Jean Ferrat
Jean Ferrat was a French singer, songwriter, and poet who enjoyed a long if sometimes controversial career with his passionate songs of love and Leftist politics. Ferrat was born Jean Tenenbaum in Vaucresson, Hauts-de-Seine, on December 26, 1930, the last of four children. His father, a Russian Jew, was a jeweler who relocated the family to Versailles in 1935, but in 1942 he was captured by Axis forces and sent to Auschwitz, where he was executed less than a week later. Young Jean was hidden by Communist members of the French resistance and survived the war; in 1945 he dropped out of school to go to work and help support the family as a chemist's assistant. But he had developed a keen interest in both poetry and performing, and he began playing guitar with a jazz combo, writing songs, and acting with a small theater company. After adopting the stage name Jean Laroche, he began performing as a solo act, and adapted Louis Aragon's poem "Les Yeux d'Elsa" into a song; when it became a hit for singer André Claveau in 1956, it gave the recently renamed Jean Ferrat a major career boost, and he was signed to a record contract in 1958. Ferrat's debut single was a commercial failure, but after forming a partnership with publisher and musical director Gerard Meys, he enjoyed much greater success with 1960's "Ma Mome," and Ferrat soon became a star. Ferrat's songs openly dealt with his political concerns; his 1963 single "Nuit et Brouillard" (Night and Fog) was a meditation on the Holocaust and its consequences, while a number of his other tunes dealt with the struggle of the working class, and he was an outspoken supporter of Fidel Castro, writing a number about him called "Cuba Si." (Ferrat was just as willing to criticize the Soviet Union for its misdeeds, and "Bilan" was a song attacking the failures of the USSR.) Despite the media's hesitancy toward his more controversial material, Ferrat enjoyed significant popular success through the 1960s, but he was never comfortable with performing live and withdrew from the concert stage in 1973. Living in the rural village of Antraigues, Ferrat published poetry, adapted the work of others and continued to write songs, periodically releasing new albums through the 1970s and '80s. His final album, another collection of musical adaptations of Aragon's poetry, was released in 1995. After a long illness, Ferrat died on March 13, 2010.
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20 Chansons 1961-1962
French Music - Released by Supreme Media on 2 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Nous Dormirons Ensemble
French Music - Released by H&I on 8 May 2015
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Notre concerto / Quand la valse est là (Mono Version)
French Music - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jean Ferrat (Mono Version)
French Music - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Salon
French Music - Released by More Wings in Hell on 18 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deux enfants au soleil (Remastered)
French Music - Released by Old Europe on 26 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ma môme / Federico García Lorca (Mono Version)
French Music - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ferrat chante Aragon 1971 (Mix 2020)
French Music - Released by Universal Music Division Barclay on 6 Mar 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jean Ferrat Classics, Vol. 1
French Music - Released by Diamond Days on 5 May 2008
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J'entends, j'entends - Jean Ferrat
French Music - Released by ISIS on 11 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blue Cocktail
French Music - Released by Blue Cocktail on 9 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ma môme (Remastered)
French Music - Released by Old Europe on 3 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La fête aux copains (Stereo Version)
French Music - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Paris Gavroche (Mono Version)
French Music - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
A new Friend
French Music - Released by golden times again on 9 Aug 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eh ! L'Amour
French Music - Released by Before And After on 10 Jul 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Napoléon IV
French Music - Released by Memories of Yesterday on 3 Apr 2015
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20 Chansons: 1961-1962
French Music - Released by Firefly Entertainment on 1 Oct 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deux enfants au soleil / Napoléon IV (Mono Version)
French Music - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mes Amours - Jean Ferrat
French Music - Released by ISIS on 9 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo