Seven and a half months after its inauguration and opening to the public, the Cité internationale de la langue française unveils its very first exhibition: This song reminds me of us. Worldwide success of French-speaking popular music. The exhibition opened on Wednesday June 19, for more than six months, until January 5, 2025. The song, vector of a thousand and one emotions, forms a dream setting for making a language travel across the seas and the borders. And sometimes, arouse in the listener the desire to discover the language in which it was written.
It is with this in mind that Bertrand Dicale, journalist and specialist in French song, host of the column These songs which make the news on FranceInfo radio, thought up and designed the exhibition of which he is the curator. With an illustrious phrase from Jacques Prévert, lyricist of Dead leaves, as a title. Tuesday June 18, during a presentation to the press, he remembered: “A few years ago, the Alliances françaises asked their students this question: where does your desire for French come from? First reason, literature. Second, cinema. Third, music, songs. Professional opportunities, general culture, working in commerce or tourism, came fourth, after cultural consumption. In this, we are a fairly rare case.
The musical immersion offered to us, non-chronological, is divided into five themes: cabaret; the street, its resistance and its struggles; the music hall; the club at the forefront of pop news; and finally the dance hall with all these songs that involve the body, sensuality… That’s five rooms covering almost 400 square meters. For each theme, some targeted examples of artists and titles, costumes, musical instruments, sound in abundance (on headphones, we hear montages of different versions of the songs) and videos, reproductions of scores and historical manuscripts… Many singers and songs are presented in panels having the appearance of open compartments, full of information, some essential, others more anecdotal, “for monomaniacs” according to Bertrand Dicale, to explore “by getting down on all fours if you don’t want to miss anything” ! The exhibition at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts was produced with the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN). Several pieces and documents were loaned by Sacem and by the artists’ rights holders.
The exhibition This song reminds me of us was not designed to be exhaustive. All the big names in this popular art are not there, far from it, because not all of them have been exported in original versions beyond the French-speaking world. And even for those who succeeded, a drastic choice was made, which will probably cause some disappointment. On the other hand, Bertrand Dicale pointed out the important role played by female artists of different generations to represent French-speaking culture throughout the world, at the risk, once again, of surprising, or even raising eyebrows.
This is the angle that the curator of the exhibition chose, and the one that must be kept in mind throughout the visit: it is not a question of celebrating the generations of poets who will have embodied the influence of French and Francophone culture… in the eyes of French speakers. So don’t look for Georges Brassens or Jacques Brel, you won’t find them. It is about shining the spotlight on artists who have experienced significant success, sometimes unexpected, unhoped for, on one or more of the five continents, from China to Russia, via Brazil. Success in terms of record sales in the 20th century, success in terms of number of views and online listenings in the 21st century. With, icing on the cake, a power of inspiration, of influence, of the artist in the seduced countries.
The first face that greets us at the entrance to the course is that of the singer Aya Nakamura, a huge export star, and nevertheless the victim of an intense controversy last March, when her name was circulated among the artists expected to perform. to produce – and in this case to sing Édith Piaf – at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games. The outcry came particularly from the far right. The commune of Villers-Cotterêts being administered by the National Rally, we will find the mischievous wink. Tuesday June 18, at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, Bertrand Dicale defended with as much energy as serenity the Franco-Malian reggaeton diva, predicting with humor a “medal of the Legion of Honor within ten or fifteen years”.
Before Aya Nakamura, other French-speaking singing stars had a strong impact on people outside our borders. This is the case of Françoise Hardy, a true icon of pop elegance in the 60s, adored by many Anglo-Saxon artists including Mick Jagger, and celebrated in the exhibition a few days after her death on June 11. An entire panel is dedicated to her, enriched by one of her stage outfits dating from 1965, signed Courrèges, and which has retained two period stains… Opposite her, another panel recalls the cross-border success of the Négresses vertes at the turning point from the 1980s and 90s. This group, as well as Françoise Hardy, are in the spotlight in the room dedicated to the theme “The club, at the forefront of pop news”, which welcomes us with the Belgian Stromae. “It’s quite simply these moments when French-language artists are ultra-trendy, they are absolute trendiness!” enthuses Bertrand Dicale.
Among the artists who emerged earlier in the 20th century, distributed in the “Cabaret” and “Music-hall” rooms, some legends are present, from Maurice Chevalier, who made a career in Hollywood, to Charles Aznavour, another singer and actor renowned throughout the world, through Édith Piaf, author of the lyrics of La vie en rose And Ode to love. As for old songs highlighted, we find It is so good (1947), with music by Henri Betti and lyrics by André Hornez, who traveled from cabaret to festival before crossing the Atlantic. Bertrand Dicale having had to make choices, he explained that he opted for this title at the expense of The sea by Charles Trenet, a song launched at the same time and with an equally universal journey…
For his part, Henri Salvador is honored for his song In my island which enjoyed great success in Brazil at the end of the 1950s. Lovers of the song, and certain Brazilian artists, cite this title among the various influences of bossa nova, although the musical movement emerged a few years before the arrival of the song in Brazil. If there was any influence, it was at the level of style, of expressiveness: during a concert in Paris, the singer João Gilberto, emblematic interpreter of the movement, cited Henri Salvador among the three singers he considered to be his sources of inspiration.
Throughout the different themes covered in the exhibition, one constant strikes the visitor: women are present in force. To do this, the curator confides that he left aside his personal tastes and preferences, keen to pay tribute to all those who have managed to make the French language resonate on all continents, refusing to make a distinction between French song and variety.
Among these many “ambassadors”, include, in addition to Édith Piaf, Françoise Hardy and Aya Nakamura, Juliette Gréco, the absolute icon, whose beautiful black stage dress is on display. There is Line Renaud who triumphed as leader of the show in Las Vegas. There is Celine Dion, whose album Two, written and composed by Jean-Jacques Goldman, enjoyed immense international success in the mid-90s. A small mixing desk allows you to separate the different tracks of his global hit For you to love me again… There is also Mireille Mathieu, very famous in Russia and China, the late Marie Laforêt for whom an unconditional fan has lent numerous magazine covers from different countries…
We also find Patricia Kaas, an essential voice of French variety between the end of the 80s and the 90s, who performed across the globe. Finally, there is Zaz and his 5 million albums sold worldwide, among the representatives of more recent generations. Bertrand Dicale has forged his own thesis on the significant presence of French-speaking female artists on the international scene. “I had the feeling that women were doing the job, whereas male artists were more inclined to want to construct a work…”
“It’s a song that resembles us. Worldwide success of French-speaking popular music”, at the Cité internationale de la langue française, Château de Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne). Since June 19, 2024, until January 5, 2025. Single price: €5 (usual freebies apply)