Various – La musique est dans la rue

Gérard Dôle, born 1947, is a French musician, fiddle and barrel organ enthusiast, educator, and crime novel writer. A specialist of Cajun and Acadian music, he led several influential Cajun bands in France (like Krazy Kajun in 1974 and Bayou Sauvage, 1976-2000) and visited Louisiana in 1975. In 1974, Dôle was asked by Jean Bériac to create a folk music collection on his Expression Spontanée label (see previous post). In 1976 and 1977, Dôle subsequently released three LPs of his own Cajun folk music on Expression Spontanée, but his collaboration with the label actually started with an LP collecting recordings of Parisian street musicians titled La Musique Est Dans La Rue, or Music in the streets.

♫ This project exudes love for the kind of un-ceremonious/un-pretentious music making found on the streets the world over since immemorial times, and deliciously compares with Tony Schwartz‘s 1954 New York 19 LP on Folkways – coincidentally, Gérard Dôle released a handful of LPs on the Smithonian Institution’s record label between 1977 and ’83. La Musique Est Dans La Rue is mixed like a deambulation around Parisian street musicians’ favorite spots where each track is named after a location, be it a subway station or well known address. From circus music to New Orleans, from Renaissance guitar to barrel organ, from North African drums to French chanson réaliste, the mix emphasizes the diversity and generosity of street musicians. Various interjections from outdoor markets’ vegetable and fruit peddlers add an aural document dimension to the field recordings. It all sounds incredibly nostalgic to a modern Parisian, but I suspect it already sounded thus in 1974, as Dôle apparently avoided contemporary nuisances like pop music or be bop circa 1974.

Later in the 1980s, Dôle released two albums documenting Parisian traditional/typical barrel organ music: the Paris Barbarie cassette in 1982 (named after the French word for barrel organ, orgue de Barbarie) and the Paris Street Music 1983 LP on Folkways, with punched cards created by Pierre Charrial.

01 Tonton Circus – Rue de Seine (2:36)
02 Irish guitarist – Place de la Contre-Escarpe (1:30)
03 Cris de Paris – Marché Saint-Médard (:12)
04 Blind accordionist – Beau Moi de Mai – Métro station Pyrénées (2:01)
05 North African musicians – Rue de la Goute d’Or (2:35)
06 Duo of old musicians – Boulevard Richard Lenoir (1:37)
07 Jazz big band – Place du Furstenberg (3:15)
08 Cris de Paris – Marché Saint-Médard (:26)
09 Two blind musicians – Rue Montorgueil (1:48)
10 Barrel organ player – Galeries du Palais Royal (2:31)
11 The American Trio – Le Temps des Cerises – Métro Station Belleville (1:23)
12 Jazz band – Rue Jacques Calot (2:34)
13 Gègène – Arrière salle de bistro à Brunoy (3:04)
14 Irish guitarist – Boulevard du Montparnasse (1:46)
15 One-man band – Rue de la Harpe (1:25)
16 Cris de Paris – Marché d’Aligre (:13)
17 Violin+flute duo – Rue de la Huchette (1:39)
18 Mike – Parvis Notre Dame (2:32)
19 Blind organist – Métro Barbès (:50)
20 Collectif Boom – Rue Lepic (1:11)
21 Blind accordionist – Beau Moi de Mai – Métro station Pyrénées (2:17)

Total time 37:15
LP released by Expression Spontanée, ref. ES 18, France, 1974

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Gérard Dôle discography (selection):
1974 La musique est dans la rue, LP, Expression Spontanée ES 18
1976 Bayou Sauvage, LP, Discovale WM 01
1976 Bayou Country Rock, 7inch, Expression Spontanée ES 46
1976 Travailler c’est trop dur, LP, Expression Spontanée ES 53
1977 Ruine-Babine, 7inch, Expression Spontanée ES 57
1977 La Banane à Nonc’ Adam, LP, Arfolk, SB 363
1977 Traditional Cajun Accordion, LP, Folkways FM 8363
1979 Cajun Accordion Old & New, LP, Folkways FM 8364
1979 Louisiana French Songs for Children, LP, Folkways FM 77860
1979 Cool au Troglodyte, w/  Georges Mama, self-released LP, LA 01
1981 Bayous de Louisiane : le Mélodéon, LP, DOM WM 01
1982 Paris Barbarie (Musée Imaginaire D’un Orgophile), cassette, DOM911
1982 Bayou Memories, LP, Folkways FM 2625
1983 Paris Street Music, LP, Folkways Records, RF 117
1985 Hey Madeleine !, LP, Folkways FM 2625
1985 Le Mélodéon : Valses et Two-Steps, LP, Expression Spontanée ES 64

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