Bye Bye Bobbejaan

  • Posted on 17/05/2010
  • /Under Musique

Today Belgium lost one of its most remarkable (cult)icons for life. The day after he celebrated his 85th birthday, Bobbejaan Schoepen died of a heart-attack at the Turnhout hospital. He was famous because of his yodeling and whistling talent. Check a funny old video from the movie ‘At the the Drop of a Head’ (L’Ordonnance) from 1962 over here and see why he was often called the Belgium cowboy. Toots Thielemans taught him how to play the harmonica in 1951 while playing guitar in Bobbejaans band and – not coincidentally – Toots himself became a professional whistler too. Bobbejaan was the first European to do a gig at the famous Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, but wanted to spend more time back home with his wife.
In an attempt to quit touring that much, he bought a castle in 1959, which he turned into a place for variete. Nowadays this place is called ‘Bobbejaanland’, a very big amusement park for families with kids. This park made Bobbejaan a very fortunated man.
In 2008 the Belgium cowboy returned to his roots as he recorded a highly recommended come-back album simply called ‘Bobbejaan’. Acoustic mostly, fragile and intense songs on the edge of country and singer-songwriting. He also planned to release a new live-album later on this year… Don’t know whether these tracks were already recorded or not, but luckily for us he left us with two breathtaking duets on his last album.
Bye Bye Bobbejaan, I do hope the pubs up-there are well equipped!

Bobbejaan Schoepen – Café Sans Export (From the movie L’Ordonnance)
Bobbejaan Schoepen & Geike Arnaert – Le Temps des Cerises (Clip @ YouTube)
Bobbejaan Schoepen & Axelle Red – Je Me Suis Souvent Demandé

Brune

  • Posted on 17/05/2010
  • /Under Musique


Brune is a new, charcoal-eyed beauty on the Filles-front. Yes, that’s Brune, not BB Brunes or Paris Brune – it didn’t help that Brune’s song is called Paris while googling (though not as difficult as trying to find the band C++). Brune’s voice sounds a lot like Cécile Hercule’s, which is a good thing. If you go to her Myspace you can hear the lovely  L’ Hiver en été, also available on the upcoming EP (see an acoustic version here). Here’s the video for Paris. [Thanks John]
Brune – Paris

Coeur de Pirate & Jay Malinowski

  • Posted on 17/05/2010
  • /Under Musique

Brandspanking new English song by CdP and a friend. Hope this doesn’t mean she will steer away from singing in English. Nice to watch, though. This is nice too. [Thanks Tim]

Coralie en direct

  • Posted on 17/05/2010
  • /Under Musique

 
A little birdie pointed me to this Mediafire-file, containing a bootlegrecording of a concert of Coralie Clément in Buenos Aires. Grab it quickly before it disappears. You can hear our charming heroine (she watches over this blog) do mostly songs from her last album Toy Store, and some from earlier recordings (alas very few from her brilliant debut). Posted here is her coverversion of Benjamin Biolay’s Jardin d’Hiver. The picture is borrowed from Franca, who photographed Coralie in Sao Paulo.

Coralie Clément – Jardin d’hiver (live in Buenos Aires)

Cécile Hercule (and Tétard)

  • Posted on 15/05/2010
  • /Under Musique

We at FillesSourires, we love Cécile Hercule to death. Her album is great, her girlie, supersexy voice is classic fillesfragiles-singing and her quirky songs are like pretty presents. When she’s not doing solo-shows, she’s a backup singer for Mickey3D and David Tétard. The latter released a new album and his duet with Cécile is one of the best songs on the albums. Now, D’s voice is an acquired taste, to me he sounds like he needs to go to the bathroom really bad but has to finish the song before he’s allowed. But his rocksongs are solid, and if you allow Cécile to have her own carreer, I’m all for it.

