This article was first published
on CLUAS in October 2006

French Letter: Music for Bobos

Aidan on the music preferred by France's middle-class bohemians...

Aidan Curran, a CLUAS writer since 2004, is now based in Paris from where he files the 'French Letter' column

Most French people love launching into heated discussion of social and political issues, with the result that everything from the economy to l'affaire Zidane is viewed along ideological lines. So it is for music also. If we follow broad generalisations, people from the disadvantaged riot-prone banlieues (suburbs) listen to rap and R n'B while white teens and young twentysomethings from the better-off areas are into US/UK guitar bands. Then there are the bobos.

Vincent Delerm - musical bobo 'Bobo' stands for 'bourgeois boh?e' and translates as 'bohemian middle-class'. In Dublin a bobo would be in his or her early thirties and working in a creative professional sector like advertising, architecture or multimedia. You would find a Dublin bobo at the Temple Bar food market on Saturday morning and just around the corner at the Irish Film Centre later that night. Irish Times reader, of course, and his record collection would be tastefully eclectic: Buena Vista Social Club, Chet Baker, Damien Rice.

The Parisian bobo also works in a creative profession, socialises in or around Le Marais (the charming old central Paris district that's traditionally the home of both the Jewish and gay communities) and reads the left-leaning newspaper 'Liberation'. His or her musical choice would be drawn mainly from the world/jazz sounds of eclectic radio stations like FIP or Radio Nova - both excellent even though their sultry-voiced female presenters never tell you the titles of the songs they play. However, Monsieur and Madamoiselle le Bobo are especially the prime consumers of chanson fran?ise, one of the most popular musical genres in France.

Chanson fran?ise is a type of acoustic pop-jazz song which values lyrics over music. It arguably has its modern origins in the ballads of '60s folk singer Georges Brassens, whose records sound more like recited poetry than songs as we know them. The mighty Jacques Brel, though a Belgian cabaret singer, is also one of the genre's father figures and if you're familiar with his word-heavy songs then you've a good idea of the style we're talking about. The accompanying music, well down in the mix, is a bit jazzy or skiffly - brushed drums and double basses and acoustic guitars, certainly no synthesisers. This combination of organic instruments and poetic lyrics makes for bland, conservative and slightly precious music.

The major chanson fran?ise release of the moment is 'Les Piq?es d'Araign?' by Vincent Delerm, a typical thirtysomething bobo and star of this genre. Delerm (who for this new album collaborated with Irish bobo Neil Hannon on a song called 'Favourite Song', and who wore an Ireland rugby jersey in one of his videos) is often caricatured as the bobo laureate, the personification of the arty Paris liberal. The French music and cultural press has thus taken the opportunity of Delerm's album release to examine the bobos in detail. Given the season that's in it, this leads us to next spring's presidential election.

In general, every product-plugging minor celebrity on the French chat-show circuit is expected to voice their opinion on the latest news events (Can you imagine Pat Kenny asking Daniel O'Donnell for his considered opinion of the health service crisis?). During a presidential campaign everyone seems to listen extra-attentively for clues as to which way the celebrities will turn. Old rocker Johnny Hallyday has thrown his weight (held in by a girdle, probably) behind the centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy, presidential front-runner and devil incarnate to the French rappers and the disadvantaged ethnic communities they represent. Socialist poll-topper S?ol?e Royal danced along to 'La Boulette' by rapper Diam's on a live chat-show, rather shamelessly pitching herself towards the Sarkozy-haters.

France hasn't had a socialist president since Mitterand left office in 1995, and to avoid a repeat of the sensational 2002 poll (when a first-round split in the left/liberal vote allowed extreme right-winger Jean Marie Le Pen into the run-off against Chirac) the centre-left really do with mobilisation of a large liberal demographic like the bobos. The stars of chanson fran?ise may soon find that their new biggest fans are the politicos of France.

