The best French chansonniers of the 20th century. French singers and singers known all over the world

What is chanson, the history of chanson

“To this song, we first met eyes ... This melody will forever remain for me a memory of our first kiss ... Do you remember how we danced at the graduation to these rhythms?” The song is memories. Hearing our favorite tunes, we cry and smile, we are carried away into the past in order to once again feel the whole gamut of emotions of bygone events. A song is life in 7 notes. You feel it especially vividly when you listen to chanson. The fate of this musical genre is full of incredible moments and discoveries that we offer to learn right now.

On the vicissitudes of cultures

If you ask a Russian person what a chanson is, he will probably answer: "Thieves' songs." Yes, Russian reality has left its mark on the perception of this genre. But this opinion is far from the truth. Say the word "chanson" out loud. Soft, gentle, melodious, it is in no way associated with a rough "blatnyak".

The birthplace of chanson is France. From French, the word is translated as a folk song. Given the culture of the country in which this genre originated, it is easy to guess that chanson is characterized by romanticism. Let's see how the history of this musical direction began.

It sounds incredible, but chanson has its roots in the 12th century. At that time, trouvères or lyric poets began to appear in France. They composed poems in which they sang the most touching feeling - love. The work of the trouveurs described simple plots, which is typical for folk poetry. Music was superimposed on the verses, to which the people sang and danced. The songs were multi-voiced. Several people sang them at once, delighting those around them with their works.

In subsequent centuries, the storyline was enriched with chivalrous and religious motifs, in general, life around changed - songs also changed. Initially, the chanson was faceless. It is impossible to find any records of the first chansonniers. Later, poems began to be recorded with the assignment of authorship. One of the earliest representatives of the genre is Guillaume de Machaux.

As a musical genre, chanson took shape only by the end of the 19th century. Folk art led performers to ... cabaret. It was here that the French enjoyed touching and exciting melodies that were inextricably linked with lyric poetry.

Speaking about the early development of chanson, it is impossible not to recall Aristide Bruant. He performed in the famous Black Cat cabaret and was known not only for his songs, but also for his memorable way: Aristide always performed in a black coat, over which a long red scarf was thrown over. It is worth noting that he wrote in Parisian slang - a specific language of a certain closed group, with its own vocabulary and phonetics.

The second iconic figure is Jeanne-Florentine Bourgeois. This romantic singer performed under the pseudonym Mistenget. She had a chance to participate in the show of the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret, of which she became artistic director in 1925. The most famous song of Bourgeois was written under the influence of feelings: parting with Maurice Chevalier led to the creation of "Monhomme", which is well known to fans of French chanson.

Music is not static. It changes under the influence of new trends. At the beginning of the 20th century, jazz rhythms began to conquer the world. They sounded uneasy from everywhere. They created a new culture, brought something new to the already established musical trends. As a result - an updated chanson, in which jazz motives clearly sounded, and interesting duets. Thus, the famous French chansonnier Charles Trenet performed with jazz pianist Johnny Hess. The duet "Charles and Johnny" delighted the audience for three years. The first concerts were given in 1933, the last - in 1936. Why did the musicians stop working together? Everything is simple. In 1936, Charles Trenet was drafted into the army, where he wrote the most soulful and lyrical songs, not without the participation of jazz rhythms.

By the way, the beginning of the 20th century is remarkable not only for the influence of other musical trends on the development of chanson, but also for the emergence of this genre beyond the cabaret. Melodious songs begin to be performed in concert halls.

The cabaret style suggests lightness and a certain comedy, which was noted in French songs of that period. The chanson lost its entertaining, entertaining character after the Second World War. The tragic events that overwhelmed the whole of Europe did not pass without a trace for the world of music. To write songs, chansonniers choose deeper, more heartfelt stories, which, combined with the appropriate musical accompaniment, make them reconsider their views on this genre. The character of the chanson becomes serious. The songwriters touch upon the lives of ordinary people in their songs and express their dissatisfaction with the authorities. They do it boldly and boldly. This is typical, for example, for the work of Boris Vian.

After the end of the war, Georges Brassin also began performing. His work is notable for the fact that he did not write his own poems. Georges composed melodies to poems by Victor Hugo, Antoine Paul, Francoise Villon and other poets.

