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I love buying French music when we are in France. My current favorites are Enzo Enzo, Isabelle Boulay and Florent Pagny.

I'd love to hear about other artists that have the same type of CD's. Any suggestions?

We are leaving Thursday for France and will do some shopping while there. What are the best places to shop for CD's in Paris? I have FNAC and the Virgin store on my list.

Thanks so much.

cocofromdijon

Hi, If you have a little time to listen to extracts of songs, go to the Fnac website, chose a singer and click on the small note. here is a direct link to the French singers section:
http://tinyurl.com/c5qqg
Glad to see French singers are appreciated out of France ;-)
Welcome!

Nikki

I'm not familiar with any of the singers you mentioned, so I'm going to go listen to excerpts. Personally I've been listening to Sanseverino, Paris Combo and, most recently Benabar. I too am always looking for suggestions.

cigalechanta

Axele Red, Patricia Kaas, Patric Bruel, Francis Cabrel, Helene Segara, Johnny Halliday(yes, I like him) ) Carla Bruni, Jane Birkin, Gerge Brassens.
The best thing to buy, that is not available here, is a boxed collection called, Les Enfoires that comes out every year or so. It's all the top singers(and a few actors) who tour the country to raise money for the homeless.
This was started by a singer/actor named Calouche, now dead but He'd be proud to see his work carried on for what is called, "The restaurant of the Heart."

SharonG

Hey, I love Johnny Halliday. Right now at work I'm looking at a picture of him on my bulletin board dressed in black leather and he looks great!

cocofromdijon

bien joué mimi ;-) except it was Coluche (Michel Colucci)we all miss him very much! He was not a "real singer" but what we call un comique, so funny, who dared to say what he thought of the gvt and about everything. He applied to be president as well.(and threatened to stop, too appreciated by the french, he could have won. He died in a motorbike accident in 1986 near Grasse. He was 42. :'( He hoped "les restos du coeur" would last a couple of years only....

cigalechanta

Bonjour Coco thanks for correcting my spelling. Yes, he was a good soul. I've read all those things about him. He's smiling up there.

cocofromdijon

Unfortunately I don't think he is smiling cause he can see there are more and more people coming to get food at les restos...

cigalechanta

But he is still the cause for much money to help. If only all countries would do that.

cocofromdijon

let's talk about something lighter now (porr Images2) Yesterday I watched "the Swimming pool" (F.Ozon) with Charlotte Rampling. It took place near Bonnieux and I don't even know if you've been there but I thought of you! (and of all the foforites who know the south of France much better than the French do! ;-)

cigalechanta

Oui, We stop there every year. I saw that film, I liked it alot and it's amazing how many people didn't understand the ending!

Christina

I am not familiar with the singers you name, but my favorites tend to have been around a little longer (like Maxime le Forrestier whom I heard live in a little club near Clichy last summer in Paris). I do like some pop groups like Paris Combo, also. I don't like real slick pop, though, or more easy listening stuff. Anyway, I think the best thing if you don't know any artists is to go to the listening stations in music stores and listen to some CDs, otherwise you can get really burned on buying them and not liking them. I picked up several compilations like that last time I was in Paris that I never would have know about otherwise.

I think both FNAC and Virgin are the best places to shop, without question. They are about the same except sometimes one will have current sales on some discs that the other one won't. I seem to find prices a little better at Virgin, I think, and I like the big store on the Champs-Elysees for selection.

cocofromdijon

With the link I mentioned you can even listen to them before going to Paris! And as it is Fnac website you can be sure you'll find the ones you'd like to buy.

Images2

Thanks so much. I have only bought my CD's at the Virgin store in the past, so I'm looking forward to checking out the FNAC store this time.

I have been listening to the CD's on Amazon.fr, and today have used the FNAC site. It saves alot of time when we're in Paris.

For those of you who love French music, give Enzo Enzo a try. I have 4 of her CD's and just love them!!

Is Chimene Badi popular there? I just listened to both of her CD's and they sound promising.

I also would like to get Roch Voisine's Christmas CD. I ordered it from a secondary seller on Amazon.com 2 months ago, but they never had it. I have a diffucult time finding good French Christmas CD's.

I'm addicted to my French music now and it's all I can listen to.

Thanks again for your help, and yes, I also watched Swimming Pool quite awhile ago and enjoyed it!

cocofromdijon

Chimène Badi is very very popular in France. She was among the finalists of the French pop Idol. They were actually looking for young singers to make a group. But she was not feeling good within a group and was not a good dancer but the producer loved her way of singing. I was not surprised then when I heard her on the radio. (and the group no longer exists)
There is another girl Amel Bent who you could like as well (competiting in another program). Actually the "losers" are doing better than the winners!

I'm so glad to see all of you knowing a few french names. I thought you would remember Maurice Chevalier only ;-)

LarryJ

Try Michel Polnareff. Great singer, composer, arranger and musician. A genuine musical genius.

Larry J

LarryJG62

Take a listen to work of Yann Tiersen, the composer of the soundtrack for "Amelie". I recently got his breakthrough CD "Le Phare" and was impressed by it.

There's also a young chanteuse named Camille that I just learned of. Next time I'm in Paris, I'll probably pick up a copy of her CD. She's got a cute voice.

hanl

A few more names to add to the mix - all sing in French but not all are French:

Two hugely popular French singer-songwriters are Jean-Jacques Goldman (he's written songs for Johnny Hallyday, Celine Dion, Florent Pagny, etc.) and Patrick Obispo
For melodic pop-rock, try Calogéro or Raphaël
Very quirky indie-pop - M
Power ballads - Lara Fabian
Soul/R&B - Corneille (Canadian singer originally from Rwanda), also Amel Bent (mentioned by Coco above)

Other popular singers in France include Marc Lavoine, Zazie, Mylène Farmer, Patricia Kaas, Axele Red ...

cocofromdijon

hanl, it is Pascal Obispo

GregY2

Try the Jean-Jacques Goldman DVD "Un tour ensemble" based on the 2002 tour - a great concert! Pascal Obispo can be very good, if a bit patchy. Francis Cabrel is top quality - particularly "hors saison" as a CD or the DVD of the tour. Likwise Alain Souchon - some really excellent material mixed in with some fairly ordinary stuff - I'd recommend the CD "C'est Déja ça". Florent Pagny is good on CD. More challenging, but still quite good is Bernard Lavilliers. Consider also Maxime Forestier 'Passer ma route' or 'Plutot Guitare' CDs. Paul Personne plays the blues in francais. Lynda Lemay is, I think, Canadian but sings in french and the CD 'Les secret des oiseaux' is OK. Finally, Paris Combo is based in France and sing in french mostly but is around 50% Australian.