Le Chant du Monde
Le Chant du Monde is a French record company . With the music publisher of the same name , it was founded in 1938 by the communist journalist Léon Moussinac (1890–1964). It is now the oldest record label in France that has existed throughout and has published classical music, chansons , jazz and world music .
history
When it was founded, the label was supported by the composers Georges Auric , Arthur Honegger , Charles Koechlin , Darius Milhaud , Francis Poulenc and Albert Roussel , whose music was documented there, but also by conductors such as Roger Désormière and Manuel Rosenthal .
After the activities were classified as “Jewish” during the occupation by Hitler Germany and came to a standstill, the company concluded a contract with the Soviet Union in 1945; Probably in 1946 it was acquired by the Éditions sociales internationales and began to publish works by Russian composers such as Serge Prokofieff , Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khatchatourian in addition to workers' songs . In Le Chant du Monde also the first collection of traditional music from around the world was published. After initially fighting songs like Les Constructeurs by Louis Durey / Pierre Seghers or Brecht songs were included in the program, chansoniers like Léo Ferré and at the time of the artistic direction by Marcel Frémiot Mouloudji or Francis Lemarque received a contract there from 1947, and later Colette Magny , Atahualpa Yupanqui, and Violeta Parra ; Recordings by Judy Collins , Paul Robeson , Albert Marcœur and Paolo Conte have also appeared there . Steve Waring began recording music for children as a special item on the program.
In 1993 the company was bought by Harmonia Mundi , so that the focus shifted more to classical music. In addition, there are still chansons in the program (Léo Ferré, Édith Piaf , Georges Brassens , Charles Trenet , Julos Beaucarne , Éric Lareine ), French jazz with a special focus on gypsy jazz ( Django Reinhardt , Stéphane Grappelli , Tchavolo Schmitt , Raphaël Faÿs , Angelo Debarre , Biréli Lagrène , Florin Niculescu , Steeve Laffont , Yorgui Loeffler ), world music and children's music, but also rock'n'roll classics ( Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Fats Domino , Bill Haley , Gene Vincent , Little Richard , Chuck Berry , Buddy Holly , Carl Perkins ).
literature
- Michèle Alten, Le Chant du Monde: une firme discographique au service du progressisme (1945-1980). ILCEA. Revue de l'Institut des langues et cultures d'Europe, Amérique, Afrique, Asie et Australie 16 (2012)
- Vincent Casanova, Jalons pour une histoire du Chant du Monde à l'heure de la guerre froide (1945-1953) , Sorbonne Bulletin no.18 (spring 2004)
- Alain Cochard, Les nouveaux visages d'un éditeur , Diapason No. 46 (September 1999), p. 67.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Label history Chant du Monde ( Memento of the original from 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Jon Pareles: Music; Around The World In 92 Discs . In: The New York Times . September 15, 2002.
