Kaya Meikyoku Series 1: Bonjour Chanson?

[Martine]

I hope the next CD in this series will be less "easy listening". I'd love to hear him try his hand (tonsils) at some Jacques Brel...

I don't know what to think about that idea. Though I really like Jacques Brel, till now, I've always been deceived by any remakes of his songs, even in french. Because, for me, Jacques Brel is unique.

Now that I have read your sentence, I imagine Kaya singing my favourite songs of Jacques Brel : "Les bonbons", "Le plat pays", "La quête", "Prière païenne", "Une île", "Le diable", "La valse à mille temps" ... in japonese ^^
Well, if Kaya made remakes of Jacques Bref and if he could convince me with these remakes, I would be really happy and proud. After all, Jacques Brel comes from the same country as me ^^ He is an important person for me.

But sure, I have nothing to do whith Kaya's choice So, we'll see in the next CD which singers he decided to make remakes of ^^

 

[voixdinferno]

Padam Padam... Awesome, Wonderfull, I Love it
It remember me the "nueva ola" in the 70's, 80's, here in latin america, a music with reminicences of Italy, France and Spain.

 

[Geisha]

I don't know what to think about that idea. Though I really like Jacques Brel, till now, I've always been deceived by any remakes of his songs, even in french. Because, for me, Jacques Brel is unique.

Now that I have read your sentence, I imagine Kaya singing my favourite songs of Jacques Brel : "Les bonbons", "Le plat pays", "La quête", "Prière païenne", "Une île", "Le diable", "La valse à mille temps" ... in japonese ^^
Well, if Kaya made remakes of Jacques Bref and if he could convince me with these remakes, I would be really happy and proud. After all, Jacques Brel comes from the same country as me ^^ He is an important person for me.

Of course, Jacques Brel is unique, but I think Marc Almond did well with his Brel cover album and I also like the cover of "La Mort" by David Bowie (but then I'm not French or Belgian… ). I'd love to hear Kaya sing something like "Tango Funébre". It takes a strong, passionate voice to pull it off and I think he could do it.

 

[MissUMana]

I hope the next CD in this series will be less "easy listening". I'd love to hear him try his hand (tonsils) at some Jacques Brel...

I can't think of 2 people being more different than Kaya and Jacques Brel, so I can't begin to imagine what the result would sound like! And, as Tiny said, no other singer ever did a good job with his songs, probably because they were like his own flesh and blood and can suit nobody else. Even by him, some are rather painful to listen to, almost obscenely expressive.

Strangely enough, Edith Piaf's songs, in many ways as intricately related to her as Jacques Brel's to him, have been very nicely appropriated by other singers like Mireille Mathieu, who is so different from Piaf!

 

[TheBloodyBishi]

Well, since I am slow, I just got mine today. (actually, my mailman hates when I order a package express and I'm not here to sign for it...And I'm not, since I'm usually at work, so...Airmail from now on.)

Love the album. I was a little skeptical; but since I'm the type who buys in blind faith--I did. Blind faith has been rewarded! I can see it now, I'm going to go around singing French songs in Japanese at work. Can you imagine the looks?

I love the packaging. Can't put my finger on it, but it's brilliant. I want to do something with the sticker...

 

[La dix Croix]

someone can scan it? (this time i've not bought kaya's release -.- what a pity, i like a lot)

 

[flowersofnight]

By the way, since we've got some French people in the thread: it's well known that chansons are mostly the province of gay men in Japan. But is it true in France as well, or are chansons for everyone in France?

 

[MissUMana]

What you call "chanson" (we call it "La chanson française") is popular with everybody here, even though younger people seem to be more and more indifferent to it. Nevertheless, practically everybody can sing "Aux Champs-Elysées", "La vie en rose"and "C'est si bon", and many more because they are all-time classics.

Some singers, though at first generally popular, seem to have been "elected" by gays, like Dalida for example. But those songs and singers are just part of our lives, we grew up hearing them and they're just part of our national identity. They mean almost as much to us as "La Marseillaise" and other patriotic songs, they are a very reliable means of investigating "the French soul", if such a thing exists, ahahahah! They are the cement that keeps us together, and God knows we thrive on divisions!

 

[Amatsu]

it's well known that chansons are mostly the province of gay men in Japan.

Really?!

I wish I knew more about that kind of thing. xD (i.e. japanesepopculture)

 

[Elec]

I guess it's sort of like gay American males idolizing Judy Garland, Liza Minelli, or Dolly Parton.

