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NOVEMBER 2018
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Flight Time
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53
Wanderlust
,
Wo r d s
Duncan S t ee r
In search
of France’s
musical
heart
ate-night jazz seeping out of backstreet
cellar bars… the torch songs of Edith Piaf
and Charles Aznavour… the chic swinging
’60s pop of Françoise Hardy and Brigitte
Bardot… Our love affair with France has a
seductive, vintage soundtrack.
But where do you go to find the old magic that
soundtracks our Gallic daydreams? Has the music of
pre-rock’n’roll France gone for good?
At Paris’s Le Vieux Belleville brasserie (
12, rue des
Envierges)
, I am delighted to find my first answer.
The Belleville district is perched on a hilltop in the
north-east of Paris, with terrific views back over the city.
It is a 20-minute Metro ride from the tourists milling on
the banks of the Seine, but feels a world away. Just 20 paces
up the street from the iconic view, Le Vieux Belleville is a
chanson café, where the spirit of old French music lives on.
As we are eating, a large man with a large white
L
P A R I S
SMOKY JAZZ CLUBS , EDI TH P IAF, CHARLES
AZNAVOUR , TORCH SONGS , JOHNNY HALLYDAY. . .
WE TAKE A MUSICAL TOUR OF PAR IS IN SEARCH
OF THE OLD MAGIC