Anne Sylvestre

Anne Sylvestre (1965)

Anne Sylvestre (born June 20, 1934 in Lyon ), bourgeois Anne-Marie Beugras , is a French songwriter (auteure-compositrice-interprète) and chanson poet.

Stages of creation

The beginnings (1957–1967)

Anne-Marie Beugras broke off her studies of literature in order to devote herself entirely to chanson under the pseudonym Anne Sylvestre. She had her first appearances in Paris in November 1957 in the cabaret “La Colombe”, subsequently in various cabarets “rive gauche”. She sang songs that she had written herself, accompanying herself on the guitar.

In 1959 her first small record with four songs appeared, in 1960 the second. Anne Sylvestre found one of her first records at a flea market - marked by a stamp as being owned by a radio station - with the note: "à éviter!" (To be avoided). The first long-playing records (with a diameter of 25 cm) appeared in 1961 and '62. The then already better known Georges Brassens wrote a text for the cover of the latter . For this record she received the Prix ​​de l'Académie de la chanson française .

In 1961, after becoming the mother of a daughter in 1960, she began creating songs for children. In 1964 the first record was released with these (Les Fabulettes). For this she received the Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy . Between 1963 and 1967 she received this award four more times. In 1962 she appeared for the first time in the renowned Parisian venues Bobino (in the opening act by Jean-Claude Pascal ) and Olympia (opening act by Gilbert Bécaud ).

In 1966, a book is dedicated to Sylvestre in the series Poètes d'aujoud'hui (“Poésie et chansons”) by the author Jean Manteaux. It contains collected texts and a monograph. The editor Seghers had decided to place outstanding songwriters alongside recognized classics of modern poetry. The only songwriters who had previously appeared there were Leo Ferré , Georges Brassens , Jacques Brel , Charles Aznavour , Felix Leclerc , Charles Trenet and Guy Béart . Anne Sylvestre was the first woman to receive this recognition, the youngest of the named and the last to appear in public. In 1967 she had appearances in the Bobino, in the star program together with Felix Leclerc.

Refused adaptation

In 1968 Sylvestre separated from her original record company (Phillips) and switched to a smaller, new record company (Meys), which she also left in 1970. Temporarily without a record company and marketing management there was a two-year break from gigs. Sylvestre remained cautious about the presentation of the underlying conflicts, but it was - accompanied by legal disputes - allegedly about the lack of self-determination. She created this theme artistically in the song Me v'la (There I am), as she related during and after the concert in the Théâtre des Capucines (Paris) in 1973. This concert showed that there was a loyal and enthusiastic audience for Anne Sylvestre even without major advertising and media presence. She felt encouraged by the success to found her own company (Sylvestre), with which she released her first own record in 1974. After trials with its own sales organization, the “Sylvestre” label worked with various companies to organize the sales.

The songs for children

The undertaking of such a relatively independent production would have entailed a greater economic risk if the now very successful songs for children had not provided a secure foundation. Sylvestre kept offering new “Fabulettes” on sound carriers in its own label. For part of the public, she is known only as an author of children's songs.

The songs for adults

Sylvestre continuously brought out new records / CDs with her songs for adults and was always on stage with them. Her early repertoire is in some ways reminiscent of traditional songs and is characterized by images from a village environment. What at first sight fits into the tradition contains the profound, the ironic and the unadjusted. Sylvestre describes the imagery from which she drew as a kind of alienating projection screen, which made the content easier to transport.

With a few exceptions, Anne Sylvestre's songs are written from a distinctly female perspective. They show self-confidence and the desire to be close without losing their own identity. The songs often shake prejudices and stereotypical roles, turn against exclusion, and advocate tolerance in an imprecise way. Her early song Mon mari est parti (My husband who went away) became relatively famous . Just by having an apparently naïve woman talk about her husband's absence, it is a song against war. In 1969 Sylvestre made fun of the woman waiting for "the prince". In the 1970s, songs were created that could be more clearly described as feminist :

Non tu n'as pas de nom depicts a woman in the difficult situation of not being able to carry her child to term. In the ironic, tongue-in-cheek song Clémence en vacances , the no longer young Clémence frees herself from the eternal housework and becomes an inspiration for others to take a “vacation” from it. Douce maison metaphorically complains about rape. La faute à Ève ironically targets the attribution of guilt to the biblical Eve. Petit bonhomme caricatures a man who wants to play women off against each other and use them, but against whom the women unite. Also Frangines is a song about the solidarity association of women. “Une sorcière comme les autres” turns against the burdens and cliché roles that women are burdened with. In concrete terms, several songs go against the expectation that the woman must be slim and externally made-up.

