Soirée Chanson

Get out your calendars and write this down! No seriously, write this in your planner. The next French Club activity will be Wednesday 27 October, 7 pm, at the Varsity Theatre. There will be a costume contest (with prizes! This is legit. Stay tuned for pointers on French fashion of the 1960s), a presentation of French music of the 1960s by Professor Wilfried Decoo, and last but not least, a SING-ALONG. That's right, we'll sing some of these wonderful hits of les années '60.



What's that you say? You don't know any of those wonderful hits? Quel horreur! Never fear, the HLRC website is here. You can listen to all of the songs we'll be singing by following these simple steps: First follow this link, then click Online Media. From there choose French as a language, then choose Chantons les années '60. From there just choose a singer and get your groove on (you can even download a pdf of the lyrics).

The 31 songs that Professeur Decoo has chosen range from rock to romantic, funny to melancholy. During the 60s a new kind of human, the teenager, emerged with access to records and radios and an appetite for rock and roll. The decade began with Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf (at the pinnacle of her career), continued with exciting new sounds of Joe Dassin, Johnny Hallyday, and Françoise Hardy, and finished with artists like Jacques Dutronc experimenting with new electronic sounds.

So put on your best 60s outfit, come to Soirée Chanson, and learn some new music! In the meantime here's a video of Johnny Hallyday singing "Souvenir, souvenir" with some sweet dance moves.



(If your not really in a 60s mood choose French 457R instead to enjoy everything from rap to musicals to pop to New Wave to whatever fits in between. Some of my favorites are "L'aventurier" by Indochine, "J'en ai marre" by Alizee, and "L'amour" by Carla Bruni.)