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Jacques Brel




Jacques Brel (April 8, 1929 - October 9, 1978) was a Belgian author-composer
with such a strong power of expression in his lyrics that many consider him
a poet as well. He also had some minor activity as an actor and director. He
was born in Schaarbeek, Belgium, a small city north of Brussels.

In the early 1950s he went to Paris, writing music and singing in the city
cabarets and music-halls where on stage he expressed his songs with grand
physical gestures. By 1956 he was touring Europe and he recorded the song
Quand on n'a que l'amour that brought him his first major recognition and he
would appear in a show with Maurice Chevalier and Michel Legrand.

He composed and recorded his songs almost exclusively in French, but he
occasionally also included parts in Flemish as in Marieke, although he had
much griefs towards Flemish, to the extent of writing a harsh song, Les F.,
full of insults towards Flanders, its inhabitants and most of all their
language. Another likewise song, Les Flamandes, is however considered comic
and only incidentally associated to Flemings who serve as a mere pretext to
vilipend humanity in general. Although France was his "spiritual nation" and
that he expressed contradictory statments about his native Belgium,
everybody looks over this matter through some of his best compositions,
tribute to Belgium, like Le plat pays or Il neige sur Li�ge.

His thematics covers almost all aspects of whatever fits to artistic
expression, especially about love (Je t'aime, Litanies pour un retour,
Dulcin�a), society (Les singes, Les bourgeois, Jaur�s) and spiritual
concerns (Le bon Dieu, Dites, si c'�tait vrai, Fernand). No style constrains
him entirely. He was as efficient in funny compositions (Les bonbons, Le
lion, Comment tuer l'amant de sa femme...) as in heart-breaking texts (Voir
un ami pleurer, Fils de..., Jojo). His acute perception made him an
innovative and creative painter of the daily life with rare poetic easiness.
He was indeed a master in poetic constructs. He had both intelligence of
striking and stunningly simple wordings and very picturial and meaningful
vocabulary. None other like him could put as much novelty and meaning in a
sentence from a few words of common use. He had also a bright sense of
metaphors, as in Je suis un soir d'�t� where the narrator is a summer's
evening telling what he observes as he falls on a city. Although a master
with lyrics, also his musical themes were of the first standard and also
here no style captures him entirely. He composed both rythmic, lively and
captivating tunes (L'aventure, Rosa, Au printemps) as well as sad and solemn
songs (La qu�te, J'en appelle, Pourquoi faut-il que les hommes s'ennuient?)

He is widely recognized in French--speaking countries as among the best
composers of all times in this language.

He played in the musical l'homme de la Mancha that he also directed and
appeared in films without however displaying abilities of any comparison
with his musical performances. For twenty years he was a major star gaining
recognition beyong French audiences. In 1973 he retreated to French
Polynesia, remaining there until 1977 when he returned to Paris and recorded
his final album.

Jacques Brel died of lung cancer and was buried in the Altuona Cemetery,
Altuona, Hiva-Oa, Iles Marquises, French Polynesia only a few yards away
from painter Paul Gauguin.

JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS was an American musical
revue of the art of Jacques Brel. It has played around the world for years.

Songs include:

   * Ne me quitte pas
   * Amsterdam
   * Quand on n'a que l'amour
   * La chanson des vieux amants
   * La valse � mille temps
   * Une �le
   * Les bonbons

Movies include: (actor)

   * L'aventure c'est l'aventure
   * Mon oncle Benjamin
   * L'emmerdeur
   * Les risques du m�tier

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