If you have been to Paris then you have enjoyed (or at least heard) any number of street musicians- singers with karaoke machines, accordions, string ensembles, you name it. Sometimes you hear little more than an out of tune violin before a cup full of change is meaningfully shaken in your face. Other times, though, you are treated to a truly talented musician or group. Zaz (Isabelle Gefroy's performing pseudonym) is one of those: an extraordinary singer who started out singing on the streets, then last year released a record to enormous international success.
Zaz's style, while undeniably French, is difficult to sum up in a single word: while she certainly uses a lot of jazz elements, like a double bass, creative rhythms, scat lyrics, and vocal trumpet-like effects, at times she also plays with Middle Eastern vocalizations that create an exotic tone to her work. At the end of the day I should really just let her music speak for itself. Check out these songs on YouTube:
Singing in Montmartre before her big break.Le long de la routeA tribute to Edith PiafDans ma rueAnd last but not least,
Je veux.
Enjoy!
