David L. Looseley – författare

From the beginning of her career in 1935 to her death in 1963 and right up to the present, Édith Piaf has been recognized as unique and iconic. She is France’s most celebrated and mythified singing star across the world. Récital 1961 explores her most important album: the live recording of her comeback concert at the Paris Olympia on 29 December 1960, which unveiled her keynote song, ‘Non je ne regrette rien’ (No Regrets). It examines the content, context and significance of the concert in relation to Piaf’s career, her life and her celebrity. What was so special about the performance and why did the ecstatic audiences, that night and at the subsequent performances in 1961, find it so powerful and moving? The book dissects the live show, the album and the songs that feature on it, and at a deeper level their place in the invention of the public Piaf we know today – asking why, more than a century after her birth and 60 years after her death, we still remember her, listen to her and commemorate her around the world.

From the beginning of her career in 1935 to her death in 1963 and right up to the present, Édith Piaf has been recognized as unique and iconic. She is France’s most celebrated and mythified singing star across the world. Récital 1961 explores her most important album: the live recording of her comeback concert at the Paris Olympia on 29 December 1960, which unveiled her keynote song, ‘Non je ne regrette rien’ (No Regrets). It examines the content, context and significance of the concert in relation to Piaf’s career, her life and her celebrity. What was so special about the performance and why did the ecstatic audiences, that night and at the subsequent performances in 1961, find it so powerful and moving? The book dissects the live show, the album and the songs that feature on it, and at a deeper level their place in the invention of the public Piaf we know today – asking why, more than a century after her birth and 60 years after her death, we still remember her, listen to her and commemorate her around the world.

This authoritative study considers contemporary policies for the arts in France and the cultural and political issues they have raised. The author concentrates particularly on the seminal Mitterrand years but also disentangles the various influences which marked them. Analyzing the role of the ever more powerful Ministry of Culture, he traces the gradual shift from the democratization of high culture, adopted as a quasi-religious crusade during the De Gaulle era, to the aesthetic relativism and 'fun' culture which became the trademark of the department during the 1980s and 1990s. He also examines wider debates about the relationship between culture, society and the state.

This authoritative study considers contemporary policies for the arts in France and the cultural and political issues they have raised. The author concentrates particularly on the seminal Mitterrand years but also disentangles the various influences which marked them. Analyzing the role of the ever more powerful Ministry of Culture, he traces the gradual shift from the democratization of high culture, adopted as a quasi-religious crusade during the De Gaulle era, to the aesthetic relativism and 'fun' culture which became the trademark of the department during the 1980s and 1990s. He also examines wider debates about the relationship between culture, society and the state.

While music lovers from all over the world have tried to recreate the ambience of French cafes by playing music from stars such as Piaf, Trenet and Chevalier, intellectuals, sociologists and policy makers in France have been embroiled in passionate debate about just what constitutes 'real' French music. In the late 1950s and 1960s a wave of Anglo-American rock 'n' roll and pop hit Europe and disrupted French popular music forever. The cherished sounds of the chanson were sidelined, fragmented or merged with pop styles and instrumentation. From this point on, French music and music culture have been splintered into cultural divides - pop culture vs high culture; mass culture vs 'authentic' popular culture; national culture vs Americanization. This book investigates the exciting and innovative segmentation of the French music scene and the debates it has spawned. From an analysis of the chanson as national myth, to pop, rap, techno and the State, this book is the first full-length study to make sense of the complexity behind the history of French popular music and its relation to 'authentic' cultural identity.