Describe your favourite French word ?

(in 25 words or less)

“Mix Django Reihardt with Jacques Brel, add a little Gogol Bordello and you’ll come close to what Babylon Circus sounds like” (Detroit News, USA)

Lyon based Babylon Circus is music laced with ska, gypsy, rock, vaudevillian antics, dancehall & reggae. Their first Australian East Coast tour in 2008 saw this 9 piece band sell every show out, with audiences screaming for more.

In March 2010 they will be back in the country to launch their new album La Belle Etoile and to pass on their infectious energy to the audiences at the main stage of Womadelaide & Womad NZ as well as venues across the country.

I was 20 years old and studying in Paris at the time. It was a Thursday night and my friends and I were out drinking. We heard on TV that the border between East and West Berlin had just opened.We knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see history happen, so the next morning we burst in on our class and asked for volunteers to come and see the Berlin Wall fall. A group of us borrowed a car from a friend and took off. We didn’t have much money or passports, just ID cards.

We arrived at the German border at midnight and it was total chaos. There were three or four different types of guards, and German Shepherds everywhere. They were checking cars and passports thoroughly. Amazingly, we bullshitted them and said the embassy had told us no official paperwork was possible in such a short time. We paid a visa on the spot and drove the 200 kilometres to Berlin.

It was really grey when we arrived in East Berlin. There were hundreds of people trying to get to the train station to get to West Berlin. We arrived at West Berlin and for the next four days stationed ourselves around Checkpoint Charlie (this was designated as the single border crossing point for foreigners and members of the Allied forces). It was a pure party atmosphere. There was so much joy. Many families hadn’t seen each other since the wall was built – in 1961. There were people coming from all over Europe: Poland, France, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Many had been born when the wall was built and so had never ventured beyond the border. It felt like Europe was united.

The West Germans had given 100 deutschmarks to all East Germans. This was overwhelming for some East Germans – they were under Communist rule for so many years. They were used to food rations and coupons and now they were allowed to buy things from shops and cafes. We were refused entry to shops because they just couldn’t cope with the amounts of people wanting to buy things. I remember this East German man looking at a banana like it was a piece of jewellery. It was the first time I became aware of how good we have it in our country and how we take things for granted.

There was still a slight tension in the air, though. The East German police were on alert. They still had their guns and dogs. Although the wall was falling, reunification didn’t happen until 1991 and so the power in place was still there. Also, some West Germans were worried how they were going to absorb that amount of people into the country and how it would affect their own livelihoods.

What I remember most about that day was people pulling the wall down with little hammers – everyone wanted a scrap, including me. I managed to get a piece, but lost it two or three years later, unless it’s still at my parents’ house in France. I also remember looking at the Elbe River that divided East and West Berlin. On the west side they had built a swimming-pool ladder, so when people escaped from the east they could climb down quickly and escape. It was quite unbelievable.

Witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall is definitely one of the highlights of my life so far, mainly because I have never shared so much emotion with so many people.

Jean-Francois Ponthieux Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9th 1989

Interview by Louise Bannister, published in Frankie magazine

East Berlin…. empty.

It was really grey when we arrived in East Berlin. There were hundreds of people trying to get to the train station to get to West Berlin.

What I remember most about that day was people pulling the wall down with little hammers

There was still a slight tension in the air, though. The East German police were on alert.

The 5th edition will be out early 2010. 34 eclectic sounds fresh from the French airwaves, sample them now.The Unofficial soundtrack to the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival.

Disc 1:

Disc 2:

The Alliance Francaise French Film FestivalDiscovering new music is like the thrilling adventure of a treasure hunt, and over the past five years the intrepid So Frenchy So Chic hunters have unearthed a glittering array of the best new songs.

Each annual quest sets out to carefully select tracks which not only take us to France, but also take us somewhere deep within ourselves. It’s a place that’s universal. The French don’t hold a patent on joy, melancholy, passion or even daggy dance moves.When one album is finished another begins – that’s 12 months of fossicking around festivals, airwaves, websites, blogs, record shops, iTunes and listening to hundreds of songs. Given the success of the project (over 100,000 copies sold) it’s clear a growing audience shares this enthusiasm.

It’s a lot of work but it’s also clearly a lot of fun. Today the music scene in France boasts a seemingly boundless array of talented artists. And the treasure chest that makes up the 2010 So Frenchy double album offers 34 absolute gems. Just a few highlights would have to include Emmanuelle Seigner, the actress wife of controversial director Roman Polanski, serving up a perfect 80s-esque slice of optimism called Le jour parfait. Another film star making an appearance is Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of French music god Serge and a Cannes Best Actress winner for Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, with a trippy electro track from her latest album, IRM.

Vanessa Paradis may be the best known pop star outside the borders of France, with the possible exception of the First Lady. For over twenty years she has been a much loved mainstay at the top of the charts, and her flat out irresistible Des que j’te vois has been a hit not only at home but on dance floors across the channel. However, as with any voyage of discovery, it’s the unexpected detours which can really delight. So Frenchy is proud to present defiantly catchy tracks by the unsigned act Djeuhdjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson and current ‘it girls’ Amandine Bourgeois, Hindi Zahra and Charlotte Etc. Old favourites Nouvelle Vague also offer something unreleased – a typically genius and glorious cover of Fad Gadget’s Under The Flag.

This year So Frenchy also includes shout outs to the francophone Canadian province of Quebec with sweet selections from Ariane Moffatt and the 19 year old internet sensation Coeur de pirate (aka Béatrice Martin) with her unavoidably feelgood and winsome Comme des enfants. Back home the ever popular Mathieu Chedid, known simply as M, appears not once but twice with the assuredly laidback Le roi des ombres and the Django Reinhart meets Andrews Sisters throwback Belleville Rendez-Vous from the Oscar nominated retro animated film, The Triplets Of Belleville.

