| CIVILIZATION, HISTORY, ART By Maximillien de Lafayette |
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SOPHISTICATION OF THE CABARET SINGER
In my humble opinion, and contrary to the common belief, a CABARET SINGER IS MORE SOPHISTICATED AND TRUTHFUL THAN AN OPERA PRIMA DONNNNNNNNA!! For, cabaret is the sincere echo and vibes of human drama, tragedy, mishaps, truthfulness, adventures, expectations, escapades, dreams, fantasies, visions, the sacred and the damned, the sublime and the grotesque of each single second of our lives. The cabaret singer is more than an artist singing romantic songs on stage, leaning against a piano or just sitting on a chair at one corner of the stage dramatically choreographed and positioned. A cabaret singer is a healer, a therapist, a raconteur, a story-teller, a philosopher, a challenger, a confident, a friend, a poet, and a part of the night with all its secrets, magic, mysteries, lights and shadows. So, if you want to decide or select which American cabaret artiste is better than another, you probably should take into consideration all of the above and rethink priorities and visions in your life, in case, you feel that cabaret emanates a part of your life on stage. Honestly, we don't know WHO IS THE BEST SALLY BOWLES? WHO IS THE BEST CABARET STAR IN AMERICA?!
However, those magnificent artistes who made their mark on the American and World Cabaret are difficult to forget. Among the most illustrious and classiest stars who positively influenced and enriched the American Cabaret were or still are:
Marlene Dietrich Julie Wilson Lena Horne Kaye Ballard
Ma Reiney Anita O'Day Maragret Whiting Mary Cleere Haran.
STARS TO REMEMBER
Photos from L to R: Lotte Trouble, Elaine Webster.
And
now, let's put everything in perspective. A case study would be very a
propos. Let's take for example the "ultra-modern" Cabaret theater and
musicals vedettes who starred in the Broadway's Cabaret show and try to
depict their persona. First, who are they? Many artists took the lead, played
Sally Bowles and shined in a modern Cabaret production,. But who are the ones
we are most likely to be remembered? I have some names for you:
INTERNATIONAL POLLS: AMERICA'S BEST CABARET SINGERS-ARTISTS-ENTERTAINERS
WORLD ART CELEBRITIES JOURNAL
conducted in 2003 an international poll on America’s All Time Best Cabaret,
Concert, Recital, Musical and Torch Female Singers. Here are the results :
#1 Cher, #2 Madonna, #3 Barbra
Streisand, #4 Doris Day, #5 Liza Minelli, #6 Dianna Ross, #7 Bette Midler, #8
Peggy Lee, #9 Barbara Cook, #10 Debbie Reynolds, #11 Linda Ronstadt, #12 Vicky
Carr, #13 Mary Rose Clooney, #14 Gloria Estefan, #15 Ann Margret, #16 Rita
Moreno, #17 Julie London, #18 Joan Baez, #19 Judy Collins, #20 Diane Worwick,
#21 Lena Horne, #22 Keely Smith, #23 Nina Simone, #24 Ertha Kitt, #25
Bernadette Peters.
Lorraine
Serabian
Deborah Gibson
Claire
Martin
Andréa Marcovicci
Julie Wilson
WORLD
ART CELEBRITIES JOURNAL 2003 International Poll on Cabaret Best
Performers/Entertainers/Players of the Year. Here are the results:
#1.Amanda McBroom, #2.Andrea
Marcovicci, #3.Anna Bergman, #4.Anne Kerry Ford, #5.Simone Marchand, #6.Julie
Wilson, #7. Lorraine Serabian, #8.Kim Zimmer, #9.Claire Martin, #10.Deborah
Gibson, #11.Lorna Dallas, #12.Pam Bricker, #13.Julie Wilson, #14.Naomi Newman,
#15.Marilyn Scott, #16.Julie Budd, #17.Rebecca Kilgore, #18.Linda Purl,
#19.Stacey Kent, #20.Lisa Lauren, #21.Claire Martin, #22.Patricia
O’Callaghan, #23.Sophia Bilidis, #24.Kim Nalley, #25.Dottie Burman.
Photos
from L to R: #1. Kim Zimmer with Deidre Hall. For many years, Zimmer was an
international household name in Europe, particularly in France and
Scandinavia. It is pity, Ms. Zimmer is no longer as active as she used to be.
#2. Ginger Gonzaga, Amanda Abel, Lynne Alexander and Susan Asbjornson. Ms.
Abel is a magnificent artist who excelled in musicals, theater and cabaret
acts. #3. The versatile and creative Dottie Burman with impresario
extraordinaire, Sidney Myer, manager/booking agent of "Don't Tell Mama"
cabaret in New York City. Ms. Burman is noted for her wit, comedy acts and
cabaret savoir-faire. A very talented and funny lady, indeed.
