Barbara

Somehow, I never dove into Barbara's discography. Maybe because she's definitely not a fragile fille, with her deep, thunderrrrring voice and her fierce presence. But when I received this link (keep watching), I realized I had some catching up to do. Luckily, Natashka came to the rescue with a great guestpost:

It’s autumn, somewhat windy but not too cold, you’re in Paris, and just before the sun entirely disappears for the day you want to clear your head with a late afternoon trip to a quiet terrace alone. You order a rich, intense demi-tasse of French roasted coffee. That first sip goes straight to your brain and lights it up like fireworks on Bastille Day. That’s what Barbara’s music and lyrics can do if you let it.

Deeply intense singer-songwriter Barbara had equally complex artists as friends and influences such as Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens whose songs she recorded and which won her awards earlier on in her career. In Filles Sourires terms, she’s the old skool goth girl in the corner that sings like a beautiful blackbird if you’ll just listen to her carefully that first time.
Take another sip of that strong coffee. While Edith Piaf played the victim and Juliette Gréco the mysterious one, Barbara’s darkness was just as attractive as it was intriguing. In true French music tradition, you can’t just casually listen her songs: you get drawn in and you want to know more. She once was invited to give a recital in the German city of Göttingen. She stayed a week longer than expected and wrote a song called Göttingen before the week was up. Soon after, some of her songs were translated into German and Barbara eventually received the medal of honour of the city. That the kind of effect she has had on people.
Her hair is pitch black and her eyes heavy with black eyeliner. At least three songs by Barbara have the word black in the title: L’aigle noir (The black eagle) a veiled reference to the incest she survived and probably her biggest hit covered by many artists, Il était un piano noir (There was a black piano) more veiled references to the home front and Le soleil noir (The black sun) with its solemn contrabass intro and lyrics evoking cycle of life colours: white, grey and red.

(The first time I DJed with Guuzbourg a few years back, this was the first song I played in my jazz set and he had asked back then who it was.)

Barbara - Le Soleil Noir
Barbara - Si La Photo Est Bonne