Older style French musette CD

[maugein96]

For anybody looking to hear the older chanson and French musette instrumental styles, and maybe add one or two tunes to their repertoire, here is a link to an eBay listing which features a CD.

Unlike most of the bargain offerings with various misleading titles such as French Cafe music, where the players with fabricated French and Italian sounding names are actually from eastern Europe, the recordings on this CD are by genuine old French and Belgian players, and the content covers a variety of styles that were prevalent in the years between the two World wars.

If you are looking for modern French accordion music as played by the likes of Richard Galliano or Ludovic Beier, this may not be for you, but for £3.98 GBP including postage to the UK, this will give you a true flavour of France in the days when the accordion was top of the game in the cafe entertainment scene.

The seller in the link does not ship to destinations outside of the UK, but the CD is available on other eBay listings with worldwide shipping.

I have no commercial interest in this listing and the seller is unknown to me.

To my absolute surprise Ive decided to place an order for this, the first CD Ive bought in years, as there are well over 20 accordionists featured on it. Dont know what the sound quality is like, as some of those tracks are very old, going back to the 1930s. Again, I would warn any potential buyer to be aware that some of these tunes tended to be a bit rough and ready, but that was consistent with the genre at the time. One or two of the accordionists were world class, others perhaps well short of that, but it is a very varied mix of talents and styles nevertheless.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Various-...462396&hash=item463c090689:g:lgcAAOSw9Z1aanVw

 

[TomBR]

I find I already have that one!
Yes, all sorts of stuff and very enjoyable.
Tom

 

[maugein96]

As I say I haven't really been looking for a while. There were a lot of CDs like that on the go maybe about 30 years ago (were CDs invented then?), and I was a bit surprised when I saw it.

Glad you enjoyed it. I have heard most of the tracks before, but some are new to me.

 

[JeffJetton]

That album is also available for free listening on Spotify (here in the States, at least).

 

[maugein96]

Thanks Jeff.

I wasn't aware of that, and hopefully you've maybe saved some people a few bucks.

I was always wary of using Spotify, as I was given the information that their site used to be regularly hacked by people who were losing royalties due to Spotify being a free site. Whether that was in fact true I'll probably never know, but my daughter used to get my laptops into some awful muddles when she was using it regularly, maybe 10 years ago or more.

I have used payware sites where the downloads are cheaper than buying the CD, but in these days of better web security I might just have a look at Spotify myself. It used to be run from a base in Sweden, so the content should be available outside of the US, and I totally forgot that it existed until you mentioned it.

Thanks again.

 

[JeffJetton]

You're welcome!

Spotify would've been brand-spanking new 10 years ago. I wonder if what you're remembering may be those things like Napster, eMule, Bittorrent, etc., where people would freely share downloadable music files with other people. A much more "black market" sort of thing where there was--and still is--a danger that the file you're downloading is malware.

With a service like Spotify, everything is streamed on-the-fly from a central, curated source. More like radio. You're not really downloading an audio file to play later from some random person who could be anywhere.

Also, Spotify does pay royalties to the copyright holders. Less than they would get with radio play, I believe, and certainly less than a physical purchase would get them, but still... it's legal and legit.

 

[maugein96]

Thanks for that clarification, Jeff. I dare say she was browsing other sites as well, but Spotify got the blame. She now has her own laptop in her own house and I haven't had any trouble since she left.

Kids!!!

 

[maugein96]

UPDATE:-

Just listened to this CD today and it's definitely not what I thought it was. Please do yourselves a favour and try to find a media website where you can hear it free, as unless you're well into the history of French musette in Paris then this will NOT be for you.

Some of the recordings are frankly awful, and IMHO there are probably less than 10 of the tracks that are worth listening to. I've never heard a worse compilation of the genre in my life, and I've heard a few terrible efforts.

Whilst it may be of some interest to hear what the old musette days sounded like, there are far better efforts than this one doing the rounds.

Don't know where that big 10lb hammer I keep talking about has gone, so somebody's going to get the CD for Xmas. Probably the guy who drives the big dustbin lorry/garbage truck!

Two morals to consider :- Never recommend anything before you've actually heard it, and never buy anything I recommend on here.

I want to post nasty swear words on here about it, as I don't think the above comments are adequate!

Update to the update:- Garbage man has got Xmas early! Wouldn't give this houseroom! Sorry if I've caused anybody to waste their money, or to anybody who actually likes the content of the CD.

 

[maugein96]

Also, Spotify does pay royalties to the copyright holders. Less than they would get with radio play, I believe, and certainly less than a physical purchase would get them, but still... its legal and legit.

Jeff,

Wish Id waited for the excitement to die down before recommending that CD, as it wouldnt have even been worth wasting electricity listening to it free on Spotify.

Ive recently signed up to Spotify and there is quite a lot of interesting stuff on there. However, I couldnt find my favourite CD on there, so maybe its only available your side. MInd you Im still with the free version where people younger than some of my grandkids keep singing and dancing trying to promote whatever it is theyre selling in those 15 second pop-up adverts.

In recent times French musette has become a decided niche, even in France, so a lot of my favourite stuff isnt on there, but there is also a lot of stuff I hadnt previously heard.

Thanks for giving me the confidence to trust Spotify.

Regards,

John W.

 

[JeffJetton]

Sorry to hear you didnt wind up liking the CD. From what I skimmed through it seemed okay to me. In fact many of the tracks were ones that I already had on other compilations. Not the best recording quality (these are old recordings, after all), but the performances came though fine.

Now if youre looking for a good compilation of very well-recorded and well-played accordion music, I suggest this one if you can find it:

https://www.amazon.com/Accordion-Worlds-Greatest-Virtuosos-Masterpieces/dp/B0037Z3DBS

Not exclusively one style though. The first disc is largely classical, but then it gets into Italian and Latin favorites, etc. A few good French tunes though (Indifference, Reveil Musette). A lot of bang for the buck!

 

[maugein96]

Thanks Jeff,

I saw that Gorni Kramer featured in the set. He played a strange looking button accordion with 4 rows of treble with no basses apparent, unless they were flush with the case on the bass side. One or two old Italian players had those. Classical has never been my bag, but if I can pick the set up cheap I'll consider it.

You're right about the French CD. A lot of people like the music from that era, but as you say those recordings are pretty old. I find those old compilations are usually OK, but I just didn't like that one.

My favourite player ever has to be Oscar Denys, a Belgian player from Abele, which sits right on the border with France. He has an album on Spotify. Players like him, and others from that general area were my inspiration. His son, Guy Denys, is a current player, although despite holding various accordion championship awards, IMHO does not have the finesse which his father had.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Just ordered the above CDs. £11 incl delivery here in UK seems very good for a new 5 CD box set. Thanks Jeff for your rec.