There’s some 50s style retro in the mix too when Emilie Simon (often dubbed ‘the French Björk’) leaves behind her experimental soundscapes to present the big and brassy Broadway-inspired Rocket to the moon. Last year’s cause célèbre Carmen Maria Vega – a chameleon like chanteuse who presents herself as multiple musical personalities – also channels the style of Ella Fitzgerald in the more low key but equally jazzy En attendant. So Frenchy always throws up some charming twists, such as tracks by the urban poet Ridan (‘nadir’ backwards) and the post-punk wild man Rachid Taha. Both are known for their searing indictments of racism in France, but this time they offer some light in the darkness with sincere and buoyant songs of hope.

The shock of hearing French pop stars singing in English has long worn off, but the surprise of hearing such a diverse range of genres never goes away. Among many others en anglais this year we hear the Brit Beat Boom inspired and instantly memorable Get around town by some classically trained (but Radiohead and Beach Boys loving) lads called Revolver.

Another genre found stomping away is circus infused chanson with the always popular and theatrical Lyonnais group Babylon Circus in Le fils caché, about the secret son of a Pope no less. There’s also the ever present ghost of chanson proper when the legendary accordion player Jean Corti paints a plaintive backdrop for vocalist Lola Lafon’s wee small hours cover of the Barbara classic, Göttingen.

For now though it’s time to dust off the old treasure maps and set out once again for the next edition. So much music, so little time.

Vanessa Paradis - Dès que j’te vois

M - Le Roi Des Ombres (Clip Officiel)

Since 2005, Luca from Like minded studio infuse its creative juice in the SFSC cinema trailers.

Lyon based Babylon Circus is music laced with ska, gypsy, rock, vaudevillian antics, dancehall & reggae. Their first Australian East Coast tour in 2008 saw this 9 piece band sell every show out, with audiences screaming for more.

In March 2010 they will be back in the country to launch their new album La Belle Etoile and to pass on their infectious energy to the audiences at the main stage of Womadelaide & Womad NZ as well as venues across the country.

Discover Moriarty’s universe  through their booklet arts, some of their lyrics and music….  “Their music spoke for them. Foremost the startling voice of Rosemary – sheer beauty in lilt and tone. The mainly depression-era folk music was delivered like a gorgeous sermon, with instrumentation respectfully held back. Very sweet.” Independent weekly

Think early Neil Young meets lo-fi Americana fronted by a girl named Rosemary with a sweet and strange, trilingly birdlike folk/blues voic, which has been described plausibly as “like Billie Holiday frontig Calexico” » Sunday Telegraph (UK)

More… in your store…

Press: The Sydney Morning Herald The Advertiser

Discover, sample some of Cocoon songs and lyrics from their acclaimed album ‘My friends all died in a plane crash’

‘Two Gorgeous voices that seems to blend together, an accoustic guitar bursting forth with powerful arpeggios, poignant keyboards and even catchy ukulele rhythm from time to time’
Les Inrockuptibles CQFD Award Winner (Equivalent to Britain’s NME magazine)
Cocoon is france’s Pop-Folk revelation

More… in your store…

Press: The  Weekend Australian

“An outstanding slab of Nigerian Funk… World Album of the Year” — Mojo

“The explosive Afrobeat of the late great Fela Kuti just keeps getting more fashionable. And who better to present his legacy than his charismatic younger son, Seun, fronting his dad Combo, Egypt 80- One of the best bands in the world, ever?” — The Daily Telegraph

Track list
Think Africa
Don’t give that shit to me
Many things
Fire Dance
Mosquito song
Naoil
African problem

A world far away from the clichés of accordions, berets and baguettes is the sophisticated indie music scene in France,

DOUBLE BILL : COCOON & MORIARTY

Melbourne review Adelaide review

Cocoon is a male-female duo of Mark Daumail and Morgane Imbeaud, self described (and perhaps with tongues-in-cheek) as a folk-pop version of The White Stripes. Their close harmonic, heartfelt and charming sound has been inspired by singer-songwriters from the introspective Nick Drake and Elliot Smith right up to modern ‘new folk’ such as Sufjan Stevens. This isn’t campfire happy clappy folk – just a review of their CD title reveals a darkness in My Friends All Died In A Plane Crash.

Cocoon has truly emerged in France with gold album sales and frequent airplay, disproving the once-held theory that the French dislike their pop sung in English. Besides Cocoon’s catchy original songs, Australian audiences are sure to love their unique covers, including their surprisingly delicate and enchanting take on the disco classic Kung Fu Fighting. Cocoon will play with full band (4 on stage).

Moriarty may just be France’s best kept secret – although not in their homeland where their album Gee Whiz But This Is A Lonesome Town has gone gold. Taking their cue from the worlds of Depression era American folk and European cabaret, this stripped-back ensemble comprises four men on various acoustic instruments fronted by the stunning and haunting vocals of the enigmatic Rosemary. Singing in English and with a Natalie-Merchant- meets-early-Neil-Young sound that’s been variously described as folk, country, blues, jazz and even Americana, the one absolute of the somewhat mysterious group Moriarty is that their sound is irresistible.

The So Frenchy So Chic albums have sold over 90,000 copies and introduced to Australia artist such as Camille, Emilie Simon and Nouvelle Vague. This year, audiences have the opportunity to discover two of the latest indie stars who have captivated France, and to fall in love with Cocoon and Moriarty for themselves.

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