And Amatsu, I'd hardly call the gay scene in Japan "pop culture" -- I'm not gay but I used to live with a lot of gay people and every - single - person - who knows this detail about me was concerned for my safety and surprised that I'd never been "assaulted" by them. (>_<) Gay culture in Japanese pop culture is really limited to a tiny handful of transexual celebrities and just so many embarrassing stereotypes.


Flowers: I'm glad you mentioned that fact, because I'm curious if there are still fans outside of Japan dead-set on insisting that Kaya isn't gay. I know there were for quite awhile. (Yeah I know it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things but come on)

 

[Manneking]

What you call "chanson" (we call it "La chanson française") is popular with everybody here, even though younger people seem to be more and more indifferent to it. Nevertheless, practically everybody can sing "Aux Champs-Elysées", "La vie en rose"and "C'est si bon", and many more because they are all-time classics.

Some singers, though at first generally popular, seem to have been "elected" by gays, like Dalida for example. But those songs and singers are just part of our lives, we grew up hearing them and they're just part of our national identity. They mean almost as much to us as "La Marseillaise" and other patriotic songs, they are a very reliable means of investigating "the French soul", if such a thing exists, ahahahah! They are the cement that keeps us together, and God knows we thrive on divisions!

Interesting info MissUMana! I have heard a few of the chansons before Kaya's release but I never knew they were as popular as you say XD

Flowers: I'm glad you mentioned that fact, because I'm curious if there are still fans outside of Japan dead-set on insisting that Kaya isn't gay. I know there were for quite awhile. (Yeah I know it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things but come on)

[I was quite sure Kaya said in an interview that he just wanted to love whoever he wanted so I thought he was Bisexual/Pansexual. I can't believe my Gaydar didn't go off XD] But with all seriousness, Sexuality is quite an important concept to him, so fans should at least be aware that he is definitely not heterosexual at the very least.

 

[Geisha]

I can't think of 2 people being more different than Kaya and Jacques Brel, so I can't begin to imagine what the result would sound like! And, as Tiny said, no other singer ever did a good job with his songs, probably because they were like his own flesh and blood and can suit nobody else. Even by him, some are rather painful to listen to, almost obscenely expressive.

I heard that Brel himself was fond of Scott Walker and that Brel's estate endorsed Marc Almond as the greatest living performer of Brel's work. He is also very different (and gay ) but his songs, like Kaya's, often deal with themes similar to Brel, i.e. sex, death and relationships. So I think Kaya could work too.

 

[Martine]

By the way, since we've got some French people in the thread: it's well known that chansons are mostly the province of gay men in Japan. But is it true in France as well, or are chansons for everyone in France?

I wanted to answer to you but I hesitated a lot. And now, I see that you have received some answers. So I am going to change a little my answer ^^
I was first a bit embarrassed with your question for some reasons :
- I am not french but belgian;
- I didn't know what you exactly called "chanson". All songs are "chansons" for me ^^ Music + text are chansons;
- I never heard that japonese gay men prefered what you call "chansons". I admit that I never ask the sexual orientation to the people I meet, so... But it's true that sexual orientation is not important for me. It's a connotation that seems so funny to me. Because, for myself, If I love someone, no matter that person is a girl, a man or both ^^

I agree with the answer of MissUMana. To illustrate that, here is a site with the french charts : http://sites.estvideo.net/hit.parade/
So, you can have a little idea of the music we are listening to. I say "We" though I am not french because I think that it's nearly the same in Belgium (in the french part of Belgium of course, maybe not in flemish part)

I wanted to add an information though. "Aux champs Elysées" was not a french song at the beginning. Everyone knows that song as a french one but, in fact, in 1969, Joe Dassin made a remake of the song "Waterloo road" created by the english group "Jason Crest" in 1968. What is funny is that "Jason Crest" is considered as a psychedelic group
Here is the version of Jason Crest :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WtDQCHE ... re=related
And here you can listened of a version made by the japonese group, "Nine ideas" :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzJwGZRx0cs

And, for those who want, here is "Je te veux" sung by the soprano Jessie Norman :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nQrAPgj ... re=related
I prefer Kaya's version though I think that Jessie Norman has a marvellous voice.
But, I don't know why, I listen to Kaya's version with my heart and not Jessie Norman's one.