CABARET IS NOT AN ACADEMIC SUBJECT
Photo:
Danielle Darrieux.
EVEN PIAF WAS NOT A CABARET SINGER!
Edith Piaf
started as a very poor and
obscure cabaret singer at the very beginning of her career, when she was
homeless and penniless. At a very early age, when she was unknown, she sang
in low class “boites de nuits”. Once discovered, she categorically refused
to sing in Cabarets and strongly refused to be called a “Cabaret Singer”.
All her future performances will take place at France’s most prestigious
theaters and stages. Never again, to sing in a Cabaret! To
“understand” and “feel” what a CABARET IS, one must be a part of it or at
least must have frequented it in its
WHAT MAKES A SINGER " A CABARET CHANTEUSE"?
Photos
from L to R: #1. A view of an old and traditional Cabaret “Salle” of La Belle
Epoque (19th century-early 20th century). #2. The Lido
Cabaret poster.
A
female singer who sings “Ne me
quittes pas” or “La vie en rose” does not categorically become a Cabaret
singer!
Photos:
The legendary French chanteuse Barbara, known as "LA CHANTEUSE DE MINUIT"
(The Midnight Singer). The cabaret singer who makes you think and redefine
your life. She was romantic, philosophic, intellectual, classy and knew how
to deliver a cabaret repertoire. She attracted both, the sophisticated
intellectual and the blasé adventurer. Her persona is diametrically opposed
to a "standard cabaret" American singer.
BE AS AUTHENTIC AS POSSIBLE!
No
matter how musically educated and expert you are in musicology, you will
never fully “feel” and “understand” what “Takaseem Al Oud” is, if you lived
all your life in Manhattan, Monte Carlo, or in any Western city. Even if you
have already earned a master degree in musicology. But, if you are from the
Middle or Near East and even if you have never earned a degree in music or
even a high school diploma, understanding “OUD” and its “Takaseem” would be a
piece of cake for you! Simply, because to Middle and Near Easterners, the
“OUD” is an integral part of their culture, tradition, folklore, amusement,
social, professional and familial entertainment.
WHERE IS THE PARISIAN ACCENT?
PLEASE, MADAME LEARN HOW TO PRONOUNCE "E" IN FRENCH. "E" IS PRONOUNCED "EU", NOT EH!
In addition, the French born chanteuses have an inherited and privileged advantage: THE ACCENT! This is very true! Extremely true. The history of the French cabaret told us alarming and entertaining stories about French singers who came to Paris to work as chanteuses in Parisian cabaret, and were rejected, simply because, they did NOT have a Parisian accent! One of them was the legendary Mistinguet who , years later, became the undisputed queen of the world of Parisian cabaret. Mistinguet had to learn how speak French with a Parisian accent. In other words, she had to learn French, the Parisian way! And that is ridiculous, mais c'est la vie! So, my advice to non French singers who aspire to sing in a French cabaret or simply sing the songs of Brel and Piaf IS to FIRST acquire a proper French accent. Not necessarily a Parisian accent, but at least a clean, typical French accent. It breaks my heart to hear some superstars and cabaret divas in America who still pronounce the French "E", EH. For God's sake, Madame, E in French is Eu, very sweet Eu, and NOT EH! or EY!
Photos
from L to R: #1. The legendary French chanteuse, DAMIA. #2.Line Renaud, first
lady of the Parisian cabaret during the golden era of Maurice Chevalier and
Charles Trenet.
If you are NOT a French-born singer, and you want to sing in French, please observe the following:
1- Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf are NOT your only source of French cabaret material. Please try to understand, Brel and Piaf were never considered cabaret singers in France! Explore other formidable and authentic French cabaret singers, like Mistinguet, Josephine Baker, Line Renaud, Patachou, Catherine Sauvage, Barbara, Zizi Jeanmaire, etc.
2- Perfect your French accent. Bad pronunciation of intimate and romantic French words will kill your cabaret act.
3- Avoid cliche and over-exposed, over-used, over-consumed French cabaret songs, like "Les Feuilles Mortes", "La Vie en Rose"!
EXPAND YOUR REPERTOIRE
Photos from L to R: 1 & 2: Line Renaud. #3. Barbara, the divine. Their repertoires added wealth, imagination, intellectualism, beauty, feelings and poesy to the French cabaret music and music hall. Unfortunately, they remained completely obscure and unknown to the American cabaret female singers.
P
hotos
from L to R: #1. Louis Aragon. #2 Jacques Prevert.
4- Learn "new" old songs of the golden era of Parisian cabaret. Songs like: "Tout fout l'camp", "La guinguette" by Damia.
