The music of the West Indies has long practiced this kind of game between form and content: here, Jean-Philippe Marthély, one of the singers of Kassav ‘, takes up in 1996 a song recorded for the first time in the early 1970s, a mazurka who advises a boy to be careful when going for a walk in Fort-de-France because the police have heard of a plot and arrest young people.
It is an allusion to the affair of the Martinican anti-colonialist youth organization, of which around twenty activists were arrested for endangering state security and imprisoned before a trial which, in 1964, ended with an acquittal. general. But it is a very dancing song and, like some great classics of West Indian music, it poses political questions.
In the second episode of These songs that make the news airing this weekend, you hear excerpts from:
Jean-Philippe Marthély, If its riveted, 1972 (recording from 1996)
Moune de Rivel, Wé, wé, wé, wé – La Grèv baré mwen, 2000
Henri Garat, La Biguine, 1931
Maurice Alcindor, Social sekirity, 1970
Erick Cossack, Deséré nou de maye, 1982
Kassav ‘, Pa ni pwoblem, 1995
Kolo Barst, February 74, 2008
Ti Malo, Man blow, 2014
Jean-Philippe Marthély, If its riveted, 1972 (1996 recording)
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Remember: during the summer of 2019, La Playlist de Françoise Hardy was a journey through the musical baggage of an author, composer and performer considered to be the arbiter of the elegance of pop in France.
In July and August 2017, we spent Un été en Souchon, during which Alain Souchon guided us on a tasty walk through a lifetime of love for song.
All summer 2016, in the company of Vincent Delerm, we wandered around in La Playlist amoureuse de la chanson, truant exploration of popular heritage. You can also extend the delicacies of this summer column with the French song lover dictionary, co-published by Plon and franceinfo.