Chanson
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A chanson (French for "song", from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric-driven French songs, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a "chansonnier"; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.
Chanson française
French songs known as chanson française refers to French popular music sung in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s by singers and songwriters such as Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Françoise Hardy, Yves Montand or Georges Brassens constituting a unique cultural phenomenon.
Sometimes unjustly associated with the past, such as is the music from american golden age musicals, spanish Zarzuelas and italian operettas, french songs are nevertheless today still part of a dynamic french social movement which has for centuries – since the french revolution – moved audiences with elegant and often poetic lyrics combined with realism around social themes, spirituality and love. The most widely recognized songs such as “Non, je ne regrette rien", "Ne me quitte pas" or "Les feuilles mortes" have dignified successors in diverse genres such as rap, electronic music or pop. There are even competitions of chanson française, such as Vive la reprise. Among the modern followers of chanson française, we find Pierre Bachelet or Paloma Berganza; as well as some fusion versions like Estrella Morente's version of Ne me quitte pas.