5- Search and research, update and revive your repertoire. Get music sheets of Lucienne Boyer, Jean Constantin, Charles Dumont, Damia, Bourvil, Dalida, Gribouille, Aragon, Prevert, Sacha Guitry, Jean Cocteau, Yves Montand, etc...
6- Never wear boots and extremely high heels on stage. Many American singers and particularly New Yorkers tend to do that!
7- Always, wear a black dress, simple but classy and stylish.
8- Avoid slang and borrowed jokes, while performing on stage.
9- Don't ever tell the audience and new acquaintances that you have studied 5 years of French in school but you forgot all of it.
10- Always, and always and always, incorporate soft, slow and up beat French songs in your repertoire. For instance, if you like very much "L'Hymne a L'Amour", add songs like "Mon Manege a Moi C'est Toi", or "Paris Canaille", or "PADAM PADAM". And if you like the genre of "Ne Me quittes Pas", add songs like "La Foule", "D'Aventures en Aventures", "Elsa", "Les Deux Guitares", "La Boheme", etc...
LA CHANTEUSE DE LA MAISON: CHANTEUSE OF THE HOUSE
Photo:
Can Can dancers at “La Belle Epoque”. At the very beginning of the Parisian
cabaret, almost all the Can Can dancers were "Diseuses", meaning singers,
more precisely boite singers, cabaret singers.
CABARET CANNOT BE FRANCHISED OR DUPLICATED
WHAT IS CABARET?
CABARET is a French product. It cannot be authentically duplicated, franchised or Americanized, no matter, how talented and creative an American female artist is. It can be Americanized, Africanized, Middle Easternized or even “nationalized”, but it would never be the same, for it will loose its original cache and character. Cabaret is for the French what hamburger, ketchup, stocks, mortgages, Campbell Soup Cans, blue jeans, patriotism, politics, college basketball, courage and football are for the Americans.
Historically:
Cabaret as a popular term,
(except in the United States) means all over the world: An intimate
space for adults where striptease and nudity shows are offered; it is also a
sleazy bar, a house of prostitutions, or a nightclub where adults can
smoke, eat, drink, dance with women readily available to them and where
customers searching for a “woman of the night” might get lucky and find one
for the right price. Epistemologically, CABARET derived from a 15th
century term meaning “taverne” tavern or even cellar, where artists,
travelers and visitors from out-of-town, neighboring counties and distant
cities could and would enjoy food and wine drinking.
Photo: Yvette Guilbert Taking a Curtain Cal, 1894, oil on photographic enlargement of a lithograph 48x25cm, Musee Toulouse-Lautrec.
THE FIRST KNOWN CABARETS
In the
United States, the song became the major attraction of Cabaret, while in
Europe and all over the world, sensuality, sex, eroticism, nudity, mingling
with women, “catching the women of the night for a price”. Drinking and
music remained or became the characteristics and predominant features of
Cabaret. As simple as that! All these aspects were captured in time by the
dawn of Cabaret in 1881. But, in addition to its sensual character, Cabaret
became a center, a place, a circle for intellectuals, painters, artists,
poets, writers, authors, composers, musicians, philosophers, dramatists and
men and women of the arts, literature and humanities.
Photos: Marlene Dietrich.
CONFUSING CABARET WITH INTIMATE “CONCERT OR RECITAL SINGING”
The overwhelming majority of Cabaret goers in the United States misunderstand the real meaning of the world Cabaret. They are confused by the great number of formulas, genres, styles and different kinds of Cabarets. Music halls, intimate singing and repertoires in intimate and cozy clubs in the United States should not be considered as Cabarets and Cabaret repertoires joints. It disturbs me to see and hear well-established American singers, particularly American female singers associating Broadway with Cabaret. Sarah Bernhard and Edith Piaf would have strongly rejected this association. The majority of so-called cabaret singing in the United States is merely a continuation, a successive collection of songs which imprint the personal cache of a singer who usually is an emotional singer, a sort of a story-teller who usually selects a repertoire and a material that fit the singer’s personality, state of mind, vocal capability and emotional conditions.
A PROTOTYPE OF A CABARET SINGER: THE AMERICAN-FRENCH CABARET SINGER AND DANCER
Joséphine
Baker
Photo: The legendary Cabaret
Singer, Josephine Baker.
It
is very true, that highly respected French singers and stars like
Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Jean Gabin, Yves
Montand, Georges Brassens, Mouloudji and Jacques Brel as well as famous
American stars like Ella
Fitzgerald, Liza Minelli, Frank Sinatra and Elton John did perform in French
Cabarets like "Le Moulin Rouge"
. But, they were never considered as Cabaret Singers. Highly respected
Parisian singers and artists did sing for a short time in Cabarets, but all
their performances were called “Recital” or “Concert” and never "Cabaret
Performance". Almost all their appearances took place at prestigious and
very large concert halls, auditoriums and theaters such as “L’Olympia”. The
only two superstars of the Cabaret-Song (Cabaret Chanson) were Josephine
Baker and Mistinguett. They were purely Cabaret Singers. And believe me, lot
of skin was shown to the public. I have devoted two extensive chapters on
Baker and Mistinguett in this work. Please refer to. Mistakenly, Marlene
Dietrich is sometimes described in the American Cabaret circle as a “Cabaret
Singer”. This is totally inaccurate. Dietrich never performed in a Cabaret.