The post-war period is associated with another name in the history of French chanson - with the name. She began to actively tour precisely from the mid-40s. And after all, there are those who do not know that the popular songs "Non, jeneregretterien" or "Padam ... Padam ..." are chanson. Thanks to Edith Piaf, the chanson of this period is called "female".

The second half of the 20th century is, in a way, a new flowering of the genre that gave the world Joe Dassin , willow montana , Charles Aznarvour , Enrico Macias, Lara Fabian , Delilah , Mireille Mathieu and other performers. It is difficult to find a person who, at least in passing, has not heard "Une Vie D`amour", "Les Champs-Élysées", "Pardone moi" or "La vie en rose". Even without knowing the language, you understand that these songs are about love - a feeling that you want to experience again and again. Is it any wonder the popularity of classic French chanson these days? No.

Two ways are characteristic of modern chanson. On the one hand, performers adhere to the traditions of the genre, and record companies release CDs with hits of the past decades, on the other hand, one can feel a fusion with electronic music, such as in the work of Benjamin Biolet, and other areas. So, they prefer to mix genres Isabelle Geffroy , Kamy Dalme. This is the so-called "new chanson" characteristic of French youth. In any case, the genre does not lose its charm, awe and romanticism, which captivates the hearts of music lovers around the world.

Having arisen as a folklore or folk genre, chanson has undergone significant changes. He was influenced by social events, various musical movements. He became more professional and impeccable. Medieval and new chanson are already two different concepts, united by one basis. About what it is, we will now talk.

And yet, what is chanson?

Chanson is a national feature of French culture. The main principle of this genre is that the song is usually performed by the author himself. At the same time, music is inseparable from the text, which represents a certain plot. Each song is a kind of story, with its own emotions and images.

We list the features of French chanson in order to better understand this genre:

realism - in other words, these are songs about life. If you trace the biographies of famous chansonniers, it is not difficult to single out one pattern: the performers put their lives, their successes and misfortunes, successes and losses on notes. It turns out that the compositions are “charged” with real, sincere emotions, which captivates millions of fans;

poetry. Classical chanson is characterized by the predominance of text over music. The latter acts as a frame. Musical accompaniment emphasizes the emotional component, creating a harmonious work;

content and depth of the text. Light texts that do not carry deep feelings and thoughts are usually referred to chanson with a stretch, because this genre has a different focus. Lightness is more characteristic of pop songs. The boundaries between these genres are very arbitrary, but this does not prevent us from calling modern French performers chansonnier, albeit with a stretch. By the way, it is customary to call all French-speaking singers abroad a chansonnier.

Realism, poetry and content - this is the basis that has not changed since the time of the Trouvers. Whatever happens with the musical accompaniment, the text holds the palm. It is he who is given special attention in the classical chanson.

Does Russian chanson exist?

It is a mistake to assume that the so-called "Russian chanson" originated in the early 90s. Its development took place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At this time, Russian performers, under the influence of a melodic French song, sang. A little later, they began to be associated with folk songs, they began to sound the color of urban culture, for example, Odessa and St. Petersburg, and national. Russian chanson and restaurant life did not pass by. The main component of the song was the semantic load, like the French.

So it turns out that chanson in our way is a combination of disparate cultures in one genre. This includes urban romances, and bard songs, and the same "blatnyak". But why did the latter become so clearly associated with Russian chanson?

The concept changed in the early 1990s. The crisis, unemployment, the high growth of crime - this is how Russia lived at that time. It is not surprising that music from captivity began to fill the public consciousness. To increase the sales of thieves' songs, the producers began to call them chanson in the French manner. Still, “Russian chanson” sounds much more harmonious and beautiful than “blatnyak”. Refined and soulful songs were replaced by music of dubious quality about life behind bars.

Musical researchers recommend separating thieves, bard songs and romances. Despite the common component - plot - these are different genres that characterize Russian culture. And the chanson was and remains French, which does not prevent us from enjoying touching and exciting compositions with a specific accent.

The future of French chanson is drawn in different ways. Some believe that it may well supplant pop music, others believe that the genre is lost against the background of modern sounds. You can argue and figure out who is right and who is not for a long time. Instead, it is better to turn on the recordings of French artists and plunge into the world of your own experiences and emotions. After all, this is what chanson was created for.

Chansonnier

A symbol of the elegance of fine taste, the eldest of 14 children in the family of a bricklayer and the Golden Voice of France - forever young Mireille Mathieu recently celebrated her 66th birthday. For our listeners, she has forever become one of the symbols of French chanson. Chanson, chansonnier... the spirit of Paris and the heart of France.

