Tag Archives: French music
Third time is charming Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 24, 2017
Over the last few weeks I’ve been sharing some of my favorite French songs with you to help build vocabulary and pronunciation. While the 80’s where the heyday of rich story songs, all the great story songs aren’t from then. This week, a song that goes back a little bit further which many will recognize…
The Best French Music of 2016! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Jan 19, 2017
2016 was a tough year for the music world. We lost a lot of fabulous and groundbreaking artists, but the year also introduced us to some new artists and new songs. Every winter, the popular radio station NRJ (pronounced like énergie, the word for energy) hosts an awards ceremony to honor the year’s top music. Just…
A pink canoe for two? Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 17, 2017
As promised, another “story song” this week to help you with your French. I find that des chansons (songs) – especially ones like this with extended spoken sections – can be very helpful in working on your listening comprehension skills and to model your own pronunciation on. [Parlé:] C’était pas l’année* dernière [Spoken :] It wasn’t…
Music and lyrics Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jan 10, 2017
If you’ve been following my blog posts this past year, you know that I love a good song. And what’s a good song, other than a story set to music? And who doesn’t love a good story? The 1980’s was the heyday of good story-songs and they are a great tool for learning language and…
French Music: Olivia Ruiz Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Nov 15, 2016
In France in 2006, two songs that were constantly on the airwaves came from the album La Femme chocolat by Olivia Ruiz: “J’traine des pieds” and “La Femme chocolat.” I liked them for their musicality and the unique timbre of Ruiz’s voice. You can listen to both songs below: In 2007, Olivia Ruiz won Female Artist…
A little song and dance . . . Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 8, 2016
Musicals are most commonly associated with Broadway and London’s West End, but France has produced it’s share of musicals too. Some of them like Les Misérables have known long-term success around the world, while others are more obscure. And while in the last 20 years France has seen a growing success at home and abroad…
N’ayez pas peur!* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 18, 2016
Next week is Halloween. 25 years ago no one in France had any idea what Halloween was other than an obscure American tradition. Today, Halloween and it’s traditions have been exported around the globe including to France and many people observe it . . . Thanks in no small part to me (or so I…