La Tordue (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for "The Twisted") was a popular musical group from

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

that existed from 1989 to 2003.

History

Formation and early performances

French writer and artist Benoît Morel was working as a designer at publishing house Éditions Gallimard in Paris's Belleville quarter when he met Pierre Payan, a multi-instrumentalist who was in need of lyrics. Morel had already written lyrics for neo-realist group Les Têtes Raides, and discovered that he and Payan shared an interest in 'literary’ music such as the work of Georges Brassens,

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...

's song interpretations of the poetry of

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...

Les Frères Jacques Les Frères Jacques were a French vocal quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In cl ...

' performances of the poems of

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

, and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

singer-songwriter

Gaston Couté Gaston Couté (23 September 1880 – 28 June 1911) was a French poet and singer, known for his pacifist and anarchist texts. Biography Couté was the son of a miller and went to the lycée Pothier in Orléans, but left before taking the baccal ...

. The two were soon joined by Eric "Fil" Philippon, and began playing out in October 1990 with the release of a self-financed 10" vinyl EP and as openers for Les Têtes Raides. By 1992 La Tordue were headlining gigs that featured a rotation of many instruments, including concertina,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

and

saucepan Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...

s. This versatility of instrumentation allowed the band to play a variety of venues from informal gigs on the street to large festivals, and soon La Tordue found themselves headed on a 400-date tour. In 1993, they opened the

Transmusicales Les Rencontres Trans Musicales (generally referred to as ''Les Transmusicales de Rennes'') is a music festival that lasts for 3 or 4 days. It is held annually in December. The festival takes place in Rennes, Brittany, France. Since the festival's b ...

rock festival in Morel's hometown of

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. The following year they were selected by FAIR (Fonds d'Aide à l'Initiative Rock) and went on to win the Tremplin du Chorus des Halles competition, following this up with the Grand Prix du Sentier des Halles and the Prix du Coup de Cœur Francophone. In June 1994 they performed at the Music Festival of Romania, a month later they were guests at the Francofolies festival in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

Recording and later years

For five years La Tordue played without releasing an album. Their 1995 debut release, ''Les Choses de Rien'' sold 3,000 copies in less than three months without any publicity. Their second album, 1997's ''T'es Fou'', was awarded the prestigious Académie Charles Cros

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

. A long tour followed, including a two weeks in Eastern Europe and a three-week stint at L'Européen in Paris. La Tordue's third album, 2000's ''Le Vent t'Invite'' ("The Wind Invites You") broke through with French music fans, establishing the group as one of the most interesting acts on the French Nouvelle Chanson scene. In their first decade as a band, La Tordue had played over 1,000 concerts and sold some 150,000 albums. For the band's tenth anniversary, they released the live album ''En Vie'' and embarked on a 40-stop mini-tour with the addition of a fourth member,

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Mathieu Morel. In late 2002,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

released La Tordue's

major label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

debut, ''Champ Libre'' ("Open Field"). More slickly produced, the album mixed

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

with La Tordue's more traditionally French ''chanson'' style. The album's final track, ''Le Pétrin'', is a protest against France's "double punishment" law that deports

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from France after they have served a prison sentence. The track was sung in a dozen foreign languages by numerous artists such as

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

, Lo’Jo Triban, Magyd Cherfi of Zebda,

Sergent Garcia Sergent Garcia is the band formed around French singer ''Bruno Garcia'' (1964, France) who had previously been the guitarist of punk band Ludwig Von 88. Sergent Garcia’s music is a mixture of cumbia, reggae, salsa, Ragga, ragamuffin, rock and ...

Samy Birnbach Minimal Compact is an Israeli rock band associated with the post-punk and indie rock movement of the 1980s. Biography Between its foundation in 1980 and its dissolution seven years later, Minimal Compact played an important role in the Europea ...

, Dezoriental, Danyel Waro, and the

Tuvan throat singing Tuvan throat singing, the main technique of which is known as ''khoomei'' ( tyv, хөөмей, xöömej, mn, хөөмий; ᠬᠦᠭᠡᠮᠡᠢ, khöömii, russian: хоомей, Chinese: 呼麦, pinyin: ''hūmài''), includes a type of overto ...

Yat Kha Yat-Kha is a band from Tuva, led by vocalist/guitarist Albert Kuvezin. Their music is a mixture of Tuvan traditional music and rock, featuring Kuvezin's distinctive ''kargyraa'' throat singing style, the '' kanzat kargyraa''. Biography Yat-Kha w ...

. Their track "René Bouteille" was also included in the 2002 compilation 'Cuisine Non-stop' on

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

's Luaka Bop label. La Tordue disbanded in 2003. Benoît Morel continued his work as an illustrator and went on to record a solo album, ''Félin pour l’Autre'', released in 2007.

Personnel

* Benoît Morel:

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Eric '"Fil" Philippon:

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, melodica,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

toothbrush A toothbrush is an oral hygiene tool used to clean the teeth, gums, and tongue. It consists of a head of tightly clustered bristles, atop of which toothpaste can be applied, mounted on a handle which facilitates the cleaning of hard-to-reach are ...

, vocals * Pierre Payan:

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, guitar,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, kalimba,

, melodica,

jug A jug is a type of container commonly used to hold liquids. It has an opening, sometimes narrow, from which to pour or drink, and has a handle, and often a pouring lip. Jugs throughout history have been made of metal, and ceramic, or glass, and ...

, vocals * Mathieu Morel:

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Discography

Albums

* ''Les choses de rien'' (Moby Dick, 1995) * ''T'es fou'' (Moby Dick, 1997) * ''Le vent t'invite'' (M Label, 2000) * ''En vie'' (live album, 2001) * ''Champ libre'' (

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

, 2002)

Singles and EPs

* ''Le Vent La Mer'' 10" EP (self-released, 1991) * "Sur Le Pressoir" b/w "Ton Cul"/"Hasta Luego" CD single (Moby Dick, 1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tordue, La Musical groups from Paris