Juliette Gréco

When Red Baron was working on his thesis in Munich in the early 1960s, there was a singer he particularly admired.

March 1966 at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands with tulips. What else?
©Ron Kroon/Wikipedia

Juliette Gréco was exactly the kind of woman I was into. Long black hair, striking eyes, and a sexy voice.

That memory came flooding back when I was in Paris last year and discovered the street sign of Place Juliette de Gréco near Café Les Deux Magots, where  during the legendary postwar era the “Muse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés,” had spent so many hours in the company of  the “existentialists” including Albert Camus, Jacques Prévert, and  Jean-Paul Sartre who wrote of Juliette Gréco: “Gréco’s voice is like a warm, gentle light whose spark can ignite the flames of poets.”

Existentialism (©Airair/Wikipedia)

Raymond Queneau, of whom Juliette said, “I owe them everything,” wrote the first chanson for Juliette Gréco at their tables in the Café de Flore. Gréco said, “I owe him everything.” Was it the chanson Si tu t’imagines from 1947?

In 1949, when the American jazz musician Miles Davis performed in Paris, Juliette, not speaking a word of English, and Miles, not knowing any French, lived an amour fou. Wikipedia knows: In 1957, they decided to always be just lovers because their careers were in different countries, and his fear of damaging her career by being in an interracial relationship. They remained lovers and friends until Miles's death in 1991.

That’s why I was absolutely thrilled when, a month ago, the Centre Culturel Français in Freiburg announced a chanson reading, Rendez-vous avec Gréco.

There was no stopping me. I had to fully indulge in nostalgia.

Catherine Le Ray was absolutely top-notch in her interpretation of the Greco-Chansons, not only in French but in English and German too. Just to cite two press reviews, “Catherine Le Ray sings with talent, passion, authenticity, and charm […] her remarkable performance moves the audience—it’s a fireworks display!” - Ouest-France, and “She possesses the grandeur of an opera diva, which she combines with the coquetry of a vaudeville star […] a wonderfully expressive voice […]” - Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung. Between songs, Catherine shared with us episodes from the Grecos’ eventful life drawn from the latter's autobiography.

Frédéric Langlais, her companion, is the ultimate expert on the button accordion. He was the French accordion champion in 1993 and became the world champion the following year, the youngest accordion world champion at just 16 years old. He has received numerous awards for his play. On his 30,000 Euro instrument, he perfectly simulated a piano when it became necessary for the interpretation of a chanson.

Juliette in Vienna 2009 (©Manfred Werner/Wikipedia)

There, she certainly performed one of her biggest hits, “Sous le ciel de Paris.”

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