La langue française can be heard around the world with la Francophonie extending to les quartes coins du monde (the four corners of the world). This allows for some unique music that comes from les pays francophones (French speaking countries) outside of France: Jacques Brel, Stromae, Bernard Adamus, and Chantal Archambault to name a few.

Photo by rs-foto – Own work. Licnesned under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Outside of la Francophonie, la langue française draws people to it for its ties to the unique French culture. Sometimes non-native French speakers even break into the French music scene by singing les tubes en français (hit songs in French). One of my favorite examples of non-native speakers becoming famous en France is MIKA, especially his song Elle me dit danse.

Although it makes sense for les pays (the countries) close to France to chanter en français (sing in French), it can be surprising how far away from France you can hear original songs being sung en français by non-native speakers.

One such group is Monsieur Periné, a jazz group de la Colombie (from Colombia) that takes more than its name from la langue de Molière (the language of Molière, French idiom referring to the French langauge).

Le groupe (the group) started in 2007 when la voix princiaple (the main singer), Catalina García, met with a few musicians dans un parc (in a parc). They started playing music together and soon after came up with the idea of making their hobby a career. Their music has since evolved and they now play shows around the world and have become successful with their unique blend of le jazz manouche, swing, and pop music.

Most of the songs du groupe are en espagnol (in Spanish), but they do occasionally chanter en français. En passant (incidentally), if you are interested in learning Spanish and want to understand their other songs, be sure to check out Transparent Language’s Spanish blog as well!

Leur chanson (their song), Cou-Cou is entirely in French and will get stuck in your head, having you singing along as soon as it starts. Les paroles (the lyrics) are easy to understand and la musique will make you think of sitting au café à Paris (at a café in Paris)!

Voici la chanson avec une traduction anglaise :

Coucou, les rosiers fleurissent
Coucou, les rameaux verdissent
Coucou, voici le printemps
Coucou, le beau soleil brille
Coucou, et les yeux des filles

Hello, the rose bushes bloom
Hello, the branches turn green
Hello, here’s Spring
Hello, the beautiful sun shines
Hello, and the eyes of the girls

Coucou, en font tout autant
Que faites-vous, que faites-vous encore à sommeiller
Eveillez-vous, Eveillez-vous, le monde est transformé

Hello, they do the same thing
What are you doing, what are you doing still sleeping
Wake up, Wake up, the world has changed

Coucou, ouvrez moi bien vite
Coucou, mon cœur vous invite
Coucou, il faut nous aimer

Hello, open up to me real quick
Hello, my heart is inviting you
Hello, we must love each other

Cadillac Cadillac
Coucou bonjour mon amour
Cadilla dilla dilla
Cadillac Cadillac

Cadillac Cadillac*
Couckoo hello my love
Cadilla dilla dilla
Dadillac Cadillac

Coucou, en font tout autant
Que faites-vous, que faites-vous encore à sommeiller
Éveillez-vous, Éveillez-vous, le monde est transformé

Hello, they do the same thing
What are you doing, what are you doing still sleeping
Wake up, Wake up, the world has changed

Coucou, ouvrez moi bien vite
Coucou, mon cœur vous invite
Coucou, il faut nous aimer

Hello, open up to me real quick
Hello, my heart is inviting you
Hello, we must love each other

*Cadillac, Cadilla, Dilla doesn’t mean anything here and is just used to sing something that sounds nice.