peewee
Well-known member
21st Season of the Ukulele: LA FRANCE
July 14th, Bastille Day, is next Saturday, so it’s France week, Ooh La La!
Here are the parameters:
A video of a single live take of a performance (doesn’t have to be the first take) with ukulele(s) front and center. No overdubs. Other instruments OK in a supporting role. Multiple players, singers OK.
Songs must mention France, be about France or a French person or object, or BE IN FRENCH, or be by a French artist. They don’t have to be pro-French.
You must say the magic words: "21st season of the Ukulele" or "vingt-et-uneième saison du ukulélé" and post the video in this thread before the deadline for it to count.
The First entry will be judged as the main entry, subsequent entries must be labeled as Bonus Tracks to be considered as such, otherwise they will be judged as the main entry and the first entry will be thrown out.
Instrumentals are encouraged.
Scoring will be as follows:
Musicianship / Arrangement /10 points
(your own compositions are encouraged and will score well here)
Singing (or Instrumental performance for non-singers) /10 Points
(this is vocal timing and tune, not language ability)
Je ne Sais Quoi: /10 Points
(not to be confused with Panache)
Frenchness: /10 Points
(this includes song choice, whether the song is sung in French, and subject matter. It will be impossible to excel in this category without singing in French, even phonetically, nonsense phonetic French might be as good or better than actual French. Subtitles are encouraged. In the case of instrumentals, the introduction is your chance to get it across)
Production Value: /10 points
(this includes photography set and costume – maximum points for nouvelle vague jump cuts in a stripey shirt in a barge on the Seine going by the Eiffel Tower, for example...no extra points for smoking)
Bonus Tracks: Each participant’s first bonus track will be worth a maximum of 3 points, the second will be worth a maximum of 2 points, using arbitrary and subjective criteria. Subsequent Bonus Tracks will not count, but will be appreciated.
Judges: Well there’s me, and my buddy Fred has kindly volunteered
Fred is a better musician and a better French Speaker than I. He has worked as a English/French translator and as an arranger and player. I will try to lure in additional Frenchies if needed.
We also reserve the right to toss all the rules out and do a random drawing, but we’ll try to get it done right.
Deadline: 11:59 PM Sunday July 15, Hawaii Time (11:59AM, Monday July 16 Paris time)
Prizes: I will have some of these shipped directly from an online retailer, so if available:
1st prize: Ukulele Club de Paris CD Manuia!, or a toy accordion
2nd prize: whichever of the above the 1st place finisher doesn’t want
3rd prize: a pack of Martin strings for Concert/Soprano
Resources:
Here’s a big (6.6MB) pdf of 500+ French songs from user Milos on ukulele.fr by permission:
http://www.patacrep.com/data/documents/french.pdf
From Wikipedia:
"In France today "chanson" typically refers to the music of singers such as Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Jean Ferrat, Georges Brassens, Édith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Barbara, Serge Reggiani, Léo Ferré, Mireille Mathieu and Serge Gainsbourg. Chanson can be distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music by following the rhythms of French language, rather than those of English." Don't forget Claude Francois and Vincent Delerm and Jacques Dutronc...
For those of you digging up French Chord sheets online, they may be in “Solfege” rather than A-B C as we are accustomed to. Here’s how to convert:
C(do), D(re), E(mi), F(fa), G(sol), A(la), B(si) “dieze” means sharp and “molle” means flat.
I’m happy to be hosting this week, I’ve had a blast subjecting you all to my silly songs, so now I get to do some of the legwork..
In addition to paying tribute to all things Gallic, and to La Chanson in particular, I thought it might be a nice gesture to the many Seasonists who regularly contribute songs in English, despite it not being their first language. Our regular contributors include a few German speakers (including our illustrious founder Chrimess), a Portuguese speaking couple, and even a Tasmanian speaker, so this will be a chance to skew the playing field by encouraging a little parlay-voo. Also at least one of our regular participants is visiting France this week, and another just got back.
I thought it might also lure in some French speaking UU members who have not yet taken the dive into Seasons mania. Soyez les Bienvenus
Merde au troisième pouvoir! (break a leg)
PLAYLIST: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL33A9DF258DAC5CF6
THE RESULTS ARE IN
July 14th, Bastille Day, is next Saturday, so it’s France week, Ooh La La!
