French electronic music is a panorama of

French music ''French music'' may refer to: * Music of France, music of the French people in France ''French music'' may also refer to the music of French-speaking countries: *Music of Quebec, music of the French-Canadians in Canada, most often Québécois or ...

that employs electronic musical instruments and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

music technology Music technology is the study or the use of any device, mechanism, machine or tool by a musician or composer to make or perform music; to compose, notate, playback or record songs or pieces; or to analyze or edit music. History The earli ...

in its production. Notable early French artists and composers in electronic music include Maurice Martenot, the inventor of the

Ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...

in 1928, and

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

, the developer of the musique concrète in 1948. Among the famous contemporary artists include

Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompani ...

, Heldon,

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

, Daft Punk,

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

and M83.

History

Phonautograph (1857)

The earliest known sound recording device was the

phonautograph The phonautograph is the earliest known device for recording sound. Previously, tracings had been obtained of the sound-producing vibratory motions of tuning forks and other objects by physical contact with them, but not of actual sound waves ...

, patented in 1857 by

Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (; 25 April 1817 – 26 April 1879) was a French printer, bookseller and inventor. He invented the earliest known sound recording device, the phonautograph, which was patented in France on 25 March 1858 . ...

Ondes Martenot (1928)

In 1928, the

was invented by Maurice Martenot, who debuted it in Paris. This electronic musical instrument was most famously used in the ''

Turangalîla-Symphonie The ''Turangalîla-Symphonie'' is the only symphony by Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992). It was written for an orchestra of large forces from 1946 to 1948 on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky in his wife's memory for the Boston Symphony Orchestr ...

'' by Olivier Messiaen as well as other works by him. The Ondes Martenot was also used by other composers such as Andre Jolivet, Pierre Boulez,

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

, Charles Koechlin,

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

, Gilles Tremblay and Edgard Varèse.

Musique concrète (1948)

In 1942, the French composer and theoretician

, began his exploration of radiophony when he joined Jacques Copeau and his pupils in the foundation of the Studio d'Essai de la Radiodiffusion Nationale. His work laid the foundations of the Musique concrète. This technique involved editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds."Musique Concrete was created in Paris in 1948 from edited collages of everyday noise" (). The first pieces of ''musique concrète'' in Paris were assembled by him, who went on to collaborate with Pierre Henry. On 5 October 1948, Radiodiffusion Française (RDF) broadcast composer

's ''Etude aux chemins de fer''. This was the first " movement" of ''Cinq études de bruits'', and marked the beginning of studio realizations and musique concrète (or acousmatic art). Schaeffer employed a disk-cutting lathe, four turntables, a four-channel mixer, filters, an echo chamber, and a mobile recording unit. Not long after this, Henry began collaborating with Schaeffer, a partnership that would have profound and lasting effects on the direction of electronic music. Another associate of Schaeffer, Edgard Varèse, began work on '' Déserts'', a work for chamber orchestra and tape. The tape parts were created at Pierre Schaeffer's studio, and were later revised at Columbia University. In 1950, Schaeffer gave the first public (non-broadcast) concert of musique concrète at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. "Schaeffer used a

PA system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

, several turntables, and mixers. Later that same year, Pierre Henry collaborated with Schaeffer on ''Symphonie pour un homme seul'' (1950) the first major work of musique concrete. In Paris in 1951, in what was to become an important worldwide trend, RTF established the first studio for the production of electronic music. Also in 1951, Schaeffer and Henry produced an opera, ''Orpheus'', for concrete sounds and voices. Jarre helsinki 2009

I.R.C.A.M. (1975)

In 1970, the President of France

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...

asked the composer Pierre Boulez to found an institution for research in new forms of music. The '' Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique'' was created under his direction. Since then, IRCAM has been an

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

institute for

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

about music, sound and electro-acoustical art music in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Early electronic and space music (1970s)

In 1969, ''La Cage/Erosmachine'' was a very early electronic music work by

who became famous worldwide with the album ''Oxygene'' in 1976. Among other experimental electronic music we can cite Igor Wakhevitch with ''Hathor'' (1973) and François de Roubaix for the soundtrack of the

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA ( self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...

film ''Antartique'' (1974). " Space music" and "

space disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

" became popular with

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

, ''Magic Fly'' (1977);

Space Art "Space art" (also "astronomical art") is the term for a genre of modern artistic expression that strives to show the wonders of the Universe. Like other genres, space art has many facets and encompasses realism, impressionism, hardware art, scu ...

