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Corinne Lesage

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hais1273

hais1273

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A couple of years ago we bought a compilation CD of, you've guessed it, Accordion music and Chanson. In our opinion one performer stands out and that is Corinne Lesage, very nice accordioneering set against a bright piano. Good old musette at it's best. Has anyone come across Corinne Lesage before? We've been unable to find out anything about her and can't find any of the tunes she plays. The search is made slightly more difficult as there is a current pop artiste in France with the same name.
the CD's are Cafe De Paris from Union Square Music a UK based company, but we bought the CD in a Le Clerke supermarket near Clermont-Ferrand. The second is Souvenir from Paris Vol3, published by a company in Kentucky USA via amazon

a couple of the tracks are . Villa Marceau, Le P'tit Bal de Fauborg, Paris Nostalgie. Unusual in the days of the internet to be seemingly unable to find any informtion at all. Any thoughts??
 
Hi hais,

Haven't been around for a while, but this topic caught my eye. Roughly between the 80s and 90s various accordionists took part in the production of some French themed CDs which sold at budget prices. These were marketed as "French cafe music", with various "Parisian" type themes. Most of the accordionists concerned appear to have been from eastern Europe with anonymous French sounding names. One label featured a player named "Max Marino", and it would seem that "Corinne Lesage" was also one of the players concerned. At a guess both of those artistes were anonymous Eastern European players cashing in on the old traditional French numbers. The fact that you cannot find any personal info on the artistes concerned on the internet is a major clue. The CDs they made were (are) available throughout Europe at ridiculously cheap prices.

If you listen to the playing, as much as the tunes are easy on the ear, they are played in a style that is not typically French, despite all the strong three voice musette stuff they contain. Dare I say that they played "plastic French" music for the pleasure of the masses. Although I am currently suffering from a distinct lack of interest in accordions, I have been listening to French musette since the 1950s, and the players on these CDs do not sound as though they have been schooled in French popular music. Also, most French musette accordionists play CBA, and I reckon these tracks are being played on PA.

Sorry if I've ruined your belief that you had bought genuine French music. All I can say is the tracks are very well played and pleasant to listen to, and most people would never know the difference. If you can remember the prices in Leclerc when you bought the CDs I'll guarantee that they were about a quarter of what you would have paid for an equivalent CD by Verchuren or any other of the established French big name players.
 
I expect I will get over the revelation that Corinne Lesarge may not be real, given enough time and plenty of therapy! I'm also dismayed that Max Morino may be an imposter from Ukraine or Poland! Thankyou for taking the time to share this information. Actually, I don't really mind, I rather like the tunes and the way the way are played, bit of a shame the record companies can't be a little more honest in their dealings. "She" makes for easy driving around music. My wife says thankyou as well!

Compared to another CD we picked up, somewhere in the Alsace, at a huge Cora super-marche I beleive, Ms Lesarge sets the standard for class and restraint. The CD was truly awful, it wasn't that the accordionist wasn't very good. But that every track had a monotonous, loud and unadventurous drum machine. My fault really i don't suppose it cost more than 4 or 5 Euro! What would really esxpect from Accordeon Hits 9!

At the other end of the spectrum, we made our way up to Suffolk, to see and dance to Nigel Eaton (Hurdy-gurdy) Simon Geilan ( Assorted diatonic accordions) Dave Shepard (Violin) aka The Firestarters of Leiden for an evening of excellent French traditional dance music. They were supported by local band Bof! Superb!

Thanks again

Ian
 
Ian,

My house is full of dirt cheap CDs from all over the globe that profess to contain "traditional" music from wherever. If I like them I play them regardless of whether it is a Zulu chief playing Latin American, or a Dutch guy playing Tex-Mex.

UK television is heavy on British players masquerading as French musette players (e.g. Jack Emblow on 'Allo, 'Allo), and our ears grow accustomed to listening to the UK version of musette, always played with three voice tuning. So much so that the actual French version does not sound authentic! Almost all of the British players favour slow legato playing, whereas French players attack the instrument in a different up tempo manner, with a decidedly more staccato sound.

I've never bought any accordion CDs for quite a while, but did pick up a large number of them by mail order from France, Belgium, and Italy. Shipping costs from Italy are a bit scary. You can get cheap French accordion CDs from sites like "fnac.fr" and "Price Minister", not forgetting amazon.fr. These are usually compilations of music by famous deceased players from yesteryear, but their content does not vary much, and you tend to get the same old "standards" hammered out by a limited number of different players you've probably never heard of.

The CDs you have probably make for more easy listening material than these offerings from France. French musette in its older form tends to be a bit rough around the edges, definitely not smooth, legato, and relaxing. It was meant to get people up dancing so that the bal musette could make money. The female hostesses engaged by the dance hall were paid by men to accompany them to dance.

Despite the large number of recording artistes in that style, only a very few players were able to offer that something a little bit different. The modern stuff turned out by the young players is certainly more varied, but to quote my Irish grandfather, "I can't listen quick enough" to get the tunes into my head.

Keep playing and enjoy. If you ever get a chance to listen to Paul Stanga, a Romanian PA player, you'll realise what East European players can do. I also heard great stuff in Bosnia, known as sevdah or sevdalinki. These guys can really play PA, and their Serbian neighbours play similar stuff on 6 row Balkan Star type chromatics. Also check out Bulgarian accordion for more east European stuff. The music of the Balkans has a distinct Turkish influence to it which is not to everyone's taste, but the musicianship has to be admired, in my opinion.

Corinne Lesage may in fact be a builder's labourer, but she is also quite a player.
 
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