The stuff of legend: examining media representations of the Brassens-Brel-Ferré myths
2011; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 36; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3828/cfc.2011.3
ISSN2044-396X
Autores Tópico(s)French Literature and Poetry
ResumoGeorges Brassens, Jacques Brel and Leo Ferre are often grouped together and referred to as the archetypal French singer-songwriters, the 'big three' of the chanson francaise from the 1950s onwards. Looseley (2003) suggests that they have in fact become national myths as well as entertainers: chanson artists who enshrine a notion of national specificity particular to popular culture. As such, they are constructed within chanson discourse as the embodiment of a chanson ideal and their songs have undergone a similar mythification process. This article examines the role of press articles and the 1969 radio interview with all three artists as myth-making mechanisms which have helped to construct these singer-songwriters as chanson stars of legendary status and, ultimately, as paradigms of the genre. Situating this analysis within the wider context of chanson discourse illustrates how this Brassens-Brel-Ferre myth is used to signify that which is authentic in the chanson francaise. The article shows how the med...
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