French Music Playlist

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I have a deep love and admiration for French music. Seriously. I could practically have a whole separate iPod for my French music collection. I think one of the best things about French music is how wonderfully diverse it is, yet has a fundamental quality that makes it universally unique.

France has a wide variety of folk music, as well as styles played by immigrants from Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In terms of the "classical music" of the country, France has a number of legendary composers, while modern pop music is big on hip-hop, techno/house, rock, and a little genre called "Zouk". Now like many of you, I had NO IDEA what the heck zouk was as a musical genre when I first heard that term. Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole French culture in the Caribbean. Find out about Zouk here!

I, for one, am a fan of how avant-garde French music is due to how wonderfully the influences of the world blend with classic French culture.

Some popular music festivals in France to check out would be the Nice Jazz Festival, on the famed French Riviera. It boasts itself as "the first" jazz festival of international significance. Over the years, it has drawn some of Jazz's biggest acts like Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong. Some choice rock festivals include Rock en Seine, and Les Eurock eennes de Belfort, which is one of France's largest rock festivals.

It's hard for me to widdle down my list of favorite French songs, but I composed a pretty diverse mix of jazz, rap, rock, folk, pop, and plain ol' weird French music I think you might all enjoy!

Here is the list of 10 songs I Love  in French. Click the song titles for the actual links to the music/videos!

1. "Je Veux"- by Zaz
2. "La Maigrelette"- by Amelie Les Crayons
3. "Manoir De Mes Reves"- by Django Reinhardt
4. "L'empire du Cote Obscur"- by IAM
5. "L'effet Papillon"- by Youssoupha
6. "Du Ferme"- by La Fouine
7. "Quatre garcons dans le vent"- by Les Lionceaux (this is a cover of 'A Hard Day's Night' by the Beatles!)
8. "Tel que tu es"- by Charlotte Gainsbourg
9. "Tous Les Garcons Et Les Filles"- by Francoise Hardy
10. "Je Veux Te Voir"- YELLE

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♫ Amusez-Vous!♫