Any recommendations for Parisian music CDs to purchase while in Paris? I'm talking about the music that one would listen to and slip back to wonderful memories of Paris.

Monica

That would be a different type of music for each age group and type of person, from accordeon to hip hop.

Mostly the music we hear in Paris is really, really bad 80s disco (that's what gets played by adults and teens alike at parties in our building). I don't think you want that as a keepsake

Hotel Costes' cds are wonderful.

Maybe I should buy my neighbours a Hotel Costes CD ...

My recommendations are:

Putumayo World Music "Paris"
and my favourite- Putumayo "French Cafe`" This one has Serge Gainsbourg "Marilou Sous la Neige",
Georges Brassens "Je M'Suis Fait Tout Petit", and even Bridgette Bardot "Un Jour Comme un Autre".

I suggest the Les Enfoires, hard to find in the US. These are recordings made every year when the top stars travel across the country to raise money for the homeless and soup kitchns, called Restos of the heart.
The recordibgs are usually a pack of three Cds and has so many well known singers like Johnny Halliday, Patricia Kaas, Roche Vocine, Axel Red, Vanisa Paradis, Francis Cabrel Patrick Bruel, Mimmie Mathy, Fiori, Obispo, Aznavour and too many others to list

Pick up some Serge Gainsbourg (very ahead of his time!) and Dalida. Two of my favourites.

I agree that this depends on your preferences, and if you don't know now what you like or who you want, it's hard to say. A lot of this is available anywhere and probably cheaper at home (like Gainsbourg). I really like Putumayo discs, as suggested, but don't buy that in France, they aren't even a French company, they are American. YOu can easily get those in the US, on Amazon, etc. I don't like Brassens much, for example, and yet some people do and recommend him. I'm actually not that fond of Serge Gainsbourg, either, to be honest.

So, there really isn't much reason to buy music CDs in Paris unless it's something you can't easily buy at home, or something for which there are better selections there. Some French CDs will cost more in the US when they are imported, and I buy some of those, but I know who I like and to look for. If you go into a major music store, like Virgin or FNAC, you'll see the racks of bestsellers, etc., or collections, and maybe you can pick up some compilations you couldn't at home. I got one the last time called Cafe Flore, for example, and it wasn't something you'd find in the US.

What I do buy that is cheaper there and more available than in the US are: Maxime le Forestier, Renaud, Francis Cabrel, or Barbara (which are collections of older recordings). Maxime le Forestier is one of my favorite singers, actually, and I heard him live in a small club in Paris two years ago.

If in doubt, both FNAC and Virgin have listening posts where you can scan the bar code of the records that interest you to listen to them.

Karren Allyson, From Paris to Rio

Diana Krall, Live in Paris

Dexter Gordon, Our Man in Paris

Bud Powell, Blue Note Cafe Paris 1961

OK, probably not what you are looking for but it is great music.

I buy several French CD's each time I go to Paris and save quite a bit over buying them on Amazon.

You can listen to clips of the songs on Virgin or FNAC web sites before you leave and decide what you like.

Here are my favorite artists:

Enzo Enzo!!!
Florent Pagny
Natasha St-Pier
Helene Segara
Patrick Fiori
Isabelle Boulay
Lara Fabian
Chimene Badi
Roch Voisine
Julie Zenatti
and the CD of Notre Dame de Paris!!

Images2 juste pour remettre les pendules à l'heure.

Natasha,Isabelle and Rock are all Canadian, Notre-Dame de Paris is also a Canadian production by Luc Plamondon and Laura is belge not French.

For Julian Clerc fans. He's touring North America next month:


Julien Clerc’s North American tour dates
Montreal, April 5-6
Québec, April 7
D.C., April 10-11
San Francisco, April 12
New York. April 15
www.julienclercusa.com

I've bought a number of CDs from street vendors around Paris. How about Edith Piaf? The last time in Paris I picked up a CD of Danny Kaye recordings for just a few dollars. Okay, so it's not on the top ten list, but I like it.

Augh, that's ok, they still sing beautifully. I knew about Natasha and Isabelle but not about Roch. I love his Christmas albumn!

Do you ever listen to "sur la route" on XM radio? Not the best selections, but it can be enjoyable at times!

Anybody who wants to buy Edith Piaf recordings will find an extremely large selection at the moment (also DVDs) due to the popularity of the movie about her, "La Môme" (US title -- "La Vie en Rose&quot.

good choices jsmith

Florent Pagny's "2" is great if you want a varity of artists. He teams up with Lara Fabian, Cecilia Cara, Pascal Obispo, Patrick Bruel, Isabelle Boulay, Axel Bauer, Natasha St. Pier and others. I'm not to fond of the first selection in English though with David Hallyday, We are the Champions!

The early music ensemble Ultreia plays concerts at the Cluny Museum. I was lucky enough to stumble into one accidentally. Their CDs are available at the museum and I haven't seen them anywhere else.

Of more contemporary singers, I like Sanseverino (well, it's more like I love him), Benabar, Aldebert, Francis Cabrel, Paris Combo, Les Yeux Noirs.

Many of these CDs are available on Amazon, and you can listen to clips to see what you like. If you don't find them there, the French Amazon site has more, and they have clips for some CDs that have no clips available on the US Amazon site. Also true of FNAC on line.