A French Love Affair

Reflections from a former "ingénue".

My most recent trip to France

15 years ago, almost to the day… on the heels of my album Chances, I was invited to debut at Le Festival de Jazz de Montréal (the buzziest, most exciting, most international festival play in Canada).

I screen-grabbed this image from a review of my 2009 Montréal Jazz Fest performance, posted by Adrian Mack on a blog called Six Degrees of Jazz

It was a pivotal moment for me. I had recently begun working with Simon Fauteux, the most influential publicist in all of Québec. He heard something in my music that he believed would resonate with Québec audiences.

Determined to rise to the occasion, and knowing that the Francophone market was a new and important audience for me, I began to practice a little French banter. I feared that I had lost all that I’d learned in my early education in French immersion (which regrettably, I quit after grade 6). Ashamed of my inability to confidently communicate even just a few words, my bilingual label rep at the time, Allison Outhit suggested that she could translate one of my songs for me to sing in French. The song was All My Dreams- and she generously set about writing a translation for me, aptly called Tous mes Reves. (Check out the video we later made for the translation HERE.)

I was so nervous. I had practiced the French version so many times, but when I stepped onstage in front of a mostly Francophone audience, I was terrified. They could tell. I opened my mouth to sing… de chante! My eyes were shut the whole time just trying to remember each word, and its correct pronunciation. I made it through the length of the song. The final notes rang out…. followed by a moment of complete silence. I opened my eyes. The crowd roared- they were suddenly on their feet, cheering: Bravo! Uplifting me, encouraging me, showing their appreciation for my efforts.

Perhaps it was simply the fact that I was an Anglophone…. just trying to sing in French? But in this moment I felt the spark- the yearning to do it again, and better the next time. There was a feeling in the room that this was the beginning of a sweet little musical love affair between me and the French public. 

I began googling adult French languages schools, and stumbled upon one in the south of France- Institut de Francais. I attended for a month-long intensive course and returned again the following year. All day long I studied conversational French and listened exclusively to French music every evening. I lived in my own little apartment, I cooked French food and immersed myself completely in the experience. When I returned home, I had the idea to record my own versions of some of my favourite old songs from the great French songbook- Piaf- Gainsbourg, Aznavour. It was a passion project… an extension of my studies.

I approached my bandmate Drew Jurecka about producing the collection. With his love and knowledge of the old French jazz era that birthed Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt and his ability to compose arrangements befitting this genre, he was the perfect choice. The result was my 2013 album, Chansons. It was released the same year that my first child was born.

It was well-reviewed at the time in Québec, and resulted in modest record sales, but was mostly ignored outside of French Canada. I didn’t mind, I went back to making original records in my mother tongue, and tucked away my French alter-ego for the most part.

But when music streaming services began replacing the old formats and playlists, and algorithms started to change the way most people listened to music, the songs on Chanson found new life. They began to be added to “French Cafe”-style playlists worldwide and came into rotation according to the “mood” of the listener… suddenly my French music was being included alongside the repertoire of the classic French songs that inspired it.

A decade after its initial release Chansons has become by far my most popular “streamed” record to date, with over 150 million streams worldwide on Spotify, and my top cities are such far flung places as Istanbul, Paris, São Paulo, Sydney and Taipei.

Last year I was contacted by a promoter in Austria with an offer to tour the country, but the ask, surprisingly, was for an entirely French show: Vive La Chanson with Jill Barber. I called my old producer Drew and invited him to join me. It was incredible to be singing these songs again that transported me back to that apt in the south of France and rekindled my love of the material.

I had a nice time in Austria.

Backstage one evening Drew and I decided that it was finally time to do it again, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our album Chansons and release a follow-up… ENCORE!

Last night in Montréal, I returned to the very stage where it all began, nearly 15 years to the day!! This time the Festival was Des Francos de Montreal- a festival dedicated to French language music. To be invited to this festival as an Anglophone Canadian artist is a tremendous honour. To mark the occasion, I shared with the audience the story of the first time I sang one French song in an otherwise English show.

Well… last night I sang ONE English song (Chances) in an otherwise ENTIRELY French set. I made so many mistakes!! This was my first time singing all of the songs from ENCORE! live and without lyrics in front of me, and with the nerves of 15 years ago back in full force. But I knew… I just knew… that my Francophone Canadian audience would hold me, encourage me and occasionally shout out lyrics to carry me through the show.

It’s hard to describe the pleasure I feel singing in French… it’s a more sensual, embodied experience. To communicate in a language that is not your own on a stage, under the lights… it requires vulnerability, risk, and a trust in the audience that I feel results in a collective experience, which is always my ultimate goal as a performer.

I don’t exactly know how this show will fly outside of Québec, but I’m going to find out! This weekend I play the Toronto Jazz Fest, and next month I will be at the Halifax Jazz Festival and in August I will be performing at the Kaslo Jazz Etc. Festival (please find complete date listings at below.)

Now, as a woman into her forties, I think back to the 15-years-younger version of myself: in Québec I was considered something of an ingénue, a word that I always felt described an up-an-comer with much promise… Okay, I am decidedly no longer that! But funnily enough, when I looked up the definition of the French word, The Oxford Dictionary describes “ingénue” as innocent and unsophisticated…. so perhaps the opposite of an ingénue is not an old has-been, but rather a sophisticated artist, one whose promise has been fulfilled.

Bisous,

Jill xo

SUMMER 2024 TOUR DATES:

June 23rd and 24th Toronto, ON Toronto Jazz Festival *SOLD OUT*

July 10th Halifax, NS TD Halifax Jazz Festival

July 19th Lake Country, BC Swalwell Park, 8pm

July 22nd, 24th and 25th Desolation Sound, BC Grant Lawrence & Friends

August 2nd-4th Kaslo, BC Kaslo Jazz ETC Festival

August 18th Sechelt, BC Sunshine Coast Writer’s Festival

August 30th, Picton, ON Barbers at the Base with Matthew Barber