Yé-yé
| Yé-yé | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 1960s, Southern Europe |
| Typical instruments | |
| Derivative forms | |
| Other topics | |
| Jovem Guarda | |
Yé-yé (French pronunciation: [jeje]) was a style of pop music that emerged from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" was derived from the English term "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as the Beatles. The style expanded worldwide, due to the success of figures such as the French singer-songwriters Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy.
The yé-yé movement had its origins in the radio programme Salut les copains (loosely translated as "hello mates" or "hello pals"), created by Jean Frydman and hosted by Daniel Filipacchi and Frank Ténot, which was first aired in December 1959. In fact the phrase "Salut les copains" dates back to the title of a 1957 song by Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë, who had little regard for the yé-yé music the radio show typically featured. The program became an immediate success and one of its sections ("le chouchou de la semaine" / "this week's sweetheart") became the starting point for most yé-yé singers. Any song that was presented as a chouchou went straight to the top places in the charts. The Salut les copains phenomenon continued with the magazine of the same name, which was first published in 1962 in France, with German, Spanish and Italian ("Ciao Amici") editions following shortly afterward.
Radios were practicing a real hype, much more than today. We, the singers, were much, much less numerous than today - and there were fewer radios. It was also the heyday of Salut les copains, and the press played an extremely important role, it could promote beginners. I remember being in the first page of Paris Match very quickly, without being very well known or doing anything special for that; this would no longer be possible nowadays. In fact, in the 1960s, we saw the advent of the mass media. At the same time, fashion had assumed a considerable importance, which it had never before had. Singers like me became emblems of fashion, in addition to chanson, which helped to maintain notoriety.
—Françoise Hardy, Télérama, 2012.
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