Friday's French music break - Calogero, "Le portrait"

Friday's French music break this week comes from an artist who needs little or no introduction to the French.

It's Calogero (Calogero Maurici) with his latest single "Le portrait".

Calogero (screenshot live performance of "Un jour au mauvais endroit" le Grand Studio RTL)

The song is another melodic masterpiece from a man who has well and truly made his mark on the French music scene.

Once again, Calogero delivers an instantly recognisable tune which is more than pleasing to the ear with a voice that matches perfectly.

It's in the tradition of what he describes as pop-rock: another memorable and moving melody along the lines of  "En apesanteur", released in 2002, "Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer" (2004) "Pomme C" (2007) a couple of duos,  "Face à la mer" (2004 with rapper Passi) and "La débâcle des sentiments" (2008 with co Circus band member Stanislas), and, and, and.

Hit on the links to take a listen.

Now, there's a lot of material out there about Calogero and his career including inevitably Wikpedia in French and English (it's worth comparing the two, if you can).

From his beginnings as Charlie, lead singer of the 1980s band Les Charts, his re-emergence at in 2000 as a solo singer and the path which has seen him become an established member of mainstream French music scene.

So there's no need to repeat it all here.

You can simply search the Net, and you'll come up with something.

But it's worth perhaps pointing out just how respected and prominent Calogero has become over the years.

He has written for a number of artists including, Jenifer, Patrick Fiori, Françoise Hardy, Pascal Obispo, Florent Pagny and...of course (because just about every French composer has)...Johnny Hallyday.

And a fair number showed up for a recent edition of the France 2 Saturday evening entertainment programme "Le Grand Show", dedicated to to the 43-year-old and to celebrate 15 years (as a solo artist) as well as the release of his most recent album, "Les Feux d'artifice".

Which brings us back nicely to this week's Friday's French music break - "Le portrait" - the fourth track from the album to be released as a single.

Enough words.

Just listen - and enjoy.

Oh yes...and if you get the chance, try to see him live. He's on tour until April 2015.

Friday's French music break - Dalida, "Depuis Qu'Elle Est Partie"

Friday's French music break this week a whole album. Oh let's be really greedy then and make it a double!

It's "Depuis qu’elle est partie" which is a tribute to one of France's most famous singers - the late Yolanda Gigliotti.

You and many others might know her better under the name with which she achieved fame, not just in France but worldwide: Dalida, the Egyptian-born singer-actress whose extraordinary career included phenomenal success combined with a tragic personal life.

It's well chronicled elsewhere on the Net (try her biography on Radio France Internationale for starters) so there's no need to go into great detail here.

But the impact Dalida had over a 30-year period and the way she lived, loved and ended her life, led to the "iconic image of her as a tragic diva" which persists to this day.

If you've lived in France, for no matter how short a time, the chances are you'll have heard and perhaps recognise one her many, many hits.

And some of them have been collected on this double album produced by her brother Orlando and released on May 3 to mark the 25th anniversary of her death.

Disc one is pure Dalida - 20 tracks which include some of her best known songs such as "Bambino", "Il venait d'avoir 18 ans", "Laissez-moi danser" and of course (with Alain Delon) "Paroles paroles".

And then there's that second disc - proof, if it were really needed, of her legacy.

It also contains 21 tracks - sometimes of the same songs - performed by a whole host of (mostly French) artists such as Christophe Willem, Hélène Ségara, Patrick Fiori, Dany Brillant and Christophe.

Some of them aren't half bad, such as the interpretation the fabulous Amel Bent gives of "A ma manière" others are...well a bit iffy to say the least.

But the real class of course is from the diva herself - hard to improve on even though many have tried over the years in cover versions.

So here, for fans and the plain curious alike, a video clip available on YouTube of Dalida performing the completely over-the-top but nonetheless tremendous (well it's all a matter of personal taste, isn't it?) 1974 hit "Gigi l'amoroso".

Listen to those rrrrrrrrrrrolling "rs"