wear Converse sneakers, and order sushi. And as they stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens, remember-they can't go wrong wearing black.