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.