Between 1998 and 2006 it is water, wind and vegetation that represent the general theme of the events and recordings. This is about how humans deal with nature and about social and human concerns, about desires and goals, about symbols. As an example, the program with which she performed until mid-2006: Under the heading Les chemins du vent (The ways of the wind) there are songs about life, something playful about one's own car, but also historical references, such as Jewish children who had to be hidden in the attic from persecution, and women in Baghdad who had their children born by caesarean section before the American bombs fell and there might be no water. ( March 20, 2003 ).

Further development since 1986 and cooperation

1986 Sylvestre takes part in a concert in honor of Georges Brassens. Also in 1986 she returned to the Olympia with her own program. In 1988 she performed with the Canadian Pauline Julien under the title Gémeaux croisées . At this concert, under the direction of Viviane Théophilidès , she for the first time completely dispenses with her guitar, the acting becomes more meaningful. In 1989 she sings and plays in the play Calamity Jane , for which she also wrote the songs. In 1993 she created a musical play for children with Lala et le cirque du vent .

In September 2007 Sylvestre celebrated her 50th anniversary on stage with five concerts in the Trianon in Paris with the Mon Jublié program . Around 30 well-known artists congratulated themselves on stage at the end of this concert and sang one of their best-known early songs together with Sylvestre: T'en souviens-tu la Seine? (Do you remember that, his?). With the anniversary program, Sylvestre then performed in many cities in France, Belgium and Switzerland. She was invited to several festivals, with Chansons de Parole in Barjac as a grand finale. Given the success of all these performances, there were again concerts in January 2009 at the Trianon in Paris. In the same year, Sylvestre received another prize from the Académie Charles Cros for her life's work.

Also in 2009, Anne Sylvestre and Serge Hureau developed and presented the event Bêtes à Bon Dieu with songs from the Catholic church tradition and heretical-ironic songs about the same, including a. with Sylvestre chansons about hypocrisy and misogyny.

As of 2011, the partly varied stage program with older own songs that had not been taken up for a long time or had been given a little less attention was called Au plaisir! .

In the Carré de dames program , Anne Sylvestre and the much younger Agnès Bihl mixed some of their songs from the women's perspective in 2012, accompanied by musicians Nathalie Miravette and Dorothée Daniel.

The Juste une femme program was presented for the first time with the appearance of the CD of the same name in 2013. With this, Anne Sylvestre will again open the Festival Chansons de Parole in Barjac in 2014, celebrating her eightieth birthday in public, having recently performed at the Paroles et Musique and Francofolies de La Rochelle festivals .

Music and lecture

Anne Sylvestre composes melodically. In the studio recordings, the vocals were supported from the start by an economical but differentiated instrumentation. Until his death (2003) François Rauber was responsible for the u. a. also worked with Jacques Brel.

At first only accompanied by his own guitar on stage, other instruments were added later, so that Sylvestre put the guitar aside for some songs for the first time in 1986. Since 1988 she has limited herself to singing, so that she has her hands free for more theatrical design, which contributes greatly to intensifying the effect.

Dedicated songwriter?

In a balanced mix, Sylvestre sings ironic, playful, thoughtful or thought-provoking, emotionally touching things. They are almost always human everyday stories. Sylvestre represents human rights , women's rights and is connected to nature, but she rejects all “isms” and never wants to be instrumentalized by a political or social movement. Not even from the women's movement , although “feminist” is the only association that it tolerates. She has also expressed her right to her own way of doing things, her perspective and focus in songs.

The songs often come across as very personal, as a statement by a single person or as a portrait-like description of such a person. But there is also something typifying and transferable in the texts. Particularly in communication between women, this concrete statement, which expresses the general and generalizable, may be particularly effective. But basically the concrete is conveyed more vividly than the abstract. Sylvestre wants to reach people with her ideas and says she hopes to be useful for at least some.

