Belgium - Gent and the rest of Flanders

 As we're hanging on in the beautiful port and university city of Gent (or Ghent), we encounter some already familiar faces in instrumental folk and Gypsy jazz quintet Broes.  Their line up includes violinist Anouk Sanczuk and guitarist Florian de Schepper, which we have already met on this trip as Duo de Schepper-Sanczuk.  This is the title track from their 2015 debut album Route du Soleil:

Also from Gent were folk band Ambrozijn, who were active from 1997-2008.  Apart from traditional polkas and mazurkas, they also played Anglo-Saxon inspired folk, and they sing in English and French.  This song from their 2004 album Botsjeribo is more Gypsy influenced, and I suppose with Christmas just behind us is quite apt: Jésus qui joue l'Accordéon:

Instrumental folk band Elanor started off in Gent in 2013 and have only 1 full album to their name so far entitled A Clear Look.  Their material is very much traditional balfolk with the addition of an electric bass for a more contemporary feel.  Here's a pair of tunes from the album called Blown Away & Nuit Noire (Cercle):

Singer and sculptor Willem Vermandere was born in 1940 in Lauwe in West Flanders.  He now resides in Veurne, where he has become an honorary citizen.  His songs often have a socio-political content, which has made him a target of far-right groups.  He sings and talks in the south-western Flemish dialect.  Here's one of his songs from 1991, which is as current now with the Black Lives Matter movement as it was then: Bange Blanke Man (frightened white man).  His latest album, Confessies, is available now.

There isn't much information available on Flemish progressive folk band Klakkebusse except that they were formed in the seaside town of Blankenberge in 1984 and that they rework 18th and 19th traditional French Flemish songs.  Presumably they are now inactive, but I uploaded one of their songs some years ago, but can't remember for the life of me, which album it came from.  The song is called Guezelied.  Gueze is a style of Belgian beer:

This is it from Belgium, next stop my home country of the Netherlands.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Belgium - Towards Gent

 Heading down to the small town of Gooik in the province of Brabant we meet the Garriau family consisting of father Paul (hurdy-gurdy/guitar), son Koen (saxophone) and daughter Greet (Diatonic accordion/vocals), who formed the heart of folk group Fluxus from 1996-2006 as well as run regular workshops on traditional music in Gooik.  Much of their music is rather hard to get hold of these days, but their 2001 album N.O.Ë. is still available.  Their folk is a bit Jazz infused at times with Koen's sax, mostly their own material and sung in Flemish by Greet.  This is a song from the album called Dag en Nacht (Day and Night):

Just down the road is the small town of Haaltert, which is home to the Wildboar record label, which was started by members of the Flemish folk rock band Kadril.  They formed in 1976 around the Libbrecht brothers Erwin (guitar & bouzouki), Peter (fiddle) and Harlind (mandolin & cimbal).  They are the oldest Flemish folk band still active.  The name Kadril is Flemish bastardization of Quadrille, an old salon dance.  In 2004 they released an album called La Paloma Negra in collaboration with Galician folk band Alumea, which features songs in Spanish, Galician and in Flemish.  Here's song called De Spanjaard in Gent (The Spaniard in Gent):

Spilar is a new folk band formed around the voices of sister and brother Eva and Maarten Decombel and accompanied on strings and keyboards by Ward Dhoore and Jeroen Geerinck, who also run the record label Studio Trad, which is based in Erpe in East Flanders.  The material on their debut album Stormweere is a mixture of own compositions and traditional material, all sung in the West Flanders dialect.  They have even come up with a Flemish translation to the Jacques Brel classic, 'Pourquoi faut-il que les hommes s'ennuient' (Why do men have to get bored), which they call Pertank, which is the Flemish version of Pourtant, meaning Yet:

And finally another family affair with the aforementioned Ward Dhoore and his 2 brothers Hartwin and Koen, who form the instrumental folk band Trio Dhoore, based in Gent.  They have been performing together since 2010 and their latest album musically tells the story of August, an 18th century Flemish fisherman, who survived 33 dangerous journeys between Belgium and Iceland to feed his family.  The instrumentation is comprised of diatonic accordion, hurdy-gurdy and guitar, complemented with some electronic effects.  Here's a tune from the album called Poldervuur:

That's it for today.  We'll explore Gent further next time and the rest of Flanders.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.