, ''Onyx'' (1977);

Cerrone Marc Cerrone Daryl Easlea, "Supernature Boy", ''Record Collector'', #502, February 2020, pp.60-63 (, ; born 24 May 1952) is a French disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of concert shows. Cerrone is a producer of 1970s and 198 ...

, ''Supernature'' (1977); Droïds, ''The Force'' (1977) and Bernard Fevre aka Black Devil Disco Club (1975-1978). Following those and in the late 70s and early 80s other notable French electronic music acts were Philippe Laurent aka Hot Bip (''Industrieuse'', 1979) and René Roussel with ''Caramel'' (1980).

French Touch (1990)

Following precursors

and

, many French electronic artists have gained worldwide recognition under the name of "French Touch", especially Daft Punk,

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

, M83,

and

Artists

20syl Sylvain Richard (born 17 February 1979), better known by his stage name 20syl (pronounced "vain-seel", ), is a French rapper, disc jockey and producer. He is a composer and MC in the group Hocus Pocus, member of beatmaker collective of DJs C2 ...

André Jolivet André Jolivet (; 8 August 1905 – 20 December 1974) was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influe ...

* B.B.E. * Birdy Nam Nam *

Bob Sinclar Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began DJ ...

Breakbot Thibaut Jean-Marie Michel Berland (born October 5, 1981), known professionally as Breakbot, is a French musician, record producer and a DJ who has been signed with Ed Banger Records since May 2009. Career Breakbot studied at Supinfocom, a comp ...

C2C Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

* Caravan Palace *

Carpenter Brut Franck Hueso, better known by his stage name Carpenter Brut, is a French darksynth artist from Poitiers, France. He has released three EPs, ''EP I'' (2012), ''EP II'' (2013) and ''EP III'' (2015) which were collected and released together as t ...

* Cassius *

* Daft Punk * Danger *

David Vendetta David Paparusso (), better known by his stage name David Vendetta (born 25 August 1968 in Longwy), is a French dance producer and DJ. Biography David Vendetta's career as a professional DJ only starts in 2002. At that time, he meets Antoine ...

DJ Snake William Sami Étienne Grigahcine (born 13 June 1986), known by his stage name DJ Snake, is an Algerian French music producer and DJ, first achieving international recognition in 2013 by releasing an instrumentation-oriented single called "Turn Do ...

* Edgard Varèse * Etienne de Crecy * French 79 *

Galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

Gérard Grisey Gérard Henri Grisey (; ; 17 June 1946 – 11 November 1998) was a twentieth-century French composer of contemporary classical music. His work is often associated with the Spectralist Movement in music, of which he was a major pioneer. Biograp ...

Gesaffelstein Mike Lévy (; born 24 June 1987), known professionally as Gesaffelstein (), is a French music programmer, DJ, songwriter and record producer from Lyon. He has worked alongside artists such as The Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Elect ...

* Jacno *

Jackson and His Computerband Jackson Fourgeaud, known professionally as Jackson and His Computerband (earlier Jackson and His Computer Band), is a French IDM artist. He released his debut album '' Smash'' with Warp Records in 2005. History Jackson Fourgeaud began making ...

Jean Barraqué Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué (17 January 192817 August 1973) was a French composer and writer on music who developed an individual form of serialism which is displayed in a small output. Life Barraqué was born in Puteaux, Hauts-de-Seine. In 1931 ...

Jean-Claude Risset Jean-Claude Raoul Olivier Risset (; 13 March 1938 – 21 November 2016) was a French composer, best known for his pioneering contributions to computer music. He was a former student of André Jolivet and former co-worker of Max Mathews at Bell L ...

