FAQs
Other Information
Auditions
Members' page
Mission and History

December 11, 2004
"Musette: the music of the French Cabaret,
the Heart and Soul of France"
The songs of Edith Piaff and the world of Amelie Poulain.

Featuring the KULSHAN CHORUS with
Paul Elliott (violin), Laurie Andres (accordion), and John Miller (guitar)
[see musicians below]

[view PHOTOS] of rehearsal, concert, and after concert

Dear Friends of the Kulshan Chorus

It is again my pleasure to invite you to a Kulshan Chorus concert performed by a community of singers who many of you know as friends and family. At 8 PM on Saturday evening, December 11, 2004, at the Bellingham High School Auditorium, the Kulshan Chorus will present an evening of Musette: the music of the French café, poetry from the heart and soul of France.

Musette and the Chanson, the heart and soul of the French experience.

Paris has long been an epicenter for cafe culture, its countless cafes magnets for bohemians, artists, poets, revolutionaries, laborers and musicians. French music is inextricably linked to the cafes and music halls where music styles like musette and chanson were originally performed.

The Musette is a descendant of folkdance melodies from the Auvergne area, blended with German accordion, Italian classical and popular song, Tzigane or Manouche (Gypsy) scales and string instruments, and American Jazz and swing rhythms. These elements shape the waltzes, tangos, paso dobles (2-steps), fox-trots, polkas, marches and swing numbers essential in the repertoire of any musette orchestra of the 20's - 40's. In today’s jargon, "world-beat" would well describe this music. If a musician told you their band used polka instrumentation, to play light-opera and Euro-folk melodies, using middle-eastern scales and jazz syncopations and chord theory, you would say, "oh, a world beat thing, huh?, and they would agree.

The Augvergnat instrument of choice was the cabrette, or cornemusette (from whence the word musette comes), a clear, loud reedy bagpipe. In the 1870’s German and Italian accordionists began arriving in Paris, Bastille district, where the Auvergnat community was settled, the locals considered the squeeze-box a threat to the beauty of the music. But by 1902, one of the leading cabrette players hired accordionist Charles Peguri and musette had begun. An early musette band had accordions, piano, violin, clarinet or saxophone, and banjo, played by the Manouche, or Gypsy. Django Reinhardt first performed on banjo. Today we often associate the playful musette waltz and the accordian within the narrow streets of Paris as the true sound of France. Perhaps it is! It has certainly become the theme and underpinning for the American image of France.

A second vibrant style of music gained immense strength with the rebirth of France after the Second World War. The chanson sings to the heart of the French experience, and indeed, the soul of all who shared in that post-war era: soldiers, poets, politicians, children, young and old, all winning a new chance at life. High among the famous voices were, of course, Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet followed by Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Becaud, Barbara, Yves Montand, again followed by Georges Moustaki, Mireilles Mathieu, Les Companions de La Chanson, and Yves Duteil to name but a few. We can be greatful for their phenomenal musical and poetic outpouring. Today, many of their songs are common tunes throughout the western world, but all too often, translations fail in their attempt to describe the intensity, depth and breadth of the French experience. Little of life was left untouched.

This concert is intended for the majority of non-French speaking people that may not have been exposed to this musical style beyond a foreign film or background music. If you enjoyed the music in the recent film, Le Divorce or nearly any Audrey Tautou film, such as Amelie, then you'll love this concert. The assemblage of French music is a pleasant survey of 20th-century musical styles: musette and chanson, that emanated from the heart and soul of France, through the French café. It is our intent to sing in honor of both the original text and the relevant context.

[TOP OF PAGE ]

The Musicians:

Once again we are privileged to welcome to our stage Mr. Paul Elliott, violinist, who many of you may remember from our sell-out concert, A Festival of American Tunes.

Paul will be joined by Laurie Andres, un excellent accordeoniste, and John Miller, un guitariste extraordinaire! (more info on John here)

 

Now, many of you may not know, or may not have heard these musicians, but we in the Kulshan Chorus are absolutely honored to be able to sing with them, and you will likely be captivated by their musical skill and adroitness.

So join us for an exciting evening of memorable French café music. Let La Vie En Rose, La Mer, Sous le Ciel de Paris (Under the Sky of Paris) become favorites among the tunes you love to hum. It’s So Good! C’est Si Bon……….

~~Roger Griffith, Musical Director, Kulshan Chorus

[for a 11x17 Musette poster image - click here]

[TOP OF PAGE ]

CONCERT SET LIST

Move Over Mr. Gauguin
Sous Le Ciel de Paris
Petite Fleur
Le Virtuose des Bois [A. Deprince & F. Dominicy]
Allon Gay
Un Flambeau [Jeannette]
Chanson Pour L'Auvergnat
Plaisir d’Amour
Chanson des Vieux Amants
La Mangave [Jo Privat & Willy Staquet]
Prendre Un Enfant Par La Main

INTERMISSION

Masters In This Hall
La Mer
Valse De Béarn [Paul Elliott]
Les Trois Cloches
Pour Les Enfants du Monde
L’Infidèle [Tony Murena & Robert Trognée]
La Boheme
Les Feuilles Mortes
La Foule
La Vie En Rose
C'est Si Bon

[TOP OF PAGE ]

NOTE FROM ROGER FOLLOWING THE CONCERT
Dear all of you wonderful singers who made that concert come alive. WOW - You looked fabulous and what a concert! Comments and accolades on all with mounds of appreciation from the French speakers in the audience, as well. Some of them were singing along, tears, et al.
So thanks to you for all your work and effort. It was a blast. (As was the party afterwards)
As we stood around afterwards, Paul Elliott came up with another concert idea which could be exciting: Hint: Ripple

Brief apologies for my screw-up on Gauguin, but once we were out of the chute, it was amazing - not a glitch right through to the end. I hope you had as much fun as I. What more can I say?

view photos of rehearsal, concert and after concert

[TOP OF PAGE ]