Be Our Guest: Francoiz Breut on KPFK’s Melting Pot

Francoiz Breut on KPFK’s Melting Pot: 10-3-2010 (Recorded 9-29-2010)

Francoiz Breut has been for sometime now one of my favorite singers, in any language. I’ve been a fan of her’s since first hearing 2000’s Vingt à Trente Mille Jours while at KALX in Berkeley. I’d always hoped to get a chance to interview her and tape a live session, but figured she’d never make it out to the states. I was surprised and immensely thankful to receive an e-mail from singer Marianne Dissard a couple weeks ago asking whether or not I’d be interested in interviewing Francoiz and taping a live session before her performance in LA on Oct. 5th (this show has since been moved from the now closed Echo Curio to Echo Park guitar shop The Fretted Frog, Oct. 5th at 8pm, cover = $10).

The interview covers the experience of performing for fans who often don’t understand your lyrics, her first foray into writing her own lyrics and a bit about the creative process, not only as a musician but also as an illustrator. Big thanks to Marianne Dissard for not only setting everything up, but especially for translating English to French and back again!

During our session Francoiz performed four songs, all from her most recent record “A L’aveuglette,” they are (in order of performance) “L’etincelle Ou La Contrainte Du Feu,” “A L’aveuglette,” “2013” and “Les Jeunes Pousses,” which remains one of my favorite songs of this decade. Special thanks to Stan Misraje from KPFK for doing such an exceptional job with the sound.