Gogo was a type of francophone music that was popular in the 1960s in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It accompanied dancing that was characterised by lively, quick and irregular movements of the body and wide gestures of the arms. The words and music were often adapted from contemporary hits of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

from the

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(with or without permission and payment of royalties to the creators or rights-holders of the original music). The dance clubs "boîtes à gogo" that catered to it gave way to

discothèque A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s when the fashion for gogo gave way to disco at the beginning of the 1970s. In 1966, the Quebec singer

Michèle Richard Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically ...

recorded a song titled "Les Boîtes à Gogo", whose accompanying 16mm

Scopitone Scopitone is a type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. Scopitone films were a forerunner of music videos. The 1959 Italian Cinebox/Colorama and Color-Sonics were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time one year before the Scop ...

film illustrates both the dance style and the atmosphere in these clubs. One of the subplots of the 2010 Canadian film ''

Funkytown "Funkytown" is a song by the American disco/funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music gen ...

'' involves how the rise of disco in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

ended the fashion for gogo and the careers of gogo singers. (Duchesne, 2011)

References

*Duchesne, André, "La face cachée de la boule miroir", La Presse (Montreal, Quebec), 29 January 2011, p. CINEMA7 * Fred Dompierre, Jean Kohnen (dir.) "Michèle Richard: la série complète ocumentary film, Montréal: Musimax, 2004.

Sample Recordings

*Manon, "Si vous connaissez quelque chose de pire qu'un vampire" ound disc: analog 45 rpm. Montreal (Quebec): Jupiter, 1967. *Marie-Sylvie "On retourne à l'école" ound disc : analog 45 rpm. Saint-Laurent (Quebec): Élite, 1970 * Cy Cohen, Frank Gérald "Pas une place pour me garer!" ound disc: analog 45 rpm. Sherbrooke (Quebec): Succès Match, 1965 Quebec music Dance music genres