If you were among the many moviegoers charmed by last year’s French blockbuster Amélie, you may remember how the soundtrack helped weave its spell. Composer Yann Tiersen used the street musician’s traditional instrument—the accordion—to create haunting melodies and, with quirky additions like a toy piano and a typewriter, turned it into irresistible 2lst-century music.
He’s not the only young musician turning to Paris’ musical past for inspiration. The group Paris Gombo calls their sound “jazz-musette,” singer Thomas Fersen reinterprets classic chansons, and the Têtes Raides (whose lead singer sounds like a young Georges Brassens) blend bal musette with alternative rock. You can check them out this month at the Bouffes du Nord theater, where they’re playing from July 5 to August 3.
The current nostalgia craze encompasses several types of popular music: bal musette, where families sang and danced together to accordion music; chansons by singer-songwriters filled with political and social commentary; and timeless favorites like Piaf. Paris offers venues where you can hear it all, starting with the city’s oldest cabaret, the Lapin Agile, a rustic vine-covered cottage in Montmartre and a miraculous survivor from the l9th century.
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These shows usually start late and can last until anywhere from midnight to 2 am.
But one of the must enjoyable and easyguing music scenes in Paris may be Sunday mornings in the rue Mouffetard (5th), one of the most colorful and popular open-air market streets in town, and where Mouffetard Musette performs year-round (except in August or pouring rain).
From 11 am to 1 pm, on the café-lined square in front of St-Médard church, two accordionists, several singers, and a group of regulars gather to dance and sing in the relaxed atmosphere of a country village. Song sheets are distributed, a battered top hat is passed around for contributions, and smiling strangers waltz together. As your voice blends with the others in that friendly crowd, you too may feel that you’re seeing la vie en rose.