French Animated Jazz

    As for the portfolio project, I am currently looking at a soundtrack of a French animation "les triplettes de belleville." The song is called "belleville rendez-vous" and the style is swing-like. The main reason why I was interested in french style was because the french were obsessed with jazz. It was interesting how their style influenced the nature of jazz. I find it easy for jazz to take form in many cultures because there is really no set of rules. Jazz has this "whatever goes" attitude to its fluid structure. 

   

    The animation of this film was actually a co-production of four countries: United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and Canada. 'Les Triplettes de Bellville' was written and directed by Sylvain Chomet, which was an animated comedy film about an elderly woman who tries to rescue her grandson, a champion cyclist of the Tour de France, who was kidnapped. 

  

    The inspiration to film's soundtrack was from the 1920's. The musical inspirations came from some of the most prominent jazz artists such as Josephine Baker, Fred Astaire, Glen Gould, and Django Reinhardt. If you notice, the conductor from the animation is supposed to resemble Django Reinhardt. 

    There are English and French versions to this song (lyric-wise).

   

    I would like to research how jazz made an important impact in shaping the french music culture and how they used this idea in their arts.