At the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony 2016, when Patti Smith, as a stand-in for Bob Dylan, performs Dylan’s “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall”, but suddenly stops singing, and her eyes fill up with tears. She apologises – “I am so nervous!” – and then forgets some words of the song. But was that the truth? [...]
In the United States, many Americans within a generation or two of my age—meaning, many Americans—recognize the musician Bruce Springsteen as "The Boss." Springsteen's songwriting, his lyrics, and his marathon, high energy concert performances have, for decades, attracted fans across the country, critical and popular acclaim, and enormous success. He has been at the very [...]
Chanson Française owes its origins of course to the Chanson Réaliste moment of Aristide Bruant and Le Chat Noir around 1893 that brought young intellectuals together with the demi monde of artists, workers and prostitutes. ‘People spoke a lot about sexuality’, affirms Clark, ‘and it produced some strange and dark characters’. Hélène Hazera is even [...]
