Filles Sourires FAQ

A music blog about girls singing in French? Pourquoi?!
Did you listen to any of the mp3s? Did you hear the girls sing with their high, breathy voices, songs about love, lust, broken hearts, nasty men, the weather, fairytales? And you weren’t enchanted, you did not feel butterflies in your belly, you did not feel the urge to write poetry by candlelight, or stare out of the window and sigh, just sigh from time to time? Strange. I do.

Why French?
It’s the language of love, what can I say? Carla Bruni told me (face to face, yes) that it’s impossible to write simple songs in French. Lyrics have to be smart, otherwise they get plain stupid. You cannot write a song like, say, Love Me Do in French, and still sound good. Lio’s Bananasplit being the only exception. Fillessourires.com started on September 10, 2005.

So you understand everything they’re singing about?
Sometimes I do, most of the times I get the picture. But to quote famous Dutch bluessinger André Hazes: “You do not have to understand it to feel what it’s about.” He was referring to fado-queen Amalia Rodrigues, but it’s the same thing for me with Françoise, Coralie, Camille, Claire, and all my other girlfriends.

Is your name really Guuzbourg?
No, it’s  a reference to the man who inspired (or wrote songs for) lots of artists on my site. Gainsbourg is the godfather. Sky, Franss and Maks are the other authors, who love the girlies (and a lot more) just as much as I do.

You post mp3s. Is this legal?
No. But mp3s are available for a short period of time, and used to promote wonderful artists who need to be heard more, all over the world. Filles Sourires is not the only musicblog out there, go see on Hype Machine to get a little taste. From the response I get, most visitors eventually buy the cd, provided they like an artist. A lot of those visitors come from countries where French music isn’t promoted or easily accessible. The fact that I get mp3s offered by pr-companies and recordlabels, and lots of artists that I contact (Facebook, MySpace, Bandcamp) make NO fuss about my posting at all, shows you how it can work these days.

But I am an artist and I think your so-called justification sucks! I want my mp3s taken down NOW!
Okay, hold your horses. Just send me an email: Guuzbourg(a)gmail.com. Sheez.

Was this blog ever deleted?
It was, by Blogger. And now we’re back. Bygones. Find the old blog here.

Where does the term Filles Sourires come from?
It is my translation of the Dutch ‘Zuchtmeisjes’, a moniker invented by Dutch romancier Ronald Giphart in his second novel Giph. [A literal translation would be Filles Soupir, which to me sounds like girls in a bowl of soup. That’s why I chose sourire, which means ‘smile’, but to me sounds more delicate.] ‘Zuchtmeisjes’ is used for very pretty girls who, if you see them, make you want to sigh (or smile, in this case) involutarily, as a sign of affection. Is it sexual? You bet.

How did you get all ga-ga over les filles?
After hearing Coralie Clements first album. From then on, I collected as much filles sourires as I could find. When I was a teenager (back in the eighties), me & my parents went on holiday in France a lot and during our trips we listened to French radio. That also helped.

Did you release an album?
Several compilations: Filles Fragiles #1 and #2, Gentils Garcons, Gainsnord and Musique Fantastique. Find the links to those elsewhere on this blog.

Who visits this blog
Lovers from all over the world. 

 

This article has 30 comments

  1. PB Ocean

    Hi
    (Well I’ll start in France since, I’m French 🙂

    Salut je m’appelle PB (Pieth-Bernard) auteur-compositeur de Paris. Je me bats pour des causes comme la liberté, les droits des femmes, la protection des enfants, la dignité humaine et l’indépendance financière (contre les dettes en particulier). My sound is a mix between Daft Punk and Nirvana.
    Here is my first track ‘RISE’:
    https://soundcloud.com/sand-ocean/rise or
    https://www.bandpage.com/sandocean (for the pics and short bio)
    Hope you’ll enjoy it!

    Cheers!
    Bisous!

    PB

  2. MRK (Madison René Knapp)

    Salut Les Filles!

    Unfortunately, this song is not en français, but MRK is a deep francophile, having lived in Thonon-Les-Bains en Haute Savoy for a long time.
    You are cordially invited to check out the “RIVER OF BLOOD” video debut of emerging artist MRK. Described by VICE/thump as “a beautiful bloodbath of awesome,” we summon you to contribute your opinions!

    MRK t’aime.

    MRK “RIVER OF BLOOD” on VICE
    http://thump.vice.com/videos/thump-video/mrks-new-video-is-a-beautiful-bloodbath-of-awesome
    soundcloud.com/mrklovesyou
    mrklovesyou.bandcamp.com
    mrklovesyou.com

    Available for interviews and beyond at mrklovesyou@gmail.com

  3. Astrid (Adler) Pfeffer

    Hi Guuzbourg,
    Where are you from?
    PS I’m the ex-singer, not the Irish painter.