As a musical genre, chanson (chanson - song) has two meanings: a secular polyphonic song in the style of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance or a French pop song - cabaret music. In the classical understanding of chanson, the main thing is the text of the song, the author was most often the performer. Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf, Anna Marley, Yves Montand, Charles Aznavour- big names of classical chanson. But very little time passed, and all performers of French-language pop songs were included among the chansonniers. The names of Mireille Mathieu, Joe Dassin, Dalida, Patricia Kaas have become synonymous with French chanson for us.

When Mireille Mathieu in 1965 first appeared in front of viewers with the song Jezebel, her performance made a splash. It seemed that Edith Piaf, who passed away three years ago, was reborn. It seemed that her voice had returned to the world again in this small, fragile girl like Edith. The similarity of voice and performance was striking. But John Sark, impresario Mireille Mathieu, forbade her even to listen to Piaf's recordings, he believed that then she would not lose her style, but would become a pale shadow of the great singer.

Mireille Mathieu and Edith Piaf. One song, one music, two destinies

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There you are, sweet baby! And mind you, I won't add "Piaf". Because there is a big difference between the two of you. Baby Piaf walked on the shady side of life, and you, Mireille, will walk on the sunny side (Maurice Chevalier)

More than 100 million records and thousands of songs in different languages ​​​​of the world have made Mireille Mathieu an ambassador for French song. Small, fragile, elegant, perfectly suited to a gentle word chansonnier , Mireille Mathieu became the prototype of the symbol of France - Marianne. In 2005, a series of concerts " 40 years of love and excitement."

famous duet Eternal love performed by Mireille Mathieu and Charles Aznavour, recognized as the best pop singer of the 20th century.

Another name on the Golden List of French chanson is Charles Aznavour, French chansonnier and actor of Armenian origin. His real name is Shahnur Vahinak Aznavuryan. The son of Armenian emigrants from Tiflis, who started singing at the age of 9, Charles Aznavour created more than 1000 songs performed by himself and about 60 film roles. At 82, he went to Cuba, where he wrote an album Color Ma Vie. The world premiere of new songs took place in Moscow where he gave the only concert.

How to talk about French pop music and chanson and not remember this name? Joe Dassin - Joseph Ira Dassin. A short human life, but a long memory of his songs that continue to live. Dassin's voice is a soft baritone, with a slight hoarseness, his

amazing artistry, soulful performance and elegance on stage - the real skill of an outstanding chanson performer.

Chanson, chansonnier... the spirit of Paris and the heart of France.

Chanson in French means song. At first glance, the frivolous musical genre has quite a long history. As early as the 10th century, poems and epic songs (chanson de geste) appeared that sang of the brave and valiant knights who defended France. And the founders of this musical genre are the Franco-Flemish composers of the Dutch school.

Already in the 16th century, music in a style that can be considered a prototype of the classical chanson was created by French Renaissance composers such as Janequin, Sermizi, Mulu, Serton, Cotelet, Lejeune, Gudimel, and at the beginning of the 17th century these compositions were gradually squeezed out by song and romance genres . At the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries, pop songs appeared in France, the authors of which are chansonniers - French pop singers, performers of verses and genre songs in the "à la Montmartre" style.

After the First World War, the rhythms of overseas foxtrot and tango came into fashion. In the songs of French performers, notes of these incendiary melodies are also heard. But the French have always remained original, and the singers of that time - Mistenguet, Maurice Chevalier, Josephine Becker - worked in the style of a revue - a small theatrical and circus performance close to a cabaret, British music hall or American vaudeville. The 30-40s of the 20th century were marked by the appearance of Edith Piaf, who is rightfully considered in France to be the founder of modern pop song. Piaf's songs reflected her own life and the life of every Frenchman, which is why the songs themselves are so loved in France, and far beyond its borders. Piaf's songs were distinguished by sincerity, emphasized by a bright voice and sensual performance. More than one generation of French performers grew up on songs such as " Non, Je ne regrette rien », « padam, padam », « Milord », « La Vie En Rose"(You can listen to songs online by clicking on the link).

After the Second World War, a galaxy of such chansonniers appeared on the scene, such as: Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Leo Ferpe, Boris Vian, Yves Montand. Their work combines the best traditions of the French author's song: lyricism of performance, a certain intimacy and elusive musicality.

