Soldat Louis are a
French rock
French rock is a form of rock music produced in France, primarily with lyrics in the French language.
French rock was born as early as mid-1950s, when writer, songwriter and jazz player Boris Vian wrote parody rock songs for Magali Noël or Hen ...
group originally from
Lorient
Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France.
History
Prehistory and classical antiquity
Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...
, who mix the
traditional music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
of
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
with typical
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
instruments -
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
and
acoustic guitar,
drum kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
, etc. - as well as the traditional
bagpipes (
''biniou braz'' in
Breton) and
bombard __NOTOC__
Bombard may refer to the act of carrying out a bombardment. It may also refer to:
Individuals
*Alain Bombard (1924–2005), French biologist, physician and politician; known for crossing the Atlantic on a small boat with no water or food
...
. The two founding members, who are still playing in the group today, are
Renaud Detressan (alias Gary Wicknam) and Serge Danet (alias Soldat Louis, “Soldier Louis”).
History
Soldat Louis's first
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
, ''Première bordée'' appeared in
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
. The band played as
support to the solo singer-songwriter
Renaud
Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (), known as Renaud (), born 11 May 1952, is a French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically 'broken' voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in F ...
, in his series of concerts at the
Zénith in Paris the following year. The first
single from that album, “Du rhum des femmes”, projected them to national exposure, with the single selling 750,000 copies, and the album went
double gold. During the "golden age" of the French
Top 50
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...
, ''
chansons de comptoir'' (bar songs) were à la mode (''"Allez viens boire un p'tit coup à la maison"'' etc.) and Soldat Louis found themselves associated with this musical style.
Their second album was released two years after their first: ''"Pavillon Noir"'', however, did not achieve the same success, and nor did any of the albums that followed. Despite disappearing from the mainstream media, Soldat Louis continued, having changed their line-up (except for the two founding members), to tour concert halls around France, also releasing several more original albums,
best-ofs and
live albums.
Song themes
Although the
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 so ...
"Du Rhum des femmes" saw the group labelled by the French public as composers of ''
chansons à boire'' (drinking songs), the rest of their repertoire, which achieved less success, consists of more delicate songs ("Pavillon Noir"), nostalgic ("Encore un rhum"), humorous ("Martiniquaise"), or even weary ("''T'es mon secret''"). Other lyrics equally reveal the group to be politically engaged, such as the
pamphlet-like “C'est un pays”, celebrating the Breton identity, as well as "Bobby Sands", about the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
member
Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...
, who died in prison on Hunger Strike.
Personnel
* Anthony Masselin (bagpipes/
uilleann pipes/
flute)
* Christophe Sonnic (
drums)
* Gary Wicknam (Renaud Detressan) (
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 strin ...
/
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 withou ...
)
* Hervé Le Guillou (
bass)
* Jean-Paul Barrière (
keyboard
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 ...
)
* Michel Banuls (guitar/vocals)
* Soldat Louis (Serge Danet)(lead guitar/
banjo/lead singer)
Discography
*
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
: ''Première Bordée'' (
Déclic -
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 Entertainme ...
}
*
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
: ''Pavillon Noir'' (
Déclic -
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 Entertainme ...
)
*
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
: ''Auprès de ma Bande'' (
Déclic -
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 Entertainme ...
)
*
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
: ''Le Meilleur de Soldat Louis : C'est un pays'' (
Déclic -
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 Entertainme ...
)
*
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
: ''En Vrai'' (
Déclic -
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 Entertainme ...
)
*
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
: ''Bienvenue à Bord'' (
Déclic -
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 Entertainme ...
)
*
2002 : ''En vrai 2 vrai'' (
Créon Music -
EMI Music)
*
2003 : ''Escale sur la Planète'' (
Créon Music -
EMI Music)
*
2006 : ''Sales Gosses'' (
Atlantik -
Aztec Music)
*
2007 : ''Itinéraire'' (best-of
Aztec Music)
*
2009 : ''Happy... Bordée 20 ans'' (
Coop Breizh
Coop Breizh is a Breton cultural company founded in 1957 by Kendalc'h confederation, based in Spézet, Brittany, France. Specialized in the production, the publishing and the literary and musical distribution, it propose articles related to Breton ...
)
*
2011 : ''V.I.P. : Very Intimes Poteaux'' (
Coop Breizh
Coop Breizh is a Breton cultural company founded in 1957 by Kendalc'h confederation, based in Spézet, Brittany, France. Specialized in the production, the publishing and the literary and musical distribution, it propose articles related to Breton ...
)
*
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
: ''Kingdom Tavern'' (
Coop Breizh
Coop Breizh is a Breton cultural company founded in 1957 by Kendalc'h confederation, based in Spézet, Brittany, France. Specialized in the production, the publishing and the literary and musical distribution, it propose articles related to Breton ...
)
External links
Official site(
French)
{{Authority control
Breton musical groups
French rock music groups