Not French but French

One of the first things you notice when you listen to music produced around the world is how much of it is in English.  This is true, not just in the English world as one would expect, but in non-English speaking countries as well.  With the worldwide popularity of American and British musicians, this is perhaps not all that surprising.  However, one thing that I have noticed as I have tried to find non-English popular music is how many artists perform in French when they are from non-French speaking countries.  This is not a knock in any way on the French language.  Rather, it is an observation that French, for all of its beauty and rich artistic heritage, is not widely regarded as the international language of popular music in the same way that English is.

With this in mind, I thought it might be fun to showcase three of these Francophone artists that hail from non-French countries.

First, I bring you an artist from Poland that I just recently discovered named Mademoiselle Karen.  Her music, at least on the track Ouaf, Ouaf, is hip-hop.  However, her heart is very much in the realm of French cabaret.  Adding to the confusion, Mademoiselle Karen is a classically trained musician who was born and raised in Denmark before moving to Poland to perform with Czeslaw Mosil (a fellow graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music). 

Next on tap, I reacquaint you with the German group Pierre Ferdinand et les Charmeurs, who performed respectably in the Bundesvision 2011 competition.  Now, I have to admit to cheating a little bit here.  Despite having many French related titles, despite usually having French subject matter, and despite often singing in what I take to be French-accented German, their lyrics are typically in German.  But hey, it's my blog, and I can showcase whatever bands I want to.  In Alles von Pierre, Pierre Ferdinand et les Charmeurs follow their usual formula of playing heavily French-influenced swing and lounge.

Finally, I bring you a band from the good old U.S. of A.  Nous non Plus has been lighting up New York City since 2005, when they formed out of the ashes of another faux-French band Les Sans Coulottes.  While often teetering on the edge of being a novelty act, Nous non Plus produces some excellent French-language pop that would not be out of place in Paris.  The new track J'en Ai Marre perfectly showcases Nous non Plus' ability to put out insanely catchy tunes in a language that probably few of their listeners actually understand.

ADDENDUM: 

Well, I'm a day late and a dollar short, but here's another artist that I wanted to be sure to add to this list because A) I can; and B) I love this song.  Paula is another German artist, who produces some very danceable electro-pop.  Most of the time, she sings in German.  Every once in a while, perhaps because her brand of electro-pop has wide appeal in France, she sings in French.  C'est comme ça is perhaps her best example.