David Tétard & Cécile Hercule – La beauté du geste

Keren Ann sings Brassens

  • Posted on 13/05/2010
  • /Under Musique

Georges Brassens in English, now there’s a challenge. His songs and poetryhas been translated, but very seldomly sung in English. Pierre de Gaillande, who has a French father and an American mom, is giving it a try on his album Bad Reputation. Why Brassens in this day ‘n age? Quote from the bio: ‘Brassens had no interest in being fashionable or cool, and yet defined coolness in a way that resonates for de Gaillande in our day and age. For de Gaillande, it boils down to language: “Using proper grammar, good spelling, and eloquent language is subversive and even sexy in this era of Tea-Party talk,” de Gaillande smiles. “That’s part of the mission of this project: to bring back that kind of sexy. I think it’s the hippest thing I’ve ever done. I draw inspiration from Brassens’ attitude: He didn’t care what people thought. He just got the poetry out there. “‘
The music stays close to the original, with the skipping rhythm and acoustic guitar, Pierre’s voice reminds me of Tom Robinson’s – it has the right amount of irony and sarcasm to sing Georges’ songs. On one song he gets help from FillesSourires-heroine Keren Ann, as far as I know the first time KA sings a GB chanson. The full album will be released on June 8.


Pierre de Gaillande & Keren Ann – To Die for Your Ideas

See the original version here.

Claire Diterzi

  • Posted on 10/05/2010
  • /Under Musique


An album about Marxist heroine Rosa Luxemburg, 90 years after she was murdered in Berlin, set to urban beats and bird noises – yes, you have to be Claire Diterzi to accomplish this. ‘The odd one out’ when it come to les filles fragiles, first was asked to write music for a theatre ‘spectacle’ about the Red Rose, which culminated into a full album; Rosa la rouge. You can read a French interview with Claire and director Marcial Di Fonzo Bo here, where she explains that the thing she wears on her back on the albumcover (and the pic on the right) is a ‘kalash-guitare’. I’m sure Tom Morello of RATM would love to have one too. To be honest I did not know very much about Rosa Luxembourg (read a short bio here) but I understand there was a lot of violence (and imprisonment) in her life. Claire tells in the interview that nature and birds, which explains the bird noises in the songs (soundscapes, really). There’s a genuine waltz on the album, as are urban beats. Luxemburg wanted to touch the masses, Claire explains, that’s why the song Je Touche La Masse (with samples of Rosa’s voice) sounds something MTV might wanna broadcast, including quotes like I got the power.  If you were into Claire’s Tableau de Chasse album (and many of you were), you’re in for a surprise. There are a few songs on the album (like the titletrack, and the very Diterzi-sounding J’étais Je Suis Je Serai) that I really like, but most of the tracks work better on a stage, I guess, than at  home. See a teaser video here.

Claire Diterzi – Rosa la rouge

Marie Warnant

  • Posted on 10/05/2010
  • /Under Musique

Namur-born beauty Marie Warnant gets help on her second album from none other than Vincent Liben and Benjamin Biolay. The latter wrote La Valse for her, and plays guitar on the track. Liben (who, as we all know, is the singer of Mud Flow AND the genius behind Tout va disparaitre) wrote several tracks together with Marie for Ritournelle, and plays on almost every song. Marie has a pleasant husky voice, though not very remarkable. The acoustic (guitar, piano, drums, some strings) music harms no one. Too few songs really stand out, like the uptempo Vernis Rouge with it’s children’s choir. Biolay’s track has nice details and obviously great melancholic lyrics. Still, I’d love to hear Coralie, or Elodie Frégé sing this track.

Marie Warnant – Vernis rouge
Marie Warnant – La valse

Katel, Jeanne, Catherine, Gilles

  • Posted on 04/05/2010
  • /Under Musique


So much new music fell on my doormat and in my digital mailbox, I really have to catch-up. Never heard of Katel until FransS send me her second album. She’s a tad goth (which I like) and gets help on her album from Jeanne Cherhal and Nosfell. Which means she likes to rock out, writes smart lyrics and isn’t afraid of a bit of experimenting. The duet with Jeanne reminds me of early Mylene Farmer, and I mean that in a nice way. If  you, like me, love to hear husky French girls sing like they’re being chased by bats out of hell, try Katel.

Gilles Vigneault is a living legend in Quebec, a chansonnier, poet and writer with a big heart for Quebec and music. Recently a duet-album was released, generally speaking never a highlight in ones carreer. The 82-year old Vigneautl gets help from Charles Aznavour (a really touching duet, both old guns are rusty yet they seem to have fun singing), Guy Béart, hiphop-funnymen Loco Locice (godawful) and the gorgeous Catherine Major. Of course, that duet is here.

Katel & Jeanne Cherhal – Chez Escher

Gilles Vigneault & Catherine Major – La danse a Saint-Dilon (see original version here)

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