[Sathyan]

I'm interested in your suggestions of French/Francophone popular artists to check out. I have listened to and like the following (especially *):

*Emma Shapplin (yes, I realize most of her recordings are actually in Italian)
*Natasha St-Pier
*Lara Fabian
Helene Segara
"Notre Dame de Paris" OST
Garou
Angelique Kidjo
Patricia Kaas

less so:
Celine Dion (her French stuff)
Ophelie Winter
Alizee
MC Solaar
Johnny Halliday

also in the Arabic/French cross-over space:
Taha
Faudel
Khaled
Natacha Atlas


Albums need to be primarily NOT in English. I'm less familiar with older stuff but that would be OK.

I've been importing to the US from HMV (in Canada). Do you know any other good sources.

Sathyan

NP Emma Shapplin - Etterna

[WillardK]

This might be too obvious for older suggestions, but since you haven't mentioned them:

France Gall
Francoise Hardy
Serge Gainsbourg

a good greatest hits cd of any of these would be an ok place to start.

[LanceJ]

Sathyan: you might have known this already but that Emma Shapplin album is available now on dvd-audio. This is already at Best Buy (I actually had it IN my hand! ). But for some reason it is still not listed on DTS Entertainment's website.

Emma Shapplin's "Etterna"

LJ

[Holadem]

Quote:

Angelique Kidjo

Angelique Kidjo sings in french?
I know she is from a french speaking country. On her one album I had, she sung in anything but french, including english.

Quote:

MC Solaar

HE is the man! Le Nouveau Western must rank in the top 10 rap albums ever. I know he came up with other stuff after that, never heard them though...


Older stuff - Wouldn't call it Pop though:

George Brassens - My father's loves it
Francis Cabrel - Not that old, my brother loves it


Arabic French:
This absolutely gorgeous "arab" woman (actually from north africa, they are not arab), I forgot her name . Could it be Amina? It is a single name of that sort.

--
Holadem

[ChuckDeLa]

Stereolab

[Sathyan]

Quote:

Angelique Kidjo sings in french?

Ces petits rien on Black Ivory Soul but that's the exception

Quote:

Emma Shapplin album is available now on dvd-audio

I was just about to get a SACD player. Looks like I'll have to save up for a universal.

Quote:

HE is the man! Le Nouveau Western must rank in the top 10 rap albums ever. I know he came up with other stuff after that, never heard them though...

I have "Prose Combat" (1994) from MC Solaar which I highly recommend.

Quote:

This absolutely gorgeous "arab" woman (actually from north africa, they are not arab), I forgot her name . Could it be Amina? It is a single name of that sort.

yes, Amina is right.



also, do any of you know the shortwave frequency for receiving Radio France in the US

[Martin Fontaine]

Lili Fatale

I don't really like french language music but her stuff is good. Some of her songs are partially in english (I think she might have 1 or 2 songs entirely in english). Back around the release of her first album she was compared to Gwen Stefani and her 2nd album reminds me of Natalie Imbruglia (Funny how Lili Fatale's real first name is also Natalie...)

She is from Montreal so importing it from HMV should be no problem.

[Ron-P]

I just discovered Alizee and I love her music. I downloaded a couple of her CDs and ordered up 3 CDs off Amazon. I don't understand a word she's singing but it doesn't matter, her voice, the music, it's quite amazing. It's just about all I've been listening to lately.

[EricSchulz]

Here's a few for you:
Kate Ryan (dance/pop; available domestically on iTunes/eMusic)
Mylene Farmer
Desireless
Alizee (AMAZING!!!)
In-Grid (altho her sound gets kinda repetitious)

If you are looking for French pop, iTunes does carry a pretty good selection, but you gotta listen to samples to see what you like.

Amazon's French site is good, but prices are pretty crappy for shipping, esp. with the exchange rate. I highly recommend the "NRJ" CD series which is the French equivilent of "Now That's What I Call Music". Generally 50-75% of the 2 disc sets are current French hits.