Poetic music of Grand Corps Malade

I WAS browsing around a few internet music sites recently and crossed a French musician whose work is so different to that you normally hear.

Fabien Marsaud is described as a slam poet and works under the name Grand Corps Malade, a reference to an accident that means he now has difficulty walking.

He usually performs his distinctive poetry in the bars and cafes of Paris, and it draws an influence from rap music but also the classics of French literature.

Naturally Grand Corps Malade uses the language of the streets and phrases that are well beyond my understanding of French, but you can easily pick up what lies at the heart of his work.

There are a number of audio clips on the website of Fabien Marsaud, some with music in the background some without, but each one has a real presence that can stop you in your tracks.

Comments

[Frederic]

This artist is awesome and released a magnific album.
I was surprised to find him on your website and glad you talk about him on such a web page !

Unfortunately (or fortunately if it helps you learn the language !) the force and beauty of this disc lies in the lyrics.
I think it is very difficult for a non French speaker to appreciate the CD.

But again, it is an incentive to learn !

Frederic

[Geoff]

Merci Frédéric pour les mots d'encouragement. Cependant j'ai trouvé vos commentaires un peu ennuyer. Vous supposez que tous les gens non-français ont la difficulté avec français. Ce n'est pas toujours le cas. Je suggère que ce serait une bonne idée que vous ne généralisez pas dans complètement la même manière jusqu'à ce que vous ayez réparti la capacité des lecteurs que vous vous adressez.

@ +

Geoff

[brunehilde]

Hello,
I found out about this great album few weeks ago, and I definitely agree with you, it is fantastic! I also sort of agree with Frederic : the lyrics are great and it is unfortunate that everyone can't apreciate all the beauty of the expression. As you said, he "uses the language of the streets" so it is normal for a non-french SPEAKER (not a non-french, because I couldn't agree more on the fact that some non-french people speak an extreeeemly good french) not to understand the strange expressions. I myself (even though I am not the best reference) as a native french speaker do not understand some parts of his songs.
Well anyway, the point of my message was originaly that this singer is really different from all the "new great singers", and that I've never seen (heard in fact) a text with more emotion in it.
I hope that this web site will make other people discover this great artist.
Good luck with your "french life",
yours sincerely
Brunehilde

[Will D]

Grand Corps Malade is a real poet but with such a modern voice, very inspiring! I've translated a few of his lines on my blog, some more to come, check it out:

http://renouvellement.wordpress.com/