Highlighting artists from the nouvelle scene (new scene), Paris features modern takes on classic French chanson.

In the case of most trends, what is old becomes new again. Your grandmother’s pearls show up on today’s supermodels; her favourite crooner reappears decades later as the toast of the town. Even in Paris—the city that’s always en vogue—this phenomenon occurs time and again. The Paris of your grandmother’s time was alive with the songs of a genre called chanson. Very traditional in its sound, chanson was rediscovered and revamped in the late 50s and early 60s before it once again became passé with younger audiences, who embraced rock and pop as the sound of their generation. Now, forty years later, a new school of musicians has given a fresh voice to this vintage sound, creating the nouvelle scene (new scene) that is all the rage in Paris. Paris is an introduction to a vibrant group of artists out to prove that this is not your grandma’s chanson.

* Listen to a sample of each song below (click on the arrows bottom right corner to skip between songs)