Jean-Jacques Perrey Jean Marcel Leroy (; 20 January 1929 – 4 November 2016), popularly known as Jean-Jacques Perrey, was a French electronic music performer, composer, producer, and promoter. He is considered a pioneer of pop electronica.Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Kavinsky Vincent Belorgey (born 31 July 1975), known professionally as Kavinsky, is a French musician, producer, DJ, and actor. His production style is reminiscent of the electropop film soundtracks of the 1980s. Kavinsky claims that his music is inspire ...

* Kid Francescoli *

Klingande Cédric Steinmyller (born 14 May 1990), better known by his stage name Klingande (, literally: ''chiming''), is a French DJ and tropical house producer with a prominent use of the piano and the saxophone. Klingande was originally a duo, until 20 ...

Laurent Garnier Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums. Early influ ...

* Laurent Wolf * M83 *

Madeon Hugo Pierre Leclercq (; born 30 May 1994), better known by his stage name Madeon (), is a French DJ and music producer from Nantes, currently based in Los Angeles. He initially came to widespread public attention at 17 through a YouTube video, " ...

* Malaa *

Martin Solveig Martin Laurent Picandet (; born 22 September 1976), better known by his stage name Martin Solveig (), is a French DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. He hosts a weekly radio show called ''C'est La Vie'' on radio stations worldwide, incl ...

* Michaël Lévinas * Mirwais *

Miss Kittin Caroline Hervé (born 1973), known professionally as Miss Kittin, is a French electronic music producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles "1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worked ...

Modjo Modjo were a French house musical duo formed in Paris in 1999. The duo was made up of producer Romain Tranchart (born 9 June 1976) and vocalist Yann Destagnol (Yann Destal; born 14 July 1978). They had major success in 2000 with their hit single ...

* Mr. Oizo * Olivier Messiaen * Paradis *

Petit Biscuit Mehdi Benjelloun (born 10 November 1999), known by his stage name Petit Biscuit (), is a French DJ and music producer. The 23-year-old French producer has been making music with his distinctive style, forged through combining acoustic elements, ...

* Philippe Leroux *

Philippe Manoury Philippe Manoury (born 19 June 1952) is a French composer. Biography Manoury was born in Tulle and began composition studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Gérard Condé and Max Deutsch. He continued his studies from 1974 to ...

* Pierre Boulez * Pierre Henry *

* Rinôçérôse *

Rone Rone is the pseudonym of Tyrone Wright (born 1980), an internationally renowned street artist based in Melbourne, Australia. History Rone grew up in the city of Geelong, Victoria, before moving to Melbourne in 2001. In 2002, he started dec ...

* Sebastian * Sébastien Tellier *

Stéphane Pompougnac Stéphane Pompougnac (born 1968) is a French house DJ and record producer. Biography Pompougnac was born in Paris in 1968 to a psychotherapist and a dental surgeon. He spent his early life in Bordeaux. His first job was as a waiter at the cour ...

Tchami Martin Joseph Léonard Bresso (; born 12 May 1985), better known by his stage name Tchami (), is a French record producer and DJ from Paris. A founding member of the Pardon My French collective, he is best known for his solo work and regarded a ...

Télépopmusik Télépopmusik is a French electronic music trio, composed of Fabrice Dumont (bassist of the pop band Autour de Lucie), Stephan Haeri (also known as "2 square" for his solo projects), and Christophe Hetier (also known as "DJ Antipop"). Histor ...

* The Supermen Lovers *

Tristan Murail Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the "spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''. Early life and studies Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His fa ...

Uppermost Behdad Nejatbakhshe, better known by his stage name Uppermost, is a French electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Paris, France. Career Uppermost started producing music using FL Studio at the age of 17. His music has bee ...

Vitalic Pascal Arbez-Nicolas (; born 18 May 1976), better known by his stage name Vitalic (), is a French electronic music producer. History His first singles were released in 1996 and 1997, but were confined to underground electronic music scene. ...

* Yuksek

References

Bibliography

* * . * {{citation, last=Rosen, first=Jody, title=Researchers Play Tune Recorded before Edison, newspaper=The New York Times, date=27 March 2008, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. *