Here are the parameters:
A video of a single live take of a performance (doesn’t have to be the first take) with ukulele(s) front and center. No overdubs. Other instruments OK in a supporting role. Multiple players, singers OK.
Songs must mention France, be about France or a French person or object, or BE IN FRENCH, or be by a French artist. They don’t have to be pro-French.
You must say the magic words: "21st season of the Ukulele" or "vingt-et-uneième saison du ukulélé" and post the video in this thread before the deadline for it to count.
The First entry will be judged as the main entry, subsequent entries must be labeled as Bonus Tracks to be considered as such, otherwise they will be judged as the main entry and the first entry will be thrown out.
Instrumentals are encouraged.
Scoring will be as follows:
Musicianship / Arrangement /10 points
(your own compositions are encouraged and will score well here)
Singing (or Instrumental performance for non-singers) /10 Points
(this is vocal timing and tune, not language ability)
Je ne Sais Quoi: /10 Points
(not to be confused with Panache)
Frenchness: /10 Points
(this includes song choice, whether the song is sung in French, and subject matter. It will be impossible to excel in this category without singing in French, even phonetically, nonsense phonetic French might be as good or better than actual French. Subtitles are encouraged. In the case of instrumentals, the introduction is your chance to get it across)
Production Value: /10 points
(this includes photography set and costume – maximum points for nouvelle vague jump cuts in a stripey shirt in a barge on the Seine going by the Eiffel Tower, for example...no extra points for smoking)
Bonus Tracks: Each participant’s first bonus track will be worth a maximum of 3 points, the second will be worth a maximum of 2 points, using arbitrary and subjective criteria. Subsequent Bonus Tracks will not count, but will be appreciated.
Judges: Well there’s me, and my buddy Fred has kindly volunteered
Fred is a better musician and a better French Speaker than I. He has worked as a English/French translator and as an arranger and player. I will try to lure in additional Frenchies if needed.
We also reserve the right to toss all the rules out and do a random drawing, but we’ll try to get it done right.
Deadline: 11:59 PM Sunday July 15, Hawaii Time (11:59AM, Monday July 16 Paris time)
Prizes: I will have some of these shipped directly from an online retailer, so if available:
1st prize: Ukulele Club de Paris CD Manuia!, or a toy accordion
2nd prize: whichever of the above the 1st place finisher doesn’t want
3rd prize: a pack of Martin strings for Concert/Soprano
Resources:
Here’s a big (6.6MB) pdf of 500+ French songs from user Milos on ukulele.fr by permission:
http://www.patacrep.com/data/documents/french.pdf
From Wikipedia:
"In France today "chanson" typically refers to the music of singers such as Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Jean Ferrat, Georges Brassens, Édith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Barbara, Serge Reggiani, Léo Ferré, Mireille Mathieu and Serge Gainsbourg. Chanson can be distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music by following the rhythms of French language, rather than those of English." Don't forget Claude Francois and Vincent Delerm and Jacques Dutronc...
For those of you digging up French Chord sheets online, they may be in “Solfege” rather than A-B C as we are accustomed to. Here’s how to convert:
C(do), D(re), E(mi), F(fa), G(sol), A(la), B(si) “dieze” means sharp and “molle” means flat.
I’m happy to be hosting this week, I’ve had a blast subjecting you all to my silly songs, so now I get to do some of the legwork..
In addition to paying tribute to all things Gallic, and to La Chanson in particular, I thought it might be a nice gesture to the many Seasonists who regularly contribute songs in English, despite it not being their first language. Our regular contributors include a few German speakers (including our illustrious founder Chrimess), a Portuguese speaking couple, and even a Tasmanian speaker, so this will be a chance to skew the playing field by encouraging a little parlay-voo. Also at least one of our regular participants is visiting France this week, and another just got back.
I thought it might also lure in some French speaking UU members who have not yet taken the dive into Seasons mania. Soyez les Bienvenus
Merde au troisième pouvoir! (break a leg)
PLAYLIST: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL33A9DF258DAC5CF6
THE RESULTS ARE IN
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