Nouvelle Chanson

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Nouvelle Chanson is a musical genre or style term for the comeback of French chanson before and after the turn of the millennium. The word "Nouvelle" ( French for new ) indicates on the one hand the tradition in which most of the artists of the Nouvelle Chanson are. On the other hand, it emphasizes the fact that since the 1990s a new, also musically independent generation of song-oriented French-speaking artists has established itself.

Definition

Thomas Fersen at a concert (2008)
Émilie Simon on May 6, 2006 at the Octogone in Pully, Switzerland
Benjamin Biolay, concert at Casino de Paris, France, May 31, 2011

There are different views on the question of the extent to which the “Nouvelle chanson” (German: New Chanson ) differs from the traditional chanson and at what point in time the revival of the French chanson began. In particular, the stylistic terms are used differently inside and outside France. While some music journalists attach the beginning of the Neochanson wave to the success of the Nantes scene in the early 1990s , others take the success of new French-speaking artists in the new millennium as a point of reference and estimate the beginning of the wave to be around 2002 and 2003.

In France, the term “nouvelle chanson” is not known as a stylistic genre; instead, one speaks of the “nouvelle scène française”. It is used to describe part of French chanson since the early 1990s, although the term itself did not emerge until the early 2000s . Musically, the term is somewhat broader in Germany than in France. In some cases, performers from areas of pop music who are further removed from classical chanson - such as dance and hip-hop - are also included.

Other names for the same phenomenon are: New Chanson, Neo-Chanson and New Chanson. However, these have less relation to the French language. There is also an overlap with French Pop , a collective term for pop music that comes from France. This term is older and musically more general. Since the 2000s it has sometimes been used synonymously with “Nouvelle chanson” in Germany, but this term is unknown in France.

history

Dominique A at a concert in Rouen in July 2006
Helena Noguerra in 2007 in the studio of Radio France Bleu Auxerre
Françoiz Breut at a concert in Saarbrücken (2009)
Appearance by Philippe Katerine at the Fête de la Musique in Les Sables d'Olonne

The new French art of chanson has developed decentrally and away from the usual centers. The Lithium label played an important role in the western French city of Nantes. The 1992 albums by Dominique A and Philippe Katerine (whose wife Helena Noguerra also embarked on a musical career) are considered milestones in the development of a new, independent chanson scene . Dominique A's piece Le Courage des oiseaux , a mixture of electro-pop and traditional chanson, became a classic of the scene. The common feature of many lithium productions was the certain mixture of slimmed-down, imperfect production and the dedicated singer-songwriter demeanor of the performers. Another moment was the cultivation of an accomplished club scene and corresponding appearances in front of an audience. The radio stations, including Bernard Lenoir with his program C'est Lenoir on France Inter , and cultural magazines such as Les Inrockuptibles reported on it without using the term "Nouvelle scène française". Further pioneers from this time were Christophe Miossec (with his album Boire from 1995), Arthur H (with Bachibouzouk , 1992) and Thomas Fersen (with Les Ronds de carotte , 1995). Alain Bashung (with the second part of his career) or groups like Kat Onoma were often used as references for these artists . In a 2002 article, the Berliner tageszeitung highlighted the close collaboration between the various musicians: “The close collaboration between the musicians is one of the hallmarks of the 'Nouvelle Scène Française'. Hardly a production comes onto the market in France without Dominique A, Tiersen, Burgalat and Katerine having a hand in it. The best example of this synergy effect is the solo career of Monsieur Ané's ex-girlfriend Françoiz Breut, whose bittersweet chansons were composed almost exclusively by the four men in the background. "

In the early 2000s, a large number of new French-speaking interpreters made a name for themselves, such as Bénabar , Cali , Benjamin Biolay , Vincent Delerm and Keren Ann . Now the more popular media also reported more and more of this movement and finally distinguished it from the variété classique with its own name “Nouvelle scène française”. These performers have sometimes been described as the "second generation" of the Nouvelle Scène.

The new French scene also attracted more attention internationally at the beginning of the new millennium. In Germany , among other things, the film Die fabelbare Welt der Amélie from 2001 generated greater interest in current music from France. Film composer Yann Tiersen , who also wrote the film music for the German popular hit Good Bye, Lenin! wrote, worked musically with many interpreters of the Nouvelle Chanson wave. The international success of the new wave cover band Nouvelle Vague and the solo activities of the band members also contributed to the growing interest in contemporary pop music from France . It was only at this time that the style label “Nouvelle Chanson”, similar to the term Hamburger Schule , came into fashion.