The often forgotten "big one"

When Anne Sylvestre is publicly spoken or written about, there is an opinion everywhere that she is one of the “greats” of French chanson , but that she is too often forgotten and not properly appreciated for her performance. It is known that Anne Sylvestre exists, but she is less represented in the media than the other “great” with whom she was often compared: Georges Brassens throughout his life and in the years after his death.

After her own experience that it is difficult to get noticed on the market with good texts, Anne Sylvestre encourages younger artists as much as she can. She chooses them for the first part of her concerts. At times there wasn't a lot of information about herself on her website, in total more about artist friends.

Numerous singers have included songs by Anne Sylvestre in their programs. In 2000, with reference to the previous anniversary, there was a gala in her honor, in which various other singers and songwriters performed their songs and took their influence on the good French chanson - that is, that with a certain literary claim - into account. Since the 50-year program at the end of 2007, Sylvestre has again come into focus as one of the traditional greats in francophone countries.

Dealing with the Father's Past

Anne Sylvestre was always thrifty with direct statements about her private life. But she broke through a crucial taboo by speaking about it - only late - Anne Beugras was stigmatized, especially in her childhood and youth, by the fact that her father, Albert Beugras, was an important member of the right-wing Parti populaire français and so on Became a collaborator , d. That is, that he had worked with the German National Socialists who were occupying France. When Paris was liberated from the Nazis by the US Army, father and brother initially disappeared to Germany. Later the father came back alone, the brother was killed in a bomb drop. The father was imprisoned for 10 years. Collaborators were very outlawed in France with regard to the double condemnation as traitors to the country and as fascists. As a result, Anne Sylvestre was initially very isolated and some of the difficulties in her later career can be explained by this biographical background.

It was her younger sister, Marie Chaix , who picked up the father's story in a book. Afterwards, Anne Sylvestre also spoke about the previous taboo.

Discography

• 1961: "Anne Sylvestre chante"
• 1962: "Anne Sylvestre n ° 2"
• 1963: "Vous aviez ma belle"
• 1964: "Les Fabulettes" (first record with children's songs)
• 1965: "Lazare et Cécile"
• 1967: "Berceuse pour moi"
• 1968: "Mousse"
• 1969: "Aveu"
• 1971: "Abel, Caïn, mon fils"
• 1974: "Les pierres de mon jardin"
• 1975: "Une sorcière comme les autres"
• 1977: "Comment je m'appelle"
• 1979: "J'ai de bonnes nouvelles"
• 1981: "Dans la vie en vrai"
• 1985: "Ecrire pour ne pas mourir"
• 1986: "Tant de choses à vous dire"
• 1986: "A l'Olympia" Live
• 1988: “Gémeaux croisées”, concert with Pauline Julien
• 1989: “La ballade de Calamity Jane”, chansons of the play
• 1994: "D'amour et de mots"
• 1994: “Lala et le cirque du vent”, musical theater for children with Michèle Bernard
• 1995: “A la Potinière”, live album
• 1997: "Chante au bord de la Fontaine"
• 1998: "Les arbres verts"
• 1998: "Olympia 1998" Live, 2 CD
• 2000: "Partage des eaux"
• 2003: "Les chemins du vent"
• 2007: "Bye Mélanco"
• 2007: "Mon Jubilé"
• 2008: “Son jubilé en public” + DVD released
• 2011: "Parenthèses" (old songs in a new recording, two new songs)
• 2013: Juste une femme

(only LP and CD, without re-releases, compilations and - except for 1964 - the numerous children's records)

• 2003: "Une heure autour d'Anne Sylvestre", Tranches de scènes, chansons en stock no 1
• 2008: "Intégrale 15 CD Tout Studio" (collection of all studio recordings for adults)
• 2008: “Son Jubilé” DVD

bibliography

• "Anne Sylvestre", lyrics, monograph by Jean Monteaux (Editions Seghers, series "Poètes d'aujourd'hui", no 144), Paris, 1966
• “Anne Sylvestre - Pour de vrai”, conversations with Monique Detry, 1981
• “Sur mon chemin de mots”, Anne Sylvestre, Paris, 1998
• “Anne Sylvestre” in Chroniques d'un age d'or, Collectif chanson, Editions Christian Pirot, 2007
• “Anne Sylvestre, Et elle chante encore?”, Author: Daniel Pantchenko, biography Fayard, 2012

Web links

• Official website
• http://users.skynet.be/fabicore/anne_sylvestre.htm

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]