  4. Astrid (Adler) Pfeffer

    Hi Guuzbourg,
    Where are you from?
    PS I’m the ex-singer, not th

  6. Luca

    Hello,
    I follow your blog for around 3 or 4 years and I love it.
    You should have fan page on Facebook, it would be easier to jump to the blog easily anytime there’s a new post or just to go through the posts in an easy way.

    Good luck and take care!

  7. Marc

    Hello,

    Sorry for writing, but you may enjoy this pop song from France. A french girl is singing 🙂

    Marc

  8. Mattéo

    Hi there,I want to share with you a good french stuff, a music video called “LES VOILES” by the pop group POOM. I participate in the creation of the music video, it starts to become popular in France and we would share it in other countries.

    Let me know if you enjoy the music and the video and if you would like to publish it on your blog.

    I hope you’ll like it, the music is cool, fresh and we worked a lot on the video for a surrealist aspect. 🙂

    Here is the link to the main page : http://www.poom.fr
    And the youtube link : http://youtu.be/m2_iih1U2gk

    Thank you so much,
    Have a nice summer!

    Mattéo

  10. Lionel Liminana

    Thank you so much , have a great new year,
    à bientôt, Lio Liminana

  12. Neha

    Hi there!

    I love this blog, and I also love all French music. Jacques Brel is one of my favorite vocalists and songwriters, as well as Edith Piaf.

    I did a cover of an Edith Piaf tune recently – Dans Ma Rue. I’d love for you to take a listen, and if you feel moved by it, include this rendition in your blog!

    https://soundcloud.com/neha_music/dans-ma-rue

    Thank you,
    Neha

  16. Plop

    “it’s impossible to write simple songs in French. Lyrics have to be smart, otherwise they get plain stupid.”
    Omg i know right ? It’s ok to sing “it’s raining men” (and to understand the lyrics) but “il pleut des hommes” just sounds stupidly weird. I never understood that.

  19. Caroline-Christa Bernard

    Bonsoir,

    Votre site présente de belles découvertes musicales.

    Je me permets de vous présenter ma chanson « L’Eau de Chlore » mise en ligne fin septembre sur Youtube :

    http://youtu.be/OYzvhz1fWXg

    Ce titre a été sélectionné par France Bleu/ France Inter, dans la catégorie « Bijou du Net » ainsi que par le magazine Edwarda et le magazine H2O consacré à l’eau.

    Ce serait une chance de paraître sur votre beau site,

    Merci pour votre écoute,

    Caroline-Christa Bernard

  20. guuzbourg

    Already send the mp3 to Caroline!

  21. Sky

    @caroline

    provide me with an e-mail, and I see what I can do.

  22. Caroline

    I notice you have a song my dad desperately wants to have a copy of on an older entry by Francoise Hardy. What are the chances you could share or tell us where we can buy it? It is La Mer.

  23. Pingback: » FS in The Guardian Filles Sourires

  25. UiJuiJui

    Hi!

    We want to introduce our band “UiJuiJui”…
    After their Debutalbum “Masters Of Love” they will release their new 7″-Vinyl-E.P. “Früh Raus, Spät Heim” on 4th of May 2012…
    Here you can download it with a free press-account:

    URL: http://www.musikfladen.de/frsh

    Your personal DL-Code: 56ZTO81E

    Please spread the word 😉

    Mike Witschi (Musikfladen)

  27. Émilie Langlois-Pratte

    How can we contact you (by e-mail) ?

  29. Kiva in Park Slope

    Hey! Cœur de Pirate is coming to New York! and Boston, and Philadelphie, looks like. January 2012. If you’ve looked at the website you may know this already, but unlike all (?-almost all, certainly) of the other singers we love from this blog, one of the best, Béatrice Martin, *sera ici aux Etats-Unis*! I’ve got my tickets–Highline Ballroom, NYC, Jan. 27th.

    This blog has taught me most of what I know about la nouvelle pop française and all these wonderful singers, I just thought I should mention this. Merci bien, Guuzbourg et cie.

  30. Thallie Ann Seenyen

    Bonjour Guuzbourg,

    I am Thallie Ann Seenyen, a singer-songwriter from Mauritius Island currently based in Manchester.

    I came across your blog and I have to admit that I absolutely fell in love with it. It is so different from all the other blogs out there and I love that it emphasises French music and Serge Gainsbourg was indeed the Godfather of French music.

    I was wondering if you could have a quick listen to my track ‘Haunting’. It would be great if you could let me know what you think about it. Don’t worry if you don’t like it, any advice would be appreciated.

    The link to the track is:

    http://soundcloud.com/thallieannseenyen/haunting

    Thank you so much for your time,
    Take care and hope to hear from you soon,

    Thallie Ann Seenyen
    Electronic Singer-Songwriter

    http://www.myspace.com/thallieannseenyen
    http://www.soundcloud.com/thallieannseenyen

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