Her performance in the “Blue Angel” in which she depicted a cabaret
melodramatic artiste/singer was purely a cinematographic performance. Of
course, Dietrich loved her role. It did fit perfectly her looks but not her
personality. Contrary to the common belief, she hated cabarets.
I know this
for a fact, because she was a friend of my mother. Once, my mother Alexandra
asked Marlene: “Why do you keep all those photos of yours as a Cabaret
Queen?” Do you like them so much? It is not
Marlene Dietrich was
a very classy, intellectual, refined and high class lady. The female Cabaret
Singers, artistes and performers of the early Parisian Cabarets were “Filles
du Trottoire” (Street Girls). And quite often, they lacked class and refined
looks.
Edith
Piaf, who was born in the streets of Paris is an exception. Despite, her
lack of education and poor knowledge of etiquette, she remained very
different from the early French “Boites de Nuit” singers and "diseuses".
Piaf never showed skin. Piaf performed in cabarets for a short time because
she had to eat. She was extremely poor. Once discovered, she moved to
"non-cabaret" places. She categorically refused to sing in cabarets. The
whole world became her stage. In America, cabaret singers still consider
Edith Piaf as a cabaret singer. What a big mistake!
By American
standards, Andrea Marcovicci, Barbara Cook, Anna Bergman, Amanda McBroom,
Raquel Bitton and Anne Kerry Ford are “Cabaret Singers”. By
French standards, they are “Concert Singers”.
.
CLASS,
STYLE, ELEGANCE, GLAMOUR CREATE DRAMA AND PRESENCE
Photos:
The classy and refined French chanteuse Yvette Guilbert, known for her
elegance.
Class and elegance are primordial. To become a classy and highly respected cabaret chanteuse, you need class. And class is quite often translated as elegance.
Of all the music hall and cabarets-boites performers in Paris, who inspired poets, writers and famous artists like Lautrec, Yvette Guilbert was the leading figures, because she was extremely ELEGANT! She exerted by far the greatest hold over Lautrec. He was completely mesmerized by her style and the elegant atmosphere of her cabaret act. Lautrec first saw Yvette Guilbert in about 1892. Guilbert revolutionized the whole concept and atmosphere of the traditional cafe concert of Paris.
THE GUILBERT STYLISH STYLE: Standing almost still during her performance on stage, except for brief gestures of her long thin arms in black gloves, which became her signature. She almost invariably wore them, all the time. The long black gloves added class and dramatic elegance to her act. "Her face almost expressionless except for the twist of her lips, she sang songs with highly scandalous words and themes. The Paris audience was captivating and none more than Lautrec. He found the whole atmosphere of her act and personality magnetic." wrote a critic of the era. Her elegance and stylish stage presence launched her career.
Brief biography of Guilbert: "Yvette Guilbert, born January 20, 1867 in Paris, France – died February 4, 1944 in Aix-en-Provence, was a music-hall singer and actress. Born into abject poverty, Guilbert began singing as a child but at age sixteen worked as a model at the Printemps department store in Paris. She took voice and acting lessons on the side that by 1886 led to appearances on stage at smaller venues. She eventually sang at the popular Eldorado club, then at the Jardin de Paris before headlining in Montmartre at the Moulin Rouge in 1890. For her act, she was usually dressed in bright yellow with long black gloves and stood almost perfectly still, gesturing with her long arms as she sang. An innovator, she performed raunchy songs of tragedy and lost love about the Parisian poverty from which she had come. Guilbert broke and rewrote all the rules with her audacious lyrics, and the audiences loved her. A favorite subject of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, he made many portraits and caricatures of Guilbert and dedicated his second album of sketches to her. Guilbert made successful tours of England, Germany and in the United States she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Even in her fifties, her name still had drawing power and she appeared in several silent films as well as in talkies, including a role with friend, Sacha Guitry. In later years, Guilbert turned to writing about the Belle Epoque and in 1902 two of her novels were published. Yvette Guilbert passed away in 1944 at the age of 77 and was interred in the Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. "French art encyclopedia.
Four splendid artists echoed the elegance of Guilbert on stage: Just look at them, right here: #1.Caroline Nin, #2. Rhe De Ville, #3. Andrea Marcovicci and #4. Marlene Dietrich.