The diversity of current French pop music was also perceived more widely in Germany through the activities of the Cologne label Le Pop . The label founders Oliver Fröschke and Rolf Witteler not only published a total of six compilations by 2010, but also organized some tours with current stars and newcomers on the scene under the label “Le Pop” - in 2009 with Françoiz Breut and Marianne Dissard, among others . Finally, reporting in the feature sections of established media ensured additional awareness. There was also a large number of different cultural events at which French neo-chanson interpreters could play their music in front of a live audience. Example: the Fête de la Musique , a street music festival that takes place every year at the beginning of summer and takes place not only in France, Belgium and Switzerland , but also in several German cities.

A phenomenon closely related to the Nouvelle Chanson was the increasing internationalization in the field of singer-songwriting. In 2006 a tribute-of compilation was released in honor of the late French composer and singer Serge Gainsbourg - including Gainsbourg interpretations by Franz Ferdinand , Portishead , Marc Almond , Cat Power , Carla Bruni and Marianne Faithfull . A number of interpreters of the Nouvelle Chanson deliberately operate in two or more languages, such as the singers Keren Ann, Émilie Simon and Constance Amiot. For the Berlin band Stereo Total , the language and music crossover with German, English and French texts is an integral part of the band concept. Increasing borrowings from French chanson can also be seen from some international performers - for example from Ana Silvera from Great Britain, the Northern European musicians Ane Brun , Anna Ternheim and Emilíana Torrini and the Canadian duo CocoRosie .


Style features

A common feature of the artists who are subsumed under the label “Nouvelle Chanson” is that they more or less clearly set themselves apart from the established chanson stars of the 1950s , 1960s and 1970s . The relationship to the generation of Edith Piaf , Juliette Gréco , Michel Polnareff and Gilbert Bécaud is quite ambivalent. Many representatives of the Nouvelle Chanson deliberately fall back on older traditions - for example the sixties pop appeal of Françoise Hardy and Jane Birkin or the artistic existentialism of Serge Gainsbourg , Georges Brassens or Jacques Brel . Reminiscences of other old stars such as Charles Trenet , Charles Aznavour or Jacques Dutronc are quite common.

Equally ambivalent is the delimitation of contemporary trends in French pop music - such as dance & disco-pop ( Alizée , In-Grid ), alternative rock ( Noir Désir ), political and folk punk ( Manu Chao ), hip-hop ( MC Solaar) ) and reggae . The relationship to Anglo-American pop music also moves between demarcation and creative crossover: on the one hand, singers of the Nouvelle Chanson reactivate specifically French traditions. On the other hand, some also pursue a bilingual music career - interpreting both English and French titles.

Another common characteristic of the artists is the important role played by traditional song form and text, analogous to Anglo-Saxon singer-songwriting.

Overall, the scene is largely determined by musical diversity. One can try to classify the artists in different directions, although many prefer their own mix of styles:

Modernized chanson
Some of the performers take up the classic chanson tradition more or less clearly. An often recurring feature here is the classically reduced instrumentation, in which the solo guitar and / or piano are often in the foreground. Bénabar , Thomas Fersen , Vincent Delerm , Agnès Bihl , Bastien Lallemant , Bertrand Burgalat and Julie B. Bonnie can be subsumed under this direction .
Folk , singer-songwriter and alternative
This direction includes: Keren Ann , Pauline Croze , Françoiz Breut , Philippe Katerine , Constance Amiot, the singer Marianne Dissard , who lives in the USA , as well as the groups Mickey 3D and Louise Attaque .
Bossa Nova , Easy Listening , Pop and Electronic Music
The artists Olivia Ruiz , Coralie Clément , Benjamin Biolay , Emily Loizeau and Émilie Simon can be subsumed under this group . The New Wave cover band Nouvelle Vague and some of its members ( Camille , Mélanie Pain , Barbara Carlotti ) are also very close to this tradition.

