[Download MP3] - Les Grandes Chansons Francaises

Savor the music and Greatest Hits of pre-war France, performed by its most celebrated stars on this digitally remastered Arkadia Chansons album entitled Les Grandes Chansons Francaises (also available on CD). Culled from the 1930s & 40s, when songs were the essence of popular entertainment, this collection of 18 songs represents the high point in the history of La Chanson Francaise. Pre-television and post-phonograph, these entertainers were superstars to whom the public turned en masse for diversion and delight.

Whether toasting or teasing, melancholy or mournful, these songs all share one special quality, apart from being French. That quality is harmony. Not so much musical harmony, which is by no means lacking here, but that special kind of harmony which is created when the pairing of lyrics and melody work as one.

There is a wide range of styles represented in this album. Mistinguett who, along with Maurice Chevalier, was perhaps the biggest musical star in pre-war France, performs a characteristically vibrant and playful interpretation of her trademark song, Mon homme. The Corsican balladeer, Tino Rossi, gives full expression to his exotic voice and wistful manner in a song about the lovely Marinella. Damia's La guinguette a ferme ses volets, bemoaning the closure of an open-air dance hall, is typically zestful. Maurice Chevalier’s performance of Y'a de la joie, a melody by Charles Trenet who also appears here, is incomparably debonair. The ethereal Trenet, the sparkling Josephine Baker, the earthy Berthe Sylva and on down the list, are all heard here at their best. Do not miss the young Edith Piaf belting out Le mauvais matelot, that is, The rotten sailor.

Having matured in the vaudeville atmosphere of revues and cafe-concerts, the chanson had moved into the music halls, where the artists in this collection held center stage. Their sounds brought together Jazz and Gypsy, Waltz and Swing, all infused with healthy doses of class and style. Listening to this collection, entitled Les Grandes Chansons Francaises, may not be quite the same as spending a weekend in Paris, but it is at the very least an inexpensive alternative. Hearing these songs, one is transported overseas and backward in time.