Aidan Curran

Other French Letter columns (from 2006 through to March 2007)

*St. Patrick's day 2007 & Irish music in France...*	Dateline: March 2007
March and Saint Patrick's Day, when the expat's thoughts turn home. But don't fear that the lavish CLUAS Foreign Correspondent Expense Account is being wasted on homesick yearning for Tayto Crisps, Barry's Tea and TG4 weathergirls. Not at all! Instead, we're taking the opportunity to see how Irish acts are getting on in France these days. And hurrah! They're getting on very well! Read the full article...
*Best French Music of 2006...*	Dateline: December 2006
In China apparently they curse you with "may you live in interesting times". Here in France in 2006, times are very interesting - and you wouldn't miss it for the world. The country has been shaken by protests, adrenalised and then traumatised by the World Cup, smitten by S?ol?e... and the soundtrack has been fantastic. Read the full article...
*Prix Constantine: France's most prestigious contemporary music honour...*	Dateline: November 2006
France's most prestigious contemporary music honour, the Prix Constantin, was presented at a ceremony in the Olympia theatre in Paris on 15 November last. The prize, named in memory of a late French music industry talent-spotter, is awarded annually to an artist or group who has come to prominence during the year. The ceremony consisted of a concert featuring ten short-listed acts, before the announcement of the winner and successor to Camille, last year's laureate. Read the full article...
*La Rentr? 2006: what's stirring in the French music scene...*	Dateline: September 2006
'september in France means ?la rentr?? (literally, ?the return?), when everybody goes back to school, work and normal life after the whole country was practically shut down for the month of August. France's pop stars are also packing away their beach towels and getting back to the studio and stage. Autumn 2006 will see a flurry of activity on the French music scene. Read the full article...
*The latest Parisian bands angling for indie stardom...*	Dateline: August 2006
?Paris Calling? is the name of a 2006 compilation album and a subsequent showcase gig in the French capital. As the Clash-alluding title suggests, the half-dozen or so bands involved see themselves as parishioners in the broad church of punk and new wave ? and mass is in English. Photos are black-and-white, blurry and taken either in a crowded venue or against a blank wall. Read the full article...
*Phoenix ready to make it big?*	Dateline: July 2006
It's hard to concentrate on music at the moment when football, wonderful football, is demanding all your love and attention. The French rock scene, however, could soon have its own international champions before the end of the summer. Phoenix, from Versailles, have just released their third album "It's Never Been Like That" and big things are expected of them. Read the full article...
*Rap and its constructive role in French society.*	Dateline: May 2006
So far this year there have been high-profile clashes on the streets of Paris lately between police and students protesting at the centre-right government's controversial labour laws aimed at the 18-25 age bracket. Following weeks of strikes, protests, student sit-ins, streetfighting, burning cars and omnipresent riot-police, the proposed laws were eventually scrapped. Read the full article...
*The French success of Irishman Perry Blake.*	Dateline: April 2006
I braved the paddywagons around the Sorbonne last week to head to my favourite Parisian book- and record-store, Gibert Joseph halfway up the boulevard Saint Michel. There, I found a display for the new release by an Irish singer described on his album's promo sticker as 'le dernier dandy romantique' ('the last romantic dandy'). This wasn't the new Van Morrison record, then. Read the full article...
*Irish music, as understood by the French...*	Dateline: March 2006
So it's March again, the month when a certain green-tinted festival will be celebrated around the world by ex-pats and non-Pats alike. France too will join in the fun. Last year, posters plastered across every metro station in Paris were promoting a huge St Patrick's night concert at Bercy, the equivalent of The Point. The advertising featured a young red-haired dancer, Book-of-Kells typeface and a list of Celtic regions - Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, the Isle of Man... but not Ireland! Surely some mistake? Read the full article...
*Hallyday & Gainsbourg back in the news?*	Dateline: January 2006
Not to be confused with the Dublin-based cabaret singer of the same name, Camille and her album 'Le Fil' won the prestigious Prix Constantine for the most promising new act to emerge onto the French scene in 2005. Sounding both petulant and warm at once, this single is idiosyncratic and likeable. An approximate transcription of the backing vocal is 'splutter-groan-squeal-belch-fart'. Read the full article...
*Voulez-Vous Rocker Avec Moi? The French rock scene.*	Dateline: January 2006
As I sit on a terrasse sipping my caf?allong?and watching Parisian commuters scowl at tourists, I reflect on the many wonderful things about life in France ? excellent food; streets alive with history and art; Juliette Binoche. Unfortunately, being the CLUAS correspondent in Paris involves listening to a lot of French alternative music ? and French alternative music is quite dire. Read the full article...

-> sitemap <-

? 1999-2007 www.CLUAS.com & individual writers as indicated per byline.
Website created & maintained by Eoghan O'Neill

French Letter: Music for Bobos

Aidan on the music preferred by France's middle-class bohemians...

Other French Letter columns (from 2006 through to March 2007)

Subscribe to the CLUAS email newsletter:

Search the CLUAS website: