The younger artists, such as Mathieu Boogaerts, are audibly aping GainsbourgвЂ™s style (in BoogaertsвЂ™s flimsy Caribbean-cafГ© case, with mixed results at best). (Only SanseverinoвЂ™s вЂњMal o MainsвЂќ does more than wink in the direction of Reinhardt and Stephane GrapelliвЂ™s gypsy swing.) Rather, and to its credit, Putumayo has successfully created a stylistically seamless romp through the underbelly of the cafГ© world, using as its spiritual pimp and Svengali the late, great Serge Gainsbourg.Д«esides his own contribution, Gainsbourg appears throughout French CafГ©: Two of his explicit conquests, Brigitte Bardot and long-time studio and bedroom collaborator Jane Birkin, appear on French CafГ©, Birkin even singing one of his compositions. Similarly, Django ReinhardtвЂ™s considerable contribution to what we think of as Parisian jazz is implied, but hardly overtly referenced at all.

French CafГ© leaves musette out almost completely: for better or for worse, the distinctive plaint of the accordion appears only on San Franciscans Baguette QuartetteвЂ™s вЂњEn DouceвЂќ. The Rough Guide disc looked at the many interpretations of the bal musette style, the accordion-based melting pot of gypsy jazz and swing, traditional ethnic music of ParisвЂ™ many immigrants and cultural conquistadors, as well as chanson. This leads to surprising omissions from PutumayoвЂ™s collection, and inevitable comparisons to the Rough Guide seriesвЂ™ contribution to the canon, The Rough Guide to Paris CafГ© Music. Putumayo, as is their prerogative, has chosen to concentrate on one type of cafГ© tradition: not just the chanson singing style, but specifically the decadent-вЂ™60s chanson and its predecessors and followers. There are nearly as many ways to look at the indefinable concept of вЂњFrench cafГ© musicвЂќ as there are cafГ©s in Paris. Because ClГ©ment proves that not only is the tradition of the Parisian cafГ© Lolita - with melancholy melodies matched only by firm femme fatale-attractions - alive and well, it might be as good as it ever was. ThereвЂ™s something that still feels revolutionary about the sheer decadence in Serge GainsbourgвЂ™s вЂњMarilou Sous la NeigeвЂќ, and itвЂ™s a lurid I-donвЂ™t-know-what that builds throughout French CafГ©, peaking in this collectionвЂ™s finest track, newcomer Coralie ClГ©mentвЂ™s breathy and oceanic seduction, вЂњLa Mer OpaleвЂќ. In this sense, French CafГ©, released by the often redundant but always popular world-music compilers Putumayo, is radical simply by virtue of its release date: Thirteen tracks of luxurious Francophone poetic waxing, without even a liner-note вЂњThank youвЂќ for us savinвЂ™ those FrogsвЂ™ asses back in double-ya double-ya two. protest-attendee might actually see black-bloc chanters and ranters wearing berets along with their proto-Palestinian neck scarves and Anti-Flag T-shirts.

The martini set in Manhattan may not realize it, but in the talk-show hinterlands of America (i.e., most of it), we still see menus boasting вЂњFreedom FriesвЂќ and вЂњLiberty ToastвЂќ every day. No, for the first time since the вЂ™40s, it seems as if striped shirts, hand-rolled cigarettes and five-oвЂ™clock shadow are symbols of resistance, hold-outs against a world gone into a spiraling insanity of anti-pleasure fear and loathing.

In the inevitable backlash against the backlash, France has come to fill not just its traditional role as the emblem of all things suavely cool and savoir.

French cafe music putumayo