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french new wave.....
- Thread starter losthobos
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M
maugein96
Guest
Hi Terry,
Missed these when I was on holiday, and I think I get it.
From the late 50s onwards various bands appeared in the very north of France, where the people are known as Ch'Ti, and some of them sang and played satirical stuff about how bad their lot was compared with their richer cousins in Paris.
Album covers would often feature slag heaps in the background, and the overcrowded miners' housing in the towns and villages of the area. The titles of the tunes would often allude to such things as the "Black mountains" , and "Songs from the High North". Later on it got a bit more political, and there was what appeared to we non French types as downright put downs of the Parisian set.
As I come from the same kind of background as the Ch'Ti I naturally took an interest, but you'd need to live there to work out the subtleties of the humour, which is lost in the songs sung in their "pitmatic" dialect. My grandfather had a brother who went over to work in the mines there, but came back after several years, as his South African wife couldn't hack living in a house full of coal dust. Apparently the money was better, but housing conditions were worse than they were here. He brought a few accordion records back for my grandfather, and we used to enjoy listening to them until an uncle of mine sat on a pile of them and just about broke the lot. Fortunately my favourite tracks, all by the Belgian, Oscar Denys, were later released on a CD, and I still have it.
To this day the Ch'Ti still tend to play the unfashionable three voice musette (probably out of contempt for what goes on in Paris), and continue to snub everything from the south.
I won't bother posting any of the material concerned, as IMHO it would be a total waste of time. The music is pretty average, and the songs are unintelligible unless you are a Ch'ti, or maybe a Flamand.
If you look up "Raoul de Godewaersvelde" or "Edmond Taniere" on YT you'll see what I'm talking about.
Missed these when I was on holiday, and I think I get it.
From the late 50s onwards various bands appeared in the very north of France, where the people are known as Ch'Ti, and some of them sang and played satirical stuff about how bad their lot was compared with their richer cousins in Paris.
Album covers would often feature slag heaps in the background, and the overcrowded miners' housing in the towns and villages of the area. The titles of the tunes would often allude to such things as the "Black mountains" , and "Songs from the High North". Later on it got a bit more political, and there was what appeared to we non French types as downright put downs of the Parisian set.
As I come from the same kind of background as the Ch'Ti I naturally took an interest, but you'd need to live there to work out the subtleties of the humour, which is lost in the songs sung in their "pitmatic" dialect. My grandfather had a brother who went over to work in the mines there, but came back after several years, as his South African wife couldn't hack living in a house full of coal dust. Apparently the money was better, but housing conditions were worse than they were here. He brought a few accordion records back for my grandfather, and we used to enjoy listening to them until an uncle of mine sat on a pile of them and just about broke the lot. Fortunately my favourite tracks, all by the Belgian, Oscar Denys, were later released on a CD, and I still have it.
To this day the Ch'Ti still tend to play the unfashionable three voice musette (probably out of contempt for what goes on in Paris), and continue to snub everything from the south.
I won't bother posting any of the material concerned, as IMHO it would be a total waste of time. The music is pretty average, and the songs are unintelligible unless you are a Ch'ti, or maybe a Flamand.
If you look up "Raoul de Godewaersvelde" or "Edmond Taniere" on YT you'll see what I'm talking about.
M
maugein96
Guest
Missed it the first time, but I've known I that I am famous for many years now. There's a chance I could be related to the Johnnie Walker of whisky fame, as my own family lived in the same area as he did, but Walker is a hellish common name as you know.
One of my Polish work colleagues was a bass player and he used to sing "Go, Johnny Walker!" when he saw me. I had never heard of the tune and had to look it up. As far as I can remember it was a rock and roll type tune, but I've now forgotten who the guy was and what he stood for. Every time I look it up it takes me to some Bollywood type character, so I'm none the wiser.
One of my Polish work colleagues was a bass player and he used to sing "Go, Johnny Walker!" when he saw me. I had never heard of the tune and had to look it up. As far as I can remember it was a rock and roll type tune, but I've now forgotten who the guy was and what he stood for. Every time I look it up it takes me to some Bollywood type character, so I'm none the wiser.
xocd
Active member
losthobos post_id=59282 time=1526536201 user_id=729 said:
Thank you very much for these!
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