 

[K-kun]

I didn't expect that the people who doesn't know anything about French chanson are exist

 

[chrysippo]

I didn't know anything about what is being discussed here!

I didn't now that those french classic/pop music are called chanson (or la chanson française) , or even that they are well accepted by japanese gay community.

I always tought that chanson was "music" or "song" in french, beacuase in portuguese the words 'canção' e 'musica' are the same thing, and is what the french~english dictionary (or even the french~portuguese one) says.

In wikipedia I found this:

A chanson (IPA: [ʃãsɔ̃], French for "song", from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a "chansonnier"; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier(...)In France today "chanson" often refers to the work of more popular singers like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Édith Piaf, Barbara, Léo Ferré, etc. Chanson is distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music by following the rhythm of the French language, rather than that of English, and thus is identifiable as specifically French.

 

[Martine]

I always tought that chanson was "music" or "song" in french, beacuase in portuguese the words 'canção' e 'musica' are the same thing, and is what the french~english dictionary (or even the french~portuguese one) says.

And you are right chrysippo ^^
"Chanson" is only the french word for song. So a music + a text. That's all. And of course, it covers a variety of different forms of expression ^^ In french, Moi dix Mois's songs are called "chanson" ^^ That's why I wondered what the sentence of flowersofnight exactly meant.

 

[K-kun]

But also "chanson" is a genre of French music.

In France today "chanson" often refers to the work of more popular singers like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Édith Piaf, Barbara, Léo Ferré, etc. Chanson is distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music by following the rhythm of the French language, rather than that of English, and thus is identifiable as specifically French.

 

[faith]

K sorry, but I've got to ask...

I thought chansons were a thing of the gay crowd in other foreign countries too (that's like, my only stereotype of them - not that they're sad or x or x or anyhing *lol*).
Not true? Admittedly I was introducted to them through Japan when someone told me the father of all Japanese drag was a "chanson singer" so I had that initial association but....

 

[K-kun]

K sorry, but I've got to ask...

I thought chansons were a thing of the gay crowd in other foreign countries too (that's like, my only stereotype of them - not that they're sad or x or x or anyhing *lol*).
Not true? Admittedly I was introducted to them through Japan when someone told me the father of all Japanese drag was a "chanson singer" so I had that initial association but....

I didn't know that gays and chanson can be connected somehow
The more I read this tread the more shocked I become, because I was absolutely sure that "The French Chanson" is very well known in the whole world (well, not in the whole, of course). And not as French word "chanson" wich means "song", but as a style of French music introduced by so famous artists as Édith Piaf, Mireille Mathieu, Yves Montand, Charles Aznavour and the others.

I'm not sure about the history of "The French Chanson" (we should better ask our French embassador MissUMana), but as I know, it appeared in cabarets at the end of XIX century. And in the XX centuy this style reached pop scene.

 

[Martine]

But also "chanson" is a genre of French music.

It's funny how two versions of Wikipedia (the english one and the french one) give 2 different meanings of the same word
Sorry, but I just saw the 2 versions and it's different ^^

So, what you call "chanson" in this topic, is in fact "chanson rive gauche", better known in the world as "chanson française" (and not "chanson") though the french song doesn't only consists in those few artists. Why "rive gauche" ? Well, because the "chanson rive gauche" (sorry but I prefer this designation) is linked with the left riverbank of the Seine, in Paris.
So K-Kun, sorry but it's only a confusion of terms ^^
I shouldn't cite Mireille Mathieu in that movement but Mireille.

It's true that the artists began to sing and play in cabarets, but not only during the 19th century, in the 20th century too. I think it's like that till the 1960 and the years "yé-yé".

If you are interested by the history of the french song (not only the "chanson rive gauche", I can translate some articles of the encyclopedy "encarta" or resume them. But not today, I have not enough time. Tomorrow, in the evening. So, if you are interested, just give me a sign and it would be a pleasure for me to do that ^^

I'd like to add that I don't think that Kaya used the word "chanson" in the same meaning as you because the song "Je te veux" was first sung in 1903 in Paris. It was an opera or operetta song (I don't really know). And "Les champs-Elysées" from Joe Dassin is from 1969.
So, I think that these 2 songs don't belong to the "chanson rive gauche" or "Chanson française" movement. I hesitate for "Je te veux" because Erik Satie, the composer of the music of "Je te veux" is well known in the cabarets of the left riverbank of the Seine but it's before the movement.