French Ya Ya

April 12, 2006 8:07 PM

Can anyone enlighten me on the genre of music called "French Ya Ya"?
posted by protocool to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Do you mean Yé Yé?
posted by nylon at 8:13 PM on April 12, 2006

Taking dictation from my girlfriend, who is an avid French music fan:

It represents a period of time where traditional French chanson kind of merged with rock and roll, inspired by groups from Great Britain and the US.

The term "Yé Yé" is an approximation of an English "yeah yeah."

Many times, it is associated with women. Some big stars include France Gall, Francoise Hardy (somewhat) and Slyvie Vartan, and... sorta Johnny Halliday.

She says that if you're interested in french pop from the 60's, to check out a 2 part compilation called "Atomic Cafe: French Cuts"

It's just sorta 60's pop music. Very groovy. The sort of thing you would expect a French Austin Powers to listen to.
posted by kaseijin at 8:23 PM on April 12, 2006

What protocool said, I think it's usually callled 'Ye-Ye.' Basically, it's 60s french pop or music inspired by. Bit of info and some photographs from that 'scene' are here.
posted by rokabiri at 8:26 PM on April 12, 2006

Er...I mean what nylon said.
posted by rokabiri at 8:30 PM on April 12, 2006

For a faux Yé Yé band, check out Les Sans Culottes. Before they left, some of the original members had the best wacky names: Cal d'Hommage, Celine Dijon, Jean-Luc Retard, etc.
posted by horsewithnoname at 9:32 PM on April 12, 2006

Here are some music videos on youtube from that era. I'm not sure if all of them apply, but probably worth checking out.
posted by Mr Mister at 9:35 PM on April 12, 2006

Francoise Hardy had an album called "The Yeh-Yeh Girl From Paris," but both that and "ye-ye" seem to be used. Here are a some comps (check out that whole series) that might interest you.
posted by apple scruff at 11:13 PM on April 12, 2006

For a modern take on ye-ye music, check out April March. Her album Chrominence Decoder is especially evocative of ye-ye, with lots of modern flourishes. Her earlier stuff is a touch all over the map, but there are some ye-ye-ish gems (like Chick Habit) in there as well. Chrominence Decoder is out of print in the U.S. -- iTunes has it, though.

There's also Pop Romantique, a collection of indie rockers doing ye-ye, including Apples in Stereo, Air, Ladybug Transistor, The Magnetic Fields, Ivy, Luna -- it's fun, and all but one of the songs are covers from the era.
posted by incessant at 2:20 AM on April 13, 2006

Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin, féminin, co-stars Chantal Goya, a Yé Yé singer, and features many of her songs. It's a neat film, and it gives you a pretty good feel for youth culture in France at that time.
posted by bubukaba at 10:50 AM on April 13, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the links. It's all very interesting.
posted by protocool at 5:58 PM on April 13, 2006