But it is difficult to talk about French chanson in general, in order to try to understand it, it is worth touching the work of the most prominent representatives of this genre.

Charles Aznavour immediately after the end of the war, together with his friend and accompanist Pierre Roche, in search of work, they hung around the thresholds of Parisian nightclubs and variety shows. Sometimes they were allowed to go on stage, sing a few songs and earn a few francs. Sometimes it turned out to sell a song or two. Friends composed them in Roche's huge apartment in the center of Paris. One of these songs - "I'm drunk" - became a hit performed by Georges Ulmer.

Once, Piaf herself visited one of their concerts in a Parisian restaurant. After meeting the musicians, she invited them to perform in the first part of her tour. However, the tour turned out to be very short, Piaf flew to America, and Aznavour and Roche remained in Paris to collect money for the journey across the Ocean. With difficulty reaching the United States, and finding Piaf there, the musicians realized that there would be no joint tour, and on the advice of the singer, they went to Canada, where unexpected success awaited them. The legendary singer influenced the work of Charles in many ways, he wrote several songs for her: “ Jezebel"," Compagnons de la Chanson ". After breaking up with Piaf, Aznavour began a solo career. His songs are performed by many talented chansonniers of that time: Juliette Greco, Gilbert Beko, Patasha. Song " J "ai bu”, recorded by Georges Ulmer, was awarded the Grand Prix as the best disc of 1947. Subsequently, Aznavour wrote more than a dozen songs that became not only the pearls of French chanson, but also world-famous hits, among them: "Sa jeunesse", "Parce que", "Sur ma vie", "Apres l "amour", "La boheme" , « Comme ils disent », « She and, of course, immortal Une Vie D'Amour", sounded in the Soviet film "Tehran-43" and sung by Aznavour himself in Russian ("Eternal Love").

Another well-known chansonnier far beyond the borders of France is Yves Montand. It can also be attributed to the discoveries of Edith Piaf. “When he sang,” Edith Piaf recalled, “I immediately fell under his spell. The original personality of the artist, the impression of strength and masculinity, beautiful artistic hands, an interesting expressive face, a soulful voice ... ". Edith Piaf gave him a piece of her talent. She taught Yves Montand the beauty of singing that made him great. International hits are associated with the name of Yves Montand " Sous Le Ciel" "De Paris", "Les feuilles mortes », « C'est si bon », « Les grands boulevards », « A Paris”and many, many more amazingly melodic and lyrical songs characteristic of the French chanson of the 40s - 60s of the last century.

Another prominent representative of the French chanson is Jacques Brel, who was born in Belgium. He made his first recordings in 1953. Recorded and went to conquer Paris. For about a year, Jacques spent the night in attics and unsuccessfully knocked around the thresholds of concert halls and cabarets in Paris. However, despite the merciless criticism of his songs, he continued to write songs. He was supported by the musician Brassens, the singer Juliette Greco, who included his songs in her repertoire, and, of course, Jacques Canetti, who did not heed the voices of the Philips skeptics and nevertheless insisted on recording Jacques Brel's first disc in 1954. Among the songs of this album, only one stands out - “Useful video

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The word "chanson" is translated from French as "song". Today this term is called the vocal genre. But in the Renaissance in France, this was the name of a secular polyphonic song. This continued until the end of the 19th century. In the 80s, pop songs performed in a cabaret also began to be called "chanson". They were small life stories that were told to the music. It flourished in the 1950s. It was then that in France and others, many talented chanson singers entered the musical arena. The list of these performers is inscribed in golden letters in the history of French music.

early chanson

Before the advent of chanson - polyphonic secular songs - there were trouvers - monophonic vocal works. The founder of this genre was the 14th century composer Guy de Machaux. Following him, his colleagues from Burgundy G. Dufay and J. Benchois created three-part songs. Since the 16th century, the “Paris School of Chanson” emerged, headed by C. de Sermisi, P. Serton and others. Later this style spread throughout Europe.

Modern chanson

The period of modern chanson begins at the end of the 19th century. The first singers of this genre were Astrid Bruant, Mistinguett and others. They performed in a cabaret. Later, in the early years of the 20th century, a modified chanson - "realistic song" (chanson réaliste) - rose to the professional stage. The names of performers of compositions in this genre are included in the first list of chanson singers: Edith Piaf, Ferel, Damia, etc. A little later, in the middle of the same century, 2 main directions of modern French-language song were formed: classical chanson and pop song.

