No relation to Frida Boccara, as far as I know, but Alice Boccara’s Sprechgesang on this very funky track by Dopamoon is both sexy and playful. The track reminds me, because of the ‘allez danse’ line, of -M-‘s Machistador.
Monthly Archives: March 2026
Camille
New, wonderful single by Camille, she of ‘Ta douleur’, album ‘Le Fil’, the soundtrack to Emilia Perez and that cool Johnny Hallyday-cover. It brings back Le fil vibes (very vocal), with a wonderful string-arrangement.
L’Oléfan
Lolita & Fania Morange = L’Oléfan. Two sisters making quirky French pop, and yes, they have a Brigtte (the duo) vibe. And some Les Rita Mitsouko spirit. We need to follow these sisters, because they’re destined for something plus cool:
Lily Bonnel
With nods to 80s synthpop, this French ‘state of the world address’ by Lily Bonnel asks some tolerance for autotuned vocals, but is an earworm nonetheless:
Voyage, Voyage
This year marks the 40th anniversary of ‘Voyage Voyage’, one of the ultimate French 80s hits, by Desireless. From this blog: ‘A beautiful number about travelling the world. Literally translated to ‘Travel Travel‘, the lyrics encourage eternal travel to beautiful, wonderful, breathtaking places and sacred destinations around the world. Written by Dominique Albert Dubois and Jean-Michel Rivat, and recorded by Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop who went by the stage name ‘Desireless’ and released it in 1986 as the first single from her album ‘François‘, the song became a huge hit all over the globe. Despite being sung entirely in French, it broke through language barriers on music charts and featured in the top slots internationally between 1986 and 1988. (Ironically it missed the number one spot in France, peaking at second position for four weeks, behind Elsa Lunghini’s ‘T’en Vas Pas‘.) The music video was directed by Bettina Rheims, and premiered in France in December 1986.’
As you’d expect, the song was covered many times. Recently, by former Eurovision Songcontest staple Barbara Pravi, for a movie soundtrack, the song gets a pop flamenco make over:
Thanks to reader Victor, I got hold of this sulty piano version by ESTL:
Also on piano, but with a totally different vibe, this wailing version by Libanese duo Soap & Skin:
Among the more odd versions, is this Russian metal make over, this Spanish translation, and this Hungarian take. And of course, links to the covers by Bananarama and Kate Ryan need to be in this blog.
There are more piano-covers, and dance-remixes. This Spanish rework is something different, classical:
And of course, this must include the gentle, angelic version by FS-regular Meimuna:
A slightly different live version by Meimuna:
Speaking of regulars, La Bronze added her vocals to this danceable duet:
A spacey indiepop version by Puzzle:
There are more, but did I miss a really really good version? Drop a comment.
Gildaa
From the new album by French-Brazilian singer Gildaa, this wonderful, very tender (closing) track:
Fanny
Fanny Luzignant, she resembles Clara Luciani, but she is the singer of La Femme. Monstres du soir is her first solo single, that floats on a driving bass, disco strings and some spoken word:
Leonie Pernet
Yet another great song by the magnificent Leonie Pernet. “A manifesto for the earth or a cosmic prayer, ‘Contre Terre’ stands as an act of faith and perseverance.”