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.