Genre of classical chanson

A prerequisite for songs of this genre is a poetic component. As a rule, the author and performer of these vocal works is the same person. The list of chanson singers of this period is also headed by the inimitable Edith Piaf. Other performers in this genre were M. Chevalier, C. Trenet, J. Brassens and others. The famous French singers S. Adamo and C. Aznavour, despite the fact that their work is closer to pop music, are also included in the list of chanson singers.

Performers of this poetic-musical genre of that time began to be called "chansonnier". For them, the most important thing was the lyrics, their content and meaning. The singers of the new chanson used elements of various genres in their performances: from rock to jazz.

In France, there have always been many pop singers who perform songs of their own composition. However, their works, due to the ease of content, are not considered chanson, therefore such celebrities as M. Mathieu, J. Dassin, Dalida, Lara Fabian and Patricia Kaas are not included in the list of chanson singers of the 20th century. Perhaps outside of France they are considered chansonniers, but on French soil there is a conditional border between these two genres: pop and chanson.

Chanson in the 21st century

With the advent of the new millennium, public interest in this has not faded. Popular chanson singers appeared. The list, which has been maintained for almost 100 years, has been replenished with new names: O. Ruiz, K. Clementi, K. Ann, and others.

Conclusion

The French song differs from other European musical trends in many ways. It is more melodic, romantic, tender. She is eternal. Songs are listened to by more than one generation of music lovers all over the world. His compositions "Belle", "La Boheme", "Eternal Love" and others have become immortal masterpieces of world art. Despite the fact that modern French music has lowered the bar in recent years, the hope does not fade that the lists of chanson singers will be replenished with new names that will raise this genre to a new level.

Born on the cabaret stage, chanson remains today a unique national way to speak confidentially and vividly with the listener about the essential and essential

In the early 2000s, when the Radio Shanson FM station took off, the Russian intellectual was jarred by the use of a familiar and beloved word for other purposes. Over the next 11 years, the legitimization of the genre, which was previously honestly called the “blatny song” or simply “blatnyak”, has come to pass: the protests subsided, the “Russian chanson” became one of the indisputable realities of the country's cultural landscape. And yet, before this thieves' triumph, there was a whole century, during which the word "chanson" sounded completely different music to the Russian ear.

Everyone knows that this word itself - chanson - and simply means "song". It is less known that modern French chanson, which became one of the main symbols of the country's culture in the 20th century, traces its ancestry back to the Middle Ages. The starting point is the work of the trouveurs, singing poets of the late 11th - early 14th centuries, in particular the great Guillaume de Machaux, who was highly valued by the author of the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, and contemporaries referred to as "the god of harmony". However, that chanson had its own, rather complex, canon and, to put it mildly, is in indirect family relations with the current one.

The chanson that we know was formed at the end of the century before last within the walls of cabaret theaters. Then they not only danced the cancan, but also sang. And then the main principle of chanson took shape: this is a song performed by the author, as a rule, in a chamber room, a song in which the music is inseparable from the text, usually the plot. Chanson became the song embodiment of the "ideal Gallic character" - romantic and explosive, caustic and maximalist, sensitive to any injustice.

The first chansonniers in our current understanding were Aristide Bruant (1851-1925) and Mistingett (1875-1956). The first, an artistic loafer from Montmartre, sang caustic anti-bourgeois songs in Parisian slang, went on stage in a spectacular "outfit": a velvet jacket, black trousers tucked into high boots, a red scarf around his neck. This is how Toulouse-Lautrec portrayed him on the posters (and Theophile Steinlen, also an artist, illustrated collections of his songs). The pseudonym of the second, oddly enough, was originally "English" (Miss Tengett), but, having merged into one word, it sounded Francophone. The beautiful daughter of a handyman and a dressmaker, she started with humorous songs, acted in films, performed on the same stage with Jean Gabin, sang in tandem with Maurice Chevalier (they were lovers for 10 years), and in connection with parting with him she sang the song Mon homme, and this song remained in the history of chanson forever. It was she who invented the feather headdress for which the Moulin Rouge is still famous today. Mistengett died at 80 and retired from the stage at 75.

