French popular music is a

music of France In France, music reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of classical music, France has produced several prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson and cabaret style. The earliest known ...

belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and mostly distributed commercially. It stands in contrast to

French classical music French classical music began with the sacred music of the Roman Catholic Church, with written records predating the reign of Charlemagne. It includes all of the major genres of sacred and secular, instrumental and vocal music. French classical st ...

, which historically was the music of elites or the upper strata of society, and traditional

French folk music As Europe experienced a wave of roots revivals in the 1950s and 1960s, France found its regional culture reviving traditional music. Brittany, Limousin, Gascony, Corsica and Auvergne were among the regions that experienced a notable resurgence ...

which was shared non-commercially. It is sometimes abbreviated to French pop music, although

French pop music French pop music is pop music sung in the French language. It is usually performed by singers from France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, or any of the other francophone areas of the world. The target audience is the francophone market (primaril ...

is more often used for a narrower branch of popular music. The late 19th century saw the dawn of the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

when

Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the ''Belle Époque''. Biography Born in Paris into a poor family as Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, Guilbert be ...

was a major star. The era lasted through to the 1930s and saw the likes of

Félix Mayol Félix Mayol (18 November 1872 – 26 October 1941) was a French singer and entertainer. Career Mayol was born in Toulon, France. His parents, amateur singers and actors, arranged for Felix to make his debut stage at six years of age. In 1895, ...

Lucienne Boyer Lucienne Boyer (18 August 1901 – 6 December 1983) was a French diseuseMansfield News Journal 9 November 1934 pg. 20 and singer, best known for her song " Parlez-moi d'amour". Her impresario was Bruno Coquatrix. Early career Born as Émilienne-H ...

Marie-Louise Damien Marie-Louise Damien (born Louise Marie Damien; 5 December 1889 – 30 January 1978), better known by the stage name Damia, was a French singer and actress. Early life Louise Marie Damien was born on 5 December 1889 to Marie Joséphine Louise (n ...

Marie Dubas Marie Dubas (3 September 1894 – 21 February 1972) was a French music-hall singer, diseuse and comedian. Biography Born in Paris, France, Marie Dubas began her career as a stage actress but became famous as a singer. Using the great Yvette Guilb ...

Fréhel Fréhel (; born Marguerite Boulc'h; 13 July 1891 – 3 February 1951) was a French singer and actress. Biography Born in Paris to a poor and dysfunctional Breton family, Marguerite Boulc'h was a child left to a life on the streets in the sordid ...

Georges Guibourg Georges Guibourg (June 3, 1891 – January 8, 1970) was a French singer, author, writer, playwright, and actor, George Guibourg, alias ''Georgius'', alias ''Theodore Crapulet'', was one of the most popular and versatile performers in Paris for mo ...

Tino Rossi Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...

Jean Sablon Jean Sablon (Nogent-sur-Marne 25 March 1906 – Cannes 24 February 1994) was a French singer, songwriter, composer and actor. He was one of the first French singers to immerse himself in jazz. The man behind several songs by big French and Amer ...

Charles Trenet Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics to nearly a thousand songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These include ...

and

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", "Louise", " Mimi", and "Thank Hea ...

. French popular music in the 20th century includedSweeney, Regina M. (2001). ''Singing Our Way to Victory: French Cultural Politics and Music During the Great War'', Wesleyan University Press. p. 23. .

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

music by the likes of

Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Pia ...

as well as

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and a ...

and the more art-house musicians like

Brigitte Fontaine Brigitte Fontaine, (born 24 June 1939) is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Mich ...

. The 60's brought the wave of Ye-Ye with such legends as Françoise Hardy, Serge Spanish

Zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...

s and Italian operettas, French songs are nevertheless today still part of a dynamic French social movement which has for centuries – since the

French revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

– moved audiences with elegant and often poetic lyrics combined with realism around social themes, spirituality and love. The most widely recognized songs such as "Non, je ne regrette rien", "Les feuilles mortes" or

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

's "Ne me quitte pas" have successors in diverse genres such as French electronic music, pop or rap. However the chanson genre remains popular and there are even competitions such as ''Vive la reprise''. Among the modern followers of chanson, we find

Pierre Bachelet Pierre Bachelet (25 May 1944 – 15 February 2005) was a French singer-songwriter and film score composer. He was also known as Andrew Bascon. He died of lung cancer in 2005. Personal life Pierre Bachelet was born on 25 May 1944 in the 12th ...

or Paloma Berganza; as well as some fusion versions like

Estrella Morente Estrella Morente (Estrella de la Aurora Morente Carbonell) is a Spanish flamenco singer. She was born on 14 August 1980 in Las Gabias, Granada in southern Spain. She is the daughter of flamenco singer Enrique Morente and dancer Aurora Carbonell. ...

's version of "Ne me quitte pas".

References

Further reading