Variations sur ATeM : la chanson-souffle

Abstract

This paper tries to analyse the spreading of tunes and breathing as one single wave-like reality in the history of the French chanson. Historically and in line with the system of timbres, the genre of the French chanson takes up existing airs and combines them with interchangeable lyrics. With the spreading and the success of recording techniques, other forms of acoustic palimpsests appear. Claude Nougaro, for instance, transforms breathlessness into a piece of art when he returns to jazz standards, and singers like Barbara and her last interpreter Patrick Bruel reveal their inner fractures and hesitations through their broken voices.