The jazz era also changed the French song, which in pre-war Paris was personified by Charles Trenet, who performed in a duet with jazz pianist Johnny Hess. Trenet's manner seems to be something completely new: he brings jazz rhythms and gags from American comedies to the French music hall. Still the flesh of the flesh of the music hall, comedian, entertainer, after the Second World Trenet conquers America with ease. And when, in 1990, Bernardo Bertolucci in the film "Under the Cover of Heaven" requires a musical color that characterizes a happy pre-war life, the composer of the electronic age, Ryuichi Sakamoto, stops at Charles Trenet, on his famous Je chante. After the war, chanson becomes more serious. He no longer needs comedy and beauties in feathers, he wants an honest conversation with the listener (or rather, the listener wants such a conversation). Real poets and writers come to chanson - Boris Vian, for example, is also not the last chansonnier, although he is known more as a jazzman and prose writer. An introvert Jacques Brel arrives from Belgium - the only non-French who has become one of the main icons of chanson, a great poet who wrote and lived on an aortic rupture. Georges Brassens takes up the guitar (during the war, he fled from forced labor in Germany, immediately after becoming an anarchist). He composes songs to other people's poems - and to whose: Francois Villon, Pierre Corneille, Victor Hugo! it is impossible not to imagine such a degree of historical continuity of a changing culture. All the roads of Russian chanson, alas, lead maximum to Yesenin.

The world of French chanson is immensely diverse - both at the level of cultural ties and at the level of individuals. Jew Jean Ferrat, whose father died in the fires of the Holocaust, is an uncompromising defender of the working class, a staunch communist and, at the same time, a subtle stylist. The favorite and songwriter of Edith Piaf herself, the Parisian Armenian Vahinak Aznavourian, aka Charles Aznavour, is gentle and artistic. He seems to be more of an entertainer than a chansonnier, but still his own, anyway from here. Piaf herself, the “Paris sparrow”, the legend and pain of France… All of them - and many others - are people of chanson, representatives of a single poetic brotherhood-sisterhood, to which characters a generation younger easily adjoin, seeming strangers at first. The second Belgian in our history, Italian by blood Salvatore Adamo, for example. He was accused of being pop, until it became clear that Tombe la neige is not just notes of a phenologist, but a song that is not inferior to the great Brel's Ne me quitte pas. Serge Gainsbourg, the "brilliant hooligan" who played "Marseillaise" in reggae rhythm, is almost a freak, "quasimodo", but a woman's heartbreaker, who changed the canon of love chanson with his phrase Je t'aime ... moi non plus ("I love you ... I don’t either”), close in spirit and way of life (alcohol and smoking without measure) rather to rockers, - and he is also from the chanson brotherhood.

The frames are getting wider and wider. Today's chansonnier Benjamin Biola uses electronics. Recently deceased Mano Solo, the subtlest poet, played punk rock. In the 1970s, it never occurred to anyone to classify the main rock legend of France, Johnny Hallyday, as a chanson - today it seems natural. There are no stylistic restrictions in the new chanson, it absorbs drum and bass and bossa nova, the rhythms of Latin America (like Dominik A) and the Balkans (like Têtes Raides). Emily Simone, for example, now generally sings in English and performs canonical electropop, but what she has in French is chanson, period.

And the Russian chanson ... if anyone is remembered here, the result is predictable: Okudzhava and Vysotsky. And not even because the first one sang about Francois Villon, and the second one was translated into French by one of the main chansonniers of the 1970s, Maxime Le Forestier, - it’s just that they are the closest in terms of the quality of the verse, the degree of sincerity and relevance, the distance between the author and the listener to the French pattern. But even they are a different story. Chanson, "the property of the republic", is inseparable from the culture of its country, in which philosophical currents matured in the bistro, and the "new wave" of cinema was born at the bar counter. This is an exclusively Gallic way of talking about life, love, politics, happiness and unhappiness. And no matter how rhythms and fashions change, it will not disappear as long as at least someone on this planet speaks French.

Soviet Universities of French Song

In 1972, the Melodiya company released two monophonic vinyl records with songs by French chansonniers under the general title "Under the Roofs of Paris". This collection was extremely representative - there were songs by Yvette Guilbert, Mistingette, Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour (pictured above) and Georges Brassens. The roles of singers here were known to us primarily as actors Fernandel and Bourvil. There was not a single intelligent house in Moscow in the 1970s where at least one of these records would not be found.