French popular music

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French popular music is a music of France belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and mostly distributed commercially. It stands in contrast to French classical music, which historically was the music of elites or the upper strata of society. It also differs from traditional French folk music which was shared non-commercially. It is sometimes abbreviated to French pop music; however, French pop music is more often used for a narrower branch of popular music.

The late 19th century saw the dawn of the music hall when Yvette Guilbert was a major star. The era lasted through to the 1930s and saw the likes of Félix Mayol, Lucienne Boyer, Marie-Louise Damien, Marie Dubas, Fréhel, Georges Guibourg, Tino Rossi, Jean Sablon, Charles Trenet and Maurice Chevalier.

French popular music in the 20th century included [1] chanson music by the likes of Édith Piaf as well as Yves Montand, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Jean Ferrat, Barbara or Serge Reggiani, and the more art-house musicians like Brigitte Fontaine. The 1960s brought the wave of Ye-Ye with such legends as Johnny Hallyday, Eddy Mitchell, Sylvie Vartan, Dick Rivers, Richard Anthony, Claude François, Françoise Hardy, France Gall and Jacques Dutronc — with a special mention to legend Serge Gainsbourg who started out as a realist singer in the late 50s, and became a pop icon in the 60s writing songs for Ye-Ye idols, then for himself and for stars like Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Adjani.


Like Spanish Zarzuelas and Italian operettas, French songs are today still part of a dynamic French social movement which has for centuries – since the French Revolution – moved audiences with elegant and often poetic lyrics combined with realism around social and political themes. Renaud is one of the best known singers in the genre, alongside committed singers such as Maxime Le Forestier, Marc Ogeret, François Béranger and Bernard Lavilliers.

The most widely recognized songs such as "Non, je ne regrette rien", "Les feuilles mortes" or Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" have successors in diverse genres such as French electronic music, rock, pop or rap. However the chanson genre remains popular and there are even competitions such as Star Academy (France) and The Voice (France) that leave a large space for the chanson française and french pop genres. Among the modern followers of chanson, we find Michel Polnareff, Christophe, Julien Clerc, Véronique Sanson, Alain Souchon, Laurent Voulzy, Louis Chedid, Francis Cabrel, Michel Jonasz, Alain Chamfort, Alain Bashung, Pierre Bachelet...

From the 1990's and 2000's, a new generation of singers walks in the footsteps of their ⁸elders, from Bénabar to Juliette Armanet in the 2020's.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serge Gainsbourg</span> French musician and actor (1928–1991)

Serge Gainsbourg was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians.

In France, music reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of classical music, France has produced several prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson and cabaret style. The oldest playable musical recordings were made in France using the earlist known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, which was patented by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, and its music industry has produced many internationally renowned artists, especially in the nouvelle chanson and electronic music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Dutronc</span> French musician and actor

Jacques Dutronc is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. Some of Dutronc's best-known hits include "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille", "Le Responsable", and "Les Cactus".

French rock is a form of rock music produced in France, primarily with lyrics in the French language.

Yé-yé or yeyé was a style of pop music that emerged in Western and Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term yé-yé was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as the Beatles. The style expanded worldwide as the result of the success of figures such as French singer-songwriters Sylvie Vartan, Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy. Yé-yé was a particular form of counterculture that derived most of its inspiration from British and American rock and roll. Additional stylistic elements of yé-yé song composition include baroque, exotica, pop, jazz and the French chanson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alain Bashung</span> French singer (1947–2009)

Alain Bashung was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded as the most important French rock musician after Serge Gainsbourg. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s with hit songs such as "Gaby oh Gaby" and "Vertige de l'amour", and later had a string of hit records from the 1990s onward, such as "Osez Joséphine", "Ma petite entreprise" and "La nuit je mens". He has had an influence on many later French artists, and is the most awarded artist in the Victoires de la Musique history with 12 victories obtained throughout his career.

Victoires de la Musique are an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz versions are the Victoires de la musique classique and Victoires du Jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Véronique Sanson</span> French singer-songwriter

Véronique Marie Line Sanson is a three-time Victoires de la Musique award-winning French singer-songwriter and record producer with an avid following in her native country.

French pop music is pop music sung in the French language. It is usually performed by singers from France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, or any of the other francophone areas of the world. The target audience is the francophone market, which is considerably smaller than and largely independent from the mainstream anglophone market.

The Grand Prix du Disque for French Song is one of a number of prizes awarded by L'Académie Charles Cros as part of the yearly Grand Prix du Disque. The following is a partial list of winners :

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Delanoë</span> French lyricist

Pierre Charles Marcel Napoléon Leroyer, known professionally as Pierre Delanoë, was a French lyricist who wrote thousands of songs for dozens of singers, including Dalida, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Petula Clark, Johnny Hallyday, Joe Dassin, Michel Sardou and Mireille Mathieu.

Maritie and GilbertCarpentier, a married couple, were artistic producers of very popular variety TV and radio shows in France and in many French-speaking countries, from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Jean-Claude Vannier is a French musician, composer and arranger. Vannier has composed music, written lyrics, and produced albums for many singers.

Salut les copains is a series of albums released through Universal Music France to commemorate the best of music featured in French scene as sponsored by the "Salut les copains" radio program in France and the French Salut les copains magazine. The tracks include French original singles, French-language covers of known hits as well as European and American hits popular in France. The track list is a representative wide selection of the "Yé-yé" generation of French music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcel Amont</span> French singer and actor (1929–2023)

Marcel Amont was a French singer of the 1960s and 1970s. Amont also recorded in Occitan and promoted Bearn culture from the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yann Benoist</span> Musical artist

Yann Benoist is a French session guitarist, performer, singer, composer, conductor, and arranger.

<i>LAmour fou</i> (album) 2012 studio album by Françoise Hardy

L’Amour fou is the 27th studio album of French popular singer Françoise Hardy. Released in France on November 5, 2012, on CD Virgin/EMI (5099997278726), and December 3, 2012, on LP Virgin/EMI (5099997278719).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvan Dautin</span> French actor, writer, and singer

Yvan Dautin is a French actor, writer, and singer. His best known songs are "Boulevard des Batignolles", written with Étienne Roda-Gil, and "La Méduse".

References

  1. ↑ Sweeney, Regina M. (2001). Singing Our Way to Victory: French Cultural Politics and Music During the Great War, Wesleyan University Press. p. 23. ISBN   0-8195-6473-7.

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