Verlaine, Baudelaire and the Girls

Here’s an idea: let gorgeous filles like Claire Keim, Jenifer and Camelia Jordana sing poems by Verlaine, Baudelaire, Elouard and Carême. Add some garçons (Arthur H, Marc Lavoine, Babx), some unsinkable legends (Ferré, Hardy, Nougarro) and you have La Bande des Mots. A compilation to raise money for handicapped students, and to help popularize the great French poets. Not every poem is fit to be sung, to be honest. But Verlaine’s Il pleure dans mon coeur by Claire Keim sure makes excellent FS-material. She’s certainly not the first to sing Verlaine’s poem, many classical soprano’s did it before her, but it never sounded this sexy.

Claire Keim – Il pleure dans mon coeur
Camelia Jordana – Spleen

Alex Beaupain & Camelia Jordana

We know Alex from his brilliant filmscores, but he makes albums under his own name too. I missed this duet, an update of an older song, from Beaupain’s Pourqoui battait mon coeur-cd when it came out in April. But now it’s released as a single, with a nice video (shot by Christophe Honoré) featuring gorgeous Camelia. Not for a second you feel awkward that she’s 19 and he’s 37, this is totally believable. See an acoustic version HERE

Alex Beaupain & Camelia Jordana – Avant la haîne

Claire Denamur

First there was Dingue Dingue Dingue. Then there was Non Non Non. And now we have Bang Bang Bang. All good things come in threes. And Claire Denamur is a very, very, very good thing. The singer with Dutch, Argentinian and French roots blipped on our radar in 2009. Her first album still is a gem, and from the sounds of it, the sophomore cd will be too. On the just-released EP are four songs, the aforementioned summer hit, two ballads and a very nice rendition of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt, inna Johnny Cash-stylee. Is it a coincidence that the best contender for French summer hit is this track? I think not.

Claire Denamur – Bang Bang Bang