Paris is a Continent

The first in a series exploring the music of France's capital. Hinda Talhaoui, originally from Paris' suburbs, is our guide.

A still from the music video for "Passeport," a song by Leila.

What do the masses listen to in Paris? I’ve promised to do an occasional round-up of what’s popular on the streets and on phones (and in car stereo systems) of the French capital. Here’s round one. It’s a smooth, R&B ride. It is also a short list.

First up, live footage of Monsieur Nov, the “bald Chinese”: This first album, “Sans dessus de Soul,” is my favorite.

Awa Imani, the daughter of a Guinean singer father and Senegalese dancer mother, has been singing since she was 9.  She was first noticed in 2009 when she performed on the single “Celebration,” with 113 and the actor Jamel Debouzze, and on which she sang the hook.

Isleym in screenshot for the music video for “Ave le Temps.”

Then there’s Isleym, a 16 year old singer discovered (thanks to Nessbeal) for the song “A chaque jour suffit sa peine.”

Now she’s working on her own album. The first song named “Avec le temps.”

Finally, Leila is a is a Canadian singer (like the male crooner Corneille; also big in France). This is the video for her song, “Passeport

Further Reading

And do not hinder them

We hardly think of children as agents of change. At the height of 1980s apartheid repression in South Africa, a group of activists did and gave them the tool of print.

The new antisemitism?

Stripped of its veneer of nuance, Noah Feldman’s essay in ‘Time’ is another attempt to silence opponents of the Israeli state by smearing them as anti-Jewish racists.