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A Musette Bibliography

Odile recommends..

  • "Histoires de l'Accordeon"
    (François Billard - Didier Roussin: 1991 - Climats-INA)
     
    Didier Roussin played guitar with accordion players all his life (that ended prematurely in 1996). He had a privileged relationship with Jo Privat and fought for the last 15 years of his life for the recognition of the real musette (not the fast one with synthesiser and drums). This 500 page bible tells everything about accordions all over the world. Of course I prefer the pages (100) about France. They are worth the price of the whole book. You'll find excerpts from this book in the numerous accordion CD booklets written by Didier Roussin.
     
  • "J'ai la Memoire qui Chante"
    (Francis Lemarque: 1992 - Presses del la cité)
     
    At 80 years of age Francis Lemarque still performs the songs that he wrote for famous singers like Yves Montand and Maurice Chevalier. He was born in 1917 in rue de Lappe, above a bal musette, in the Bastille district. This biography takes you inside the Parisian popular music scene - from street singing to building up political shows with Prévert and Aragon for the 1936 strikers.
     
  • "Monsieur Jo"
    (Clement Lepidis: 1986 - Le pré aux clercs)
     
    Biography of Jo Privat, the youngest (born in 1919) of the big accordionistes. You have to learn french (and slang and poetry) to understand his colorful expressions gathered during the thousands of hours he spent in bal musettes in the company of disreputable characters.
     
  • "Du Tour de France a l'Opera Musette"
    (Yvette Horner: 1987 - Filipacchi)
     
    "Kitsch" book on the life of the most famous woman accordionist. She got her big break by playing in the Tour de France standing in a car on the bumpy roads! Do not buy her recordings (I have to warn you!). Not to be confused with the accordion maker Hohner from Germany. Yvette was born in the Pyrénées.