Belgium - Antwerp and Around

 From Brussels we are heading north towards the province of Antwerp, starting at the town of Turnhout, near the Dutch border.  I'm not sure where the folk duo or quartet Naragonia are actually based, but one of the founders, Toon van Mierlo seems to come from Turnhout originally.  He started out together with Pascale Rubens as a folk duo in 2003.  As a quartet they perform a distinct repertoire of instrumental folk music.  This is a lively and danceable track from their 2018 album Mira called Lapwings - Crossbills

Fiddle player Anouk Sanczuk also grew up in Turnhout and she has her fingers in many pies around the Belgian and Dutch music scenes.  She plays anything from jazz to Gipsy, from classical to folk.  Together with guitarist Florian de Schepper she forms the Duo de Schepper - Sanczuk, where they explore a mixture of these styles, inspired by folk tunes from around Europe without loosing the Flemish roots.  Here is the title track from their 2019 album Port de Taipana:

Folk singer Wannes van de Velde (1937-2008) was a bit of a legend in the Belgian folk scene and was awarded honorary citizenship of the port city of Antwerp.  He grew up near the city's red light district and just around the corner of the Museum Vleeshuis, which is dedicated to the history of the local music.  I should make a point of visiting the museum on my next visit, rather than my usual frustrating visit to the traffic jams on the Antwerp ring road.  Anyway I digress, Wannes sang mostly in his local Flemish dialect and this is a song from his 1969 album Laat de Mensen Dansen (Leth the People Dance) called Zwijg Me van de Vlaamse Kwestie (Keep Me Silent About the Flemish Issue):

And since it was Saint Nicolas Day yesterday (6 December is when Santa Claus visits children in most of Europe) we are moving west to the small Flemish town of Sint Niklaas, where we encounter 5-piece folk band Hidrae, who have just released their debut album Hydraulic.  They play a lively balfolk with traditional instruments including the Flemish bagpipes and hurdy gurdy.  This is a tune called Plage de l'Amitié:

This is it from around Antwerp for today, next we'll head further west in to Flanders.  As usual you can follow my virtual wanderings on my Tripline map.

Belgium - Brussels Part II

 Whilst in Brussels we can't skip Belgium's greatest musical star, Jacques Brel (1929-1978), who was born in the Brussels neighbourhood of Schaerbeek.  Coming from a Flemish background, his family chose to speak French.  He was not academically gifted, and was bored working in his father's cardboard factory, as his creative genius wanted to burst out.  He relocated to Paris in 1953 and became an international star, his many songs covered by international stars, but rarely equalled in intensity and passion.  His breakthrough hit came in 1957 with Quand On N'a Que l'Amour:

Probably his most famous song, which has been covered in various languages, but never as good or as emotionally intense as the original is Ne Me Quitte Pas:

Also born in Brussels was Jazz composer and harmonica player Toots Thielemans (1922-2016).  He had a long and distinguished career playing with just about any of the Jazz greats, too many to list here.  He popularised the harmonica as a genuine voice in the genre.  He was active into a venerable age and gave a concert on his 90th birthday, from which this clip is taken: Midnight Cowboy:

Rapper Paul van Haver, aka Stromae, cites Jacques Brel as one of his early influences, but he has a much more modern take with rap and electronic music.  He was born in 1985 in the Brussels neighbourhood of Etterbeek to Rwandan Tutsi father and a Belgian mother.  He has achieved quite some international success.  Here's one of his hits called Papaoutai:

That's it from Brussels, next we'll be heading north to the province of Antwerp in Flanders.  As usual you can follow my virtual road trip on my tripline map. 

Belgium - Brussels

 So we arrive in the capital of Belgium, Brussels or Bruxelles or Brussel, the bilingual capital of Europe.  Like most capital cities it is a big melting pot of cultures, which is reflected in the local music scene, so we'll be hearing music styles from all over the world here.

We start with my favourite band here, Jaune Toujours.  Their style has been described as mestiza, a blend of salsa, Latin, ska, Balkan and punk.  The term they use for their style is Europeana, as opposed to Americana.  They sing in French, Flemish and English.  This song called La Bruxellois is from their 2009 album Kolektiv:

Here's another nice ska number from their 2018 album Europeana called Save Le Monde.  It's a beautiful day to save the world... :)

The Ångströmers is a cluster of sound artists and musicians around the Brussels record label Ångström.  In their latest collaboration they have teamed up with Haitian 6-piece band Chouk Bwa where Afro-Caribbean Voodoo polyrhythms meet bass-weight dub electronics.  An explosive mix, mostly recorded in Brussels, their album Vodou Alé came out in May.  This is the title track from the album:

Brussels other claim to fame is that with some 40 Gnawa musicians living in the city it takes the claim as Gnawa capital of Europe.  Jola is a project to bring most of them together to record an album, which was released in March as Jola - Hidden Gnawa Music in Brussels, which is available on Bandcamp.  In Moroccon dialect 'Jola' means tour is the term for an essential step in a musician's initiation to the tagnawit (the way of the Gnawa).  The launch concert for the album got cancelled, because of the Covid pandemic, but instead they recorded some of the musicians in their homes.  On the album the sound is of course a lot fuller with the musicians playing together rather than solo with plenty percussion:

Five-piece hybrid jazz combo Black Flower piloted by saxophonist and flutist Nathan Daems mixes Ethio-jazz and oriental sounds with afrobeat and dub.  In 2016 they spent 2 days in a studio mixing a largely improvised album called Ghost Radio, which was initially released as a limited run on vinyl.  It sold out fast and they have recently re-released the vinyl as well as a digital download version.  Here's a track from that album called Ray:

Also inspired by Ethio-jazz is 6-piece combo Azmari, who were created in 2015 fusing it with psychgroove, funk and dub.  Azmari, meaning one who praises in Amharic, is the term for an Ethiopian singer/musician equivalent to a European bard or a West African griot.  They only appear to have one EP so far called Ekera released in 2019. Here's the hypnotic opening track to the EP called Dolmuş:

Finally, Refugees for Refugees and is an ensemble of 10 accomplished musicians, displaced by wars and political instability, who got stranded in Brussels and formed a band under the guidance of Belgian Tristan Driessens.  The musicians hail from Syria, Tibet, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Their music is all about breaking boundaries and represents all their respective cultures along the historic southern Silk Road.  It's a beautiful and varied collection of songs and well worth supporting.  Their second album, released in 2019, is called Amina and here is the title track from it:

I hope you enjoyed our international tour of Brussels.  As usual you follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.

Belgium - Wallonia

 Belgium!  The country of the best chips in the world, with mussels(!), Chocolate (!), a bewildering range of weird and wonderful beers and a language split down the middle resulting in endless squabbles.  To the Dutch and French they are the butt of endless jokes, but they are an endearing lot though.  

We start our journey through this country in the French speaking part of the country in Wallonia. Our first stop is in the far east of the country in the province of Limbourg, which the folk band Cecilia call their home.  They are a trio of hurdy gurdy, bagpipes and accordion churning out cheerful balfolk or Boombal with influences from Ireland to the Balkans and everything in between.  This is the opening tune from their 2018 album Pastourelle called De Zwarte Beek - Mols Hoop:

Belgium has a long and proud and tradition in Jazz beginning with Romani-French Jazz guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), who was born in Liberchie, just north of Charleroi.  He was the first major talent of the genre to emerge from Europe and remains the most significant.  He collaborated with some of the greats of his era, including Stéphane Grapelli, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter and Duke Ellington.  Sadly he died too early at the age of 43 from a stroke.  Here's a short summary of his life:

And here's a tune with his Quintet Hot Club de France with Grapelli on violin:

Following in Django's footsteps is Jazz singer, flutist and composer Melanie de Biasio from Charleroi (must be something in the water around there), who plays a much more contemporary style of jazz combined at times with elements of prog rock and singing in English.  The 42 year old has been nominated for and awarded numerous prestigious awards for her music.  Here's a sensual performance of her song With All My Love from her 2013 album No Deal.  Gives me goosebumps this!

This song called All My Worlds is from her to date latest
album Lilies, released in 2017:

I'm not sure where the crazy Balkanik band Kermesz a L'Est are based, but given that they toured this summer on bicycle-like contraptions around Mons and Hainault, I assume that is their home region.  According to their own description they fuse Balkan tunes with metal, math rock, electro and free jazz all infused with a healthy dose of humour.  Their live performances are livewire sessions of anarchy complete with long hair, beards, leather jackets and beer.  I'm looking forward to catching up with them at some stage, somewhere.

In the meantime we have to content ourselves with just listening to their recordings.  They released an album in April called RDS-202 after the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated, and it sure is explosive.  It is also available as a pay as you feel like download on bandcamp.  So go on treat yourselves!  Here's the full-length album on YouTube:

And here just a flavour of one of their live performances:

That's it from Wallonia, next stop Brussels.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Luxembourg

 Now, Luxembourg not being a big country, we are not going to be lingering here for long.  It's a funny old country, famous for... being more European than anybody else, the Schengen Treaty, cheap fags and petrol... and you're through it before you know.  The school system is tri-lingual!  The first year of primary school is conducted in Luxembourgish (a weird mixture of German, French and Dutch), followed by the rest of primary school in German.  For secondary school they switch to French.  Of course English is taught throughout.  I never know which language I should use when paying for my cheap petrol and tobacco whenever I pass through.

Anyway, I only found two notable music acts from Luxembourg.  One of biggest pop acts in the country seems to be a guy called Serge Tonnar and his band Legotrip, who sings in this clip in Luxembourgish about his Granny:  

More traditional are folk band Dullemajik from Hollenfels, a bit north of Luxembourg City.  They formed in 1975 to revive the traditional folk music of the country and also sing in the national language, although a lot of their music is instrumental balfolk using hurdy gurdy, fiddles, flutes, accordion and percussion.  This is from their 1975 album Letzebuerger Volleksmusek, which was only ever released on vinyl, called De Schmatt:

As we have a full moon coming up, here another little dance tune from them, Vollmund Danz (Full Moon Dance) from 1982:

That's it from the tiny country of Luxembourg, next stop Belgium.  As usual you can follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.

  

France - The Northeast

The town of Trimbach in Alsace

 Before leaving Paris, there is a new album out by Gypsy Balkan band La Caravane Passe called Nomadic Spririt.  It's a joyous celebration of Balkan and Gypsy inspired music blended with punk, rap, chanson, Gnawa and Latin sounds.  The title song of the album perfectly sums up the idea of this blog of borderless music.  It features Moroccon Mehdi Nassouli:

Next we are heading south to Nevers in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, where contemporary accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier was born, for something altogether more calm.  He comes from the Jazz tradition and has fused it with various world music styles, notably collaborating with Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem.  In his latest collaboration he just released an album called Rivage with classical and jazz guitarist Kevin Seddiki from Clermont-Ferrand.  Here are 3 songs, 2 of them feature on the album.  Schumansko, the opening track draws on a Bulgarian melody combined with a theme from Schumann.

I'm not sure where bagpipe and banjo player Julien Cartonnet was born, but he did record an album in 2013 called Musique Traditionelle du Nivernais-Morvan (which is proving tricky to get hold of), so we will visit this region next within the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region.  Here he plays a rousing Scottish with accordionist Jean Thiery:

Together with accordionist Andy Cutting (whom we met in London) and James Delarre, Cartonnet is also part of Anglo-French folk outfit Topette!!.  Here's a piece from their 2019 album Rhododendron called Oblique Jig / Miss Heidi Hendy:

Next we are heading into the Vosges mountains to Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in the Grand-Est region, where singer/songwriter Frédérique Dastrevigne, known simply as Fredda was born.  This song called Jours Heureux is from her upcoming album Bisolaire (available from the 13th November): 

Also from the Grand-Est region, singer/songwriter Pascal Parisot was born in Pompey, just north of Nantes. He specialises in children's songs and puts on fun shows for them.  The following song called Allons Z'enfants features on the 2011 compilation The Rough Guide to Paris Lounge:

And finally with Halloween coming up, here is an extract from a fun looking kids show he did called Mort de Rire:

This concludes our tour of the northern half of France.  We will return to explore the south of France on our way south, but next we will be heading into the Benelux countries.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my tripline map.

 

France - Paris Part III

 Paris is of course a very cosmopolitan city like London with many international influences in its music.  Zoufris Maracas were formed around 2007 by friends Vincent Sanchez and Vincent Allard.  The name Zoufris refers to the name given to Algerian workers arriving in France during the 1950's, but their influences combine chanson inspired by Jacques Brel with sounds from African Rumba, Mexican Cumbia and Gipsy Manouche.  Their latest 2020 release is Bleu de lune and this track is taken from it called Sa Majesté la mer:

Due to France's colonial past there is a strong North African diaspora living in Paris, who bring their musical influences with them.  Gnawa music is a body of religious songs and rhythms mostly centred around Morocco.  Multi-national and inter-generational outfit Gnawa Youmala add fiddle and banjo to the traditional instrumentation of gimbri (bass lute) and qaraqab (metal castagnets) to give the genre a lighter, uplifting touch with hues of Berber and Arabic sounds.  This is from their recently released debut album Dounya called Mandiga:

Also playing Gnawa merged with other Maghreb influences such as chaâbi, rai, alaoui and kabyle as well as salsa, reggae, jazz and funk are northern Paris band Orchestre National de Barbès, who were founded in 1995 by some Algerian and Moroccan musicians.  This is the title track from their 2010 album Rendez-vous Barbès:

Paris born clarinettist Yom believes klezmer is all about being a dance music and veers away from the traditional by blending it with some electronic dancefloor sounds.  This tune is called Swimming in the Styx from his latest album You Will Never Die recorded in 2018 with the Wonder Rabbis:

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Etienne de la Sayette is a true musical world traveller who fuses many world music styles.  Notably he championed Ethio-Jazz with his band Akalé Wubé and Korean music with Baeshi Bang.  His recent solo album Kobugi, comprises of his own musical doodles whilst having nothing much to do between concert tours and suddenly realising he had enough material to release an album.  Apart from Ethiopian and Korean influences, there are hints of Mali and Zimbabwe as well as rap.  Hard to put into just one box.  In a recent interview he was asked how he envisioned his future as a musician.  He answered: I might just have a glass of Sancerre after this interview.  A man after my own heart.  Here's a song from the album called Loulou:

Finally we listen to some electro swing from electronic band Caravan Palace, who list their influences as Django Reinhardt, Vitalic and Lionel Hampton.  This is a track which features on the 2011 album The Rough Guide to Paris Lounge called Jolie Coquine:

That's it from Paris, next we are heading back into the French countryside.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on my tripline map.

France - Paris - Part II

 As a few days ago French Chanteuse Juliette Gréco died a few days ago aged 93, we make this post about the classics of Paris.  Although Juliette was born in Montpelier, she moved to Saint-Germain-de Prés area of Paris when she was 7.   Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour wrote songs for her and she was in a relationship with Miles Davis.  Her mother had joined the resistance and the family were arrested during the German occupation.  Here's a 1967 rendition of her song Les Feuilles Mortes. RIP Juliette Gréco, 7 February 1927 - 23 September 2020:

And of course when talking about the classics, there is none more celebrated than the Sparrow of Paris, Édith Piaf (1915-1963).  She was a singer/songwriter, cabaret performer and actress.  Her songs were often autobiographical.  Despite numerous books and films about her life, much of it is unknown, but it is safe to say she lived life to the full.  She died early after a series of near-fatal car crashes and a life-long addiction to alcohol and medication.  Her last words were reportedly: "Every damn thing you do in this life, you have to pay for".  In that spirit here is Non, Je ne Regrette Riens:

Known to both the above women, Charles Aznavour is another towering figure in the Paris music scene.  Born in 1924 to Armenian parents, he performed right up to his death at the age of 94 in 2018 having written 1000's of songs for himself and others and sold almost 200 million records during his lifetime.  Here is one of his later performances of Hier Encore:

Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) was not only an influential singer/songwriter, but also a film composer, poet, painter, screen writer, actor and film director, who often liked to provoke the public with controversial songs, non more so than the 1967 song Je t'aime,... moin non plus, which he wrote for Brigitte Bardot and involves some heavy breathing.  It was banned on many radio stations at the time.  Here's a song from 1962 called La Chanson de Prévert:

Accordionist Marcel Azzola (1927-2019) accompanied the likes of Stan Getz and Jacques Brel.  Here is a piece called Rue de la Chine:

Francis Lemarque (1917-2002) was born Nathan Korb, the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and changed his name during the German occupation and joined the French resistance.  He wrote some 1000 chansons during his career including the ardent pacifist anthem Quand un soldat:

That's it for today, but we will linger a bit longer in Paris next time.

France - Paris - Part I

 Aahh Paris!  City of love, street cafés, sitting in a wicker chair, sipping Ricard or a glass of wine, accordion music spilling out onto the streets.  We start with jazz accordionist extraordinaire Ludovic Beier and a tune called Waltz in Paris, which features on the 2010 compilation The Rough Guide to Paris Café:

He often collaborates with Gypsy jazz guitarist Angelo Debarre and this tune, I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight, features on the same album:

Singer/songwriter Marianne Feder combines traditional chanson with jazz and sometimes gypsy and Balkan influences.  This is the title song from her 2019 album L'Hiver du Poètes:

Sadly singer and accordionist Belle du Berry, front woman of the fusion chanson band Paris Combo, died last month of cancer.  The band has been blending chanson with pop, jazz, swing, gypsy and North African influences since 1995.  They attribute their wide range of influences to the cosmopolitan nature of Paris and their popularity grew beyond France with multiple tours of the USA, Europe and Australia.  Here is a jazzy live number, the title track to their to date latest album from 2017, Tako Tsubo: 

Contemporary folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Yacoub started as a founder of Brittany folk band Malicorne in the 1970's.  In 1978 he launched his solo career, still drawing on traditional material, but giving them a contemporary twist.  He only seems to release new album every few years and his last album was in 2008 entitled De La Nature des Choses.  This is a song from that album called Le Café de la Fin du Monde:

In 1986 American underground cartoonist Robert Crumb came to Paris craving real Musette, the urban dance music of Paris of the early 20th century mixing folk dancing of the Auvergne with swing, gypsy and polka.  He went on to found Les Primitifs du Futur together with guitarist Dominic Cravic.  Having a cartoonist in the band also makes for fun album covers.  Here's a live version of their song Ivresses featuring on their 2008 album Tribal Musette:

And talking about Musette, Beltuner have been playing this style since 2001.  Some of their music is featured on the bonus CD on the 2010 album The Rough Guide to Paris Café.  Here's track from that album called No Comment:

We shall linger in Paris for wee while longer, but more for another day.  As usual you can follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.

France - Pas de Loire to Île de France

 

Angers Castle

We continue our journey of northern France and travel up the Loire valley to Angers, where world music band Lo'Jo is based.  They were formed in 1982 around singer/keyboardist Denis Péan and violin and kora player Richard Bourreau, blending French folk with strong gypsy and North African influences.  This a song from their 2017 album Fonetiq Flowers called Café des Immortels:

'Tropical Jazz' band Electric Vocuhila are from Tours in the Centre-Val de Loire region.  They blend Jazz with several African urban music styles such as Sébène from the Congo, Ethio-Jazz, Zimbabwean Sungura and Tsapiky from Madagascar.  Their tunes possess a unique hypnotic, danceable groove.  This is the title track from their recently released album Palaces:

From just south of Tours, in Chambray-Les-Tours, hails singer/songwriter Isabelle Geoffroy, better known as Zaz, who combines traditional chanson with jazz influences.  This is one of her early hits called Je Veux from her self-titled 2010 debut album:

As we get drawn into the whirlpool that is Paris we first stop in the north-western suburb of Jouy-le-Moutier in the region of Île de France, where we meet the family outfit Les Ogres de Barback.  They consist of 4 siblings of the Burguière family, brothers Fred and Sam and twin sisters Alice and Mathilde, all of them multi-instrumentalists.  They've been playing French chansons with various other world music influences since 1994.  On their latest album, Amours Grises & Colères Rouges, released in 2019, guest artists include Benin band Eyo'Nlé and Israeli singer Lior Shoov.  This is one of their more traditional style songs from that album called P'tit Coeur:

Singer/songwriter and mandolin player Féloche grew up in Clichy on the outskirts of Paris.  His musical CV includes a stint in a Ukrainian punk band before setting out on his solo career, playing a variety of styles.  In 2013 he released the album Silbo.  The title song is partly sung in the ancient whistling language of the island of Gomera, part of the Canary Islands, called Silbo in tribute to his step father, who was a political refugee from there.  It made him something of a hero on Gomera for encouraging a revival of the language, which was used widely during the 1940's and 50's to evade Franco's police.

And to finish off here's a song from his latest album released in February, Féloche and the Mandolin Orchestra.  The Song is called Chiq Planète:

That's it for today, next we'll explore the music of Paris.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.

France - Bretagne

 Brittany in the northwest of France has a rich cultural heritage with its Celtic connections to Wales, Cornwall and Ireland and its own language.  Hence we are only going to be able to scratch the surface of the music of this region.  We start off in the village of Saint-Tréphine, where Breton traditional singer Yann Fañch-Kemener was born.  He was an early collector of songs from the oral tradition and was instrumental in the folk revival of Brittany.  Sadly he died last year at the age of 61.  Here he is colaborating with harpist and singer Ann Auffret from nearby Bulat-Pestivien from their joint 2013 album Roue Gralon ni ho salud - Profane and Sacred Songs of Brittany.  The song is called Ar Prins ar yaouank:

Eugénie Goadec (1909-2003) was part the vocal group the Goadec sisters (Les Soeurs Goadec in French, Ar C'hoarezed in Breton), who also sprang to fame during the folk revival of the 1970's.  She was born in Carhaix-Plouguer and outlived her 2 sisters and continued her singing career, partnering with Louise Ebrel.  This is a fun little song that featured on the 2003 album The Rough Guide to France, which is called Deomp D'an Unvet:

From Finistèrre originated the band Skolvan in 1984.  They combine traditional Breton tunes with some more contemporary influences.  Their 1994 album Swings and Tears won best folk album of the year in France, Britain and Portugal.  This the opening track of that album called Boules et Guirlandes:

Singer/songwriter and harpist Cécile Corbel was born in Pont-Croix in 1980.  She doesn't restrict herself to Breton folk, but has rather a more generic Celtic theme, although she sings in numerous languages.  Her song La Fille Damnee features on her 2014 Best of SongBooks album:

Roland Becker's father came to Brittany as a World War II German prisoner of war, but decided to stay on and settled in Auray, where Roland was born in 1957.  He became a musician, composer and arranger playing oboe and saxophone and specialising in Breton music with contemporary, sometimes jazzy, sometimes electronic influences.  In 2000 he recorded an album with the Orchestre National Breton called Er roué Stevan, from which this track is taken, which includes some wild sounding chanting: Er havidelleu-houarn (Les Cages de Fer / The iron cages):

Breton 5-piece band Ampouailh are based around Guérande, which actually is just outside the region of Brittany in the Pays de la Loire region.  Their name translates as rascal and they play mainly Breton dance tunes with a modern twist.  Here's a song called Saint Vincent performed live, a version of which features on their 2009 album Fest-noz ar Gêr Wenn under the title Bukolik Express! (rond de Saint Vincent):

Another Breton outfit from outside the borders of Brittany in the Pays de Loire are Folk rockers Tri Yann from Nantes.  Incredibly the band founded in 1969 still includes its 3 founding members.  They are famous for their rather flamboyant outfits they wear on stage.  Here's a live version of a song called Franzosig, including some energetic dancing.  It is features on a compillation album called Âme de Bretagne:

That's it from Brittany / Bretagne for today.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.  

France - Hauts-de-France & Normandie

Typical half timbered houses in Rouen, Normandy

The first sight most travellers from Britain arriving by boat in France is the port city of Calais in the Hauts-de-France region, which until recently was the site of the infamous Calais Jungle refugee camp, where many refugees waited for their chance, legally or illegally, to hop over the channel for a better life or to be reunited with family members.  At its height the jungle accommodated over 8000 people in squalid conditions, before it was dismantled in October 2016.  In September 2015 a group of international musicians travelled over from Britain to find musicians inside the camp to collaborate with resulting in the recording of The Calais Sessions which featured musicians from Syria, Afghanistan, Romania, Mexico, Kuwait, Kurdistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and other places.  Proceeds from the sale of the album go to help the refugees, so you can buy it on their bandcamp page for maximum effect.  Here's a track called Kandahar from the album:

Going onto something a bit more traditional, many people may not realise that this part of France was historically part of Flanders, and Flemish is still spoken by some there.  Hence also names like Dunkirk, which sounds odd in French, but means church in the dunes in Flemish.  This is where traditional folk duo Raymond Declerck and André Rouzet, known as Bart en Klerktje come from.  I don't know much about them, except that they recorded a couple of albums in the 1980's, including a live album recorded in Bruges, Belgium in 1981, which includes this little drinking song called Drinke Liedje:

Folk and Dance band Zlabya started off in 2007 in Lille taking influences from Klezmer, Irish and Romani music and blending them into some Jazz fusion. In 2017 they released a live album to celebrate their 10th anniversary and this tune is taken from it called La Pégreuse:

Normandy doesn't seem to treasure its traditional music in the same way as some other parts of France for some reason.  The only thing I could unearth was a collection of traditional songs from Normandy by singer/songwriter and hurdy gurdy player Jean-François Dutertre, who was born in Paris, but to Norman parents.  Apart from other albums of traditional material from various parts of France, he released the album Chansons Traditionelles de Normandie in 2001 as part of a series called Musique Du Monde.  I've scoured the internet to find a copy of the album, but without success.  Here's a song called Le Passage du Bois:

 This is it for today.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on my tripline map.  Next up will be some Celtic stuff from Brittany.

England - East Anglia & Kent

East Anglia is a flat landscape with sweeping sandy beaches along its coasts on the bulge of land to the north of London.  Above a beach in northern Norfolk.  Hailing from Norwich, the capital of county Norfolk is folk trio Alden Patterson and Dashwood, who weave rich vocal harmonies, fiddle, guitar and dobro around beautifully written original songs and melodies, some of them influenced by bluegrass.  Here's a song from their 2018 album By The Night called The Cobbler's Daughter:

Near Norwich is the village of Raveningham, where performer, composer and improviser Laura Cannell hails from.  She is mostly known for her baroque violin playing and the eerie drones of her recorder producing experimental sounds exploring links between medieval traditional and modern musical idioms.  Last year she got together with fellow East Anglia singer Polly Wright to record a purely vocal album called Sing As the Crow Flies, which is a collection of haunting melodies inspired by the landscapes of Norfolk and almost puts you into a trance like state.  The source of their material apparently was a 19th century book snappily entitled 'The Norfolk Garland: A Collection of the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices, Proverbs, Curious Customs, Ballads and Songs of the People of Norfolk'.  This is the opening track called One for the Rook One for the Crow:

Folk singer, guitarist and concertina player Nancy Wallace was born in East London, but was raised in an unspecified Suffolk seaside town, but now resides in Montreal, Canada.  Her songs have featured on many compilation albums, but only released one full length solo album in 2009 called Old Stories.  This is a song from that album called I live not where I love:

Finger-style guitarist and singer/songwriter Adrian Nation was born in the Essex seaside village of Holland-on-Sea in Essex.  He lists his influences as the theme song of TV series Black Beauty, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot and is said to have something of a young Martin Simpson about him.  Here's a demonstration of his guitar skills called Five Finger Rapids from his 2009 album Fall or Fly:

Legend in his own lifetime Billy Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking, Essex.  It's hard to believe the singer/songwriter and political activist is only 62, as he seems to have been around forever playing his brand of folk punk and protest songs.  Here is one of his classics, The World Turned Upside Down, performed live.  I like this version because of the intro, which says it all really.  It features on his 2016 release Back to Basics amongst other places:

Mother and daughter duo Belinda Kempster and Fran Foote have traditional folk running through their veins.  They've decided to record songs they have learned from Belinda's uncle Ernie, who was a farm labourer near Colchester in Essex, to document their family tradition.  The result is an album called On Clay Hill released in 2019, which just features the voices of these two women, plus a short bonus song, sung by Uncle Ernie himself.  This is a song called Dark-Eyed Sailor off the album:

Another family affair are multi-instrumentalists and folk singers Emily and Hazel Askew known as the Askew sisters from London (as we are passing through London again).  They aim to give ancient traditional songs a contemporary feel accompanying their voices with fiddle, melodeon, concertina and cello.  Their latest 2019 album is called Enclosure and this is the opening track, I Wandered by the Brookside:

Folk singer Chris Wood started out his musical journey as a choir boy at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent.  He has been part of the Oysterband and many other collaborations including with Andy Cutting and others, playing English, French and Québécois folk as well as his own compositions.  Here's a slightly dark song called Non the Wiser, which is the title track from his 2013 album:

And talking about the Oysterband, they are a folk punk band who started life in 1976 in Canterbury as the Oyster Ceilidh Band, then as the Oyster Band and finally adopting its present name with various changes in personnel over the years.  Here's a song from their 2008 album The Oxford Girl and Other Stories called Early Days of a Better Nation:

Also from Canterbury are progressive folk band Arlet, whose music according to their own words falls somewhere between the folk club and the chamber music hall.  Composer and accordionist Aidan Shepherd creates a fresh sound, which is drawing from English folk tunes, reminding one of the Penguin Café Orchestra and hints English composer Vaughan Williams.  Here's a tune from their 2013 album Clearing called V12:

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Tim Edey was born in the Kent village of Broadstairs near Dover, but lives in Donegal these days and is involved there in the Irish folk scene, having been part of the Chieftains and Lúnasa.  He also collaborated with New Zealand harmonica player Brendan Power to produce according to a BBC reviewer "one of the more colourful folk albums of 2011" entitled Wriggle and Writhe.  This is the title track off that album:

Sorry this was a bit of a longer post, but this concludes our trip around the British Isles, around Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and its islands, England and Wales.  After one year and almost 5 months, covering 5,120 miles or 8,240 km, stopping at 178 places, we're next heading over the channel to France and the rest of Europe.  As usual you can follow my virtual tour on my tripline map.