While Jamaican dub beats and Bob Marley's posthumous influence continue to inspire new bands on the French music scene, French reggae - