Product Description The Rough Guide To Paris Café Music conjures up the romantic image of accordion music floating through wisps of smoke from a Gitane, the voice of Edith Piaf and a moonlit Eiffel Tower. This style of music is known as bal-musette and grew from the music of the immigrant communities in Paris at the turn of the last century. This unique and comprehensive collection traces the music from its lowly roots in the café-charbons to its modern incarnations in modern jazz and rock-musette with tracks from its seminal artists. .com Cap at a rakish angle, Gitane hanging from the lip... as Guillaume Veillet's liner note points out, Paris's most indigenous music may seem a trifle cozy, but The Rough Guide to Paris Café Music shows the inaccuracies of that prejudice. The origins of French café music may lie in the Auvergne, whose musicians played the smallpipes, but the biggest influence that fed into the music came from Italy, with an organetto tradition traced to Nascente's Bar Italia (the other big influence came from the gypsy world). The Bal Musette café ballroom was the melting pot in which the smallpipes gave way to the accordion and stars began to emerge. Emile Vacher and Charles Peguri were the founding fathers of this tradition, and they're both present on this entrancing new Rough Guide installment. We also hear Jean Corti, who played in a military brothel in the 1940s, and the drug-addicted Fréhel, whose smoky tones are the authentic sound of the 1920s. The variety of styles in these 25 tracks is dazzling, as hot jazz alternates with modern cool. Django Reinhardt's son Babik beats up a lovely storm with the New Quintette du Hot Club de France; meanwhile, Edith Piaf sings a song called "L'Accordeoniste." And if you're hooked on this instrument, get a copy of Wergo's Global Accordion: Early Recordings, a marvelous cornucopia of vanished sounds. --Michael Church
F**A
French oui!
Learning French every way possible
K**E
Wuick vacation.
all the RG cds are good. this one is great.A real Parisian feel.
D**H
It is a 5 star compilation of great timeless cafe music
Going to Paris, then this CD for you. It is a 5 star compilation of great timeless cafe music.
C**D
Beautiful French Music
I picked this CD up because of a then upcoming trip to Paris and boy am I glad I did. It opened up a new world of beautiful music from beautful noir inducing waltzes to high spirited fist pumpers to slick jazz, this disc has all you need.The music is mostly accordian driven with varios tempos and moods. Some of the tracks are older more traditional French musette and chansons that evoke images of wartime Paris and some of the tracks are more rock oriented not unlike a French version of the Pogues or Flogging Molly. This CD has something for everyone who enjoys new adventures in music and if youre a fan of world beat, cajun, french music or jazz, youre sure to enjoy this.The standouts here for me ar Hulements D'Leo,Les Ogres Du Barback and Debouts Sur Le Zinc who mix punk spirit with this new style...
A**R
Okay, but I'm not impressed
Don't get me wrong-I love Paris Cafe music, mainly because I'm an accordionist myself. I also love Rough Guide music because they are usually able to get the most music from the best artists that represent the region well-and all on ONE cd! However, this one slips through, in my opinion. This CD is merely a hogpoge of any tune with an accordion and singing in the french language, and has no real direction or purpose. Another qualm I have about this album is that it really isn't that great for listening casualy too. To be able to just pop in a CD to create an atmosphere for a dinner or chatting with friends is one of the great aspects of REAL parisian cafe music-it serves as a background, yet it still is noticible and interesting to listen to with out taking all your attention. This CD on the other hand demands that you concentrate on it-it's more of a musical text book on all the different types of french music than a CD that is enjoyable to listen to. But if a musical text book is what you want, then go ahead and buy it, just remember that I told you so.
J**1
While this disc is heavy on accordion, it really ...
While this disc is heavy on accordion, it really does recall Paris and Edith Piaf. Have almost worn it out.
Trustpilot
1 day ago
2 months ago