Media response

Right from the start, the new wave of chansons had been a positive accompaniment to the Paris- based music magazine Les Inrockuptibles, founded in 1986 . The work of the French neochanson musicians was also followed with interest and curiosity in the international and German-language specialist music press. Striking occasions to report on the Scène Nouvelle de Francaise in Germany included the success of the film Die fabelbare Welt der Amélie (2001), the ongoing success of the New Wave cover band Nouvelle Vague, and various CD compilations with old and new ones Chanson titles as well as the steadily increasing number of live acts that could be seen in clubs, at festivals and events. In addition to music magazines, the Nouvelle Chanson was also widely echoed in the features of the established print media. In 2002, the FAZ praised the independent, relaxed attitude of the French artists towards the US way of life in culture and politics in an article in the Sunday edition : “France is not only politically but also aesthetically on the way, again an alternative to the supposed omnipresence of the American pop culture - although this alternative is more than a savage attack on American neoliberalism. One of Breut's best songs is called 'Portsmouth' and one of Biolay's is called 'Los Angeles'. And precisely where the American dream finds its resonance body in the French language, falls apart and is amalgamated anew, you notice what the present can sound like at best. "

For all its elegance and lightness a certain smoothness, however, the Handelsblatt stated in 2003 : “The new chanson is versatile, offers something for everyone, without the political gravity of the past. Benjamin Biolay, Carla Bruni or Karin Clercq, who comes from Belgium, skilfully respond to the melancholy tendencies of an upscale, young middle class with their songs. ”The author and musician Birgit Louise Michlmayer stated that the image of women is quite traditional. Overall, she painted a rather mixed picture of the scene: “While there is a return to the songs of the 1950s and 1960s, the young chanson scene is also influenced by the English-speaking singer-songwriter tradition. The protagonists are mostly brought out by smaller, independent labels. Many have studied (humanities). Critical or at least provocative texts (à la Gainsbourg) are still completely out of the nouvelle chanson. With a few exceptions: Mickey 3D, for example, or Agnès Bihl, who is compared to Rio Reiser and the French Renaud because of their (feminist) committed and ironically cheeky texts . "

In 2004 the online edition of the world finally knew how to report on the multilingual repertoire of Berlin's cabaret, theater and club artists . Author Guido Schirrmeier wrote: “But also in the Berlin chanson milieu a lot has happened since the French military withdrew from the Napoléon quarter in Tegel . Dominik Horwitz inspires with his Brel interpretations and loud chansonets, Piaf's granddaughters conquer the cabaret. Corinne Duarre has released her fine debut 'Virages' with electronics, Anouk Plany tirelessly interprets Serge Gainsbourg. The southern French Bérangère Palix not only sings Aznavour. And Nadia Zetzer from the Association for the Promotion of French Chanson in Germany interprets Barbara. Accordionist Jean Pacalet accompanies Barbara Thalheim . Elke Brauweiler, Paula's singer , is looking for a record company for her French classics, while Monsieur le DJ Olaf Hund rocks around the houses. "

Labels

  • Lithium (Nantes): generally considered to be the pioneering label in the scene. The label released albums by Dominique A, Françoiz Breut and Jérôme Minière , among others .
  • Tôt Ou Tard ( Paris ): Originally an offshoot of Warner, Tôt Ou Tard has been an independent label since 2002. The contract includes: Françoiz Breut, Mathieu Boogaerts , Constance Amiot and Thomas Fersen.
  • B, pourquoi B? ( Lille ): Small label that mainly produces artists from northern France
  • Le Pop (Cologne): The Cologne label featured the new French pop music with various music compilations and organized tours of French nouvelle chanson acts in Germany

Discography

  • Various: Le Pop 1 to 8 (Le Pop / Groove Attack, 2002 to 2014)
  • Various: Le Pop - Les Filles (Le Pop / Groove Attack, 2008)
  • Various: Rendez-vous en France (Mineral Records, 2009)
  • Various: Monsieur Gainsbourg revisited (Verve, 2006). Tribute-of-album with mostly Anglo-Saxon artists

literature

swell

  1. ↑ a b The courage of birds in the icy wind . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , November 3, 2002
  2. ^ Franz Weigand: Cold smoke and new shoes . taz.de, November 15, 2002
  3. ↑ Juliane Lutz: Songs to relax and seduce . handelsblatt.com, September 6, 2003
  4. ↑ Birgit Louise Michlmayer: Nouvelle? Chanson? Française? Weblog issue fiber # 9
  5. ↑ Guido Schirmeyer: Nouvelle Scène Française . In: Die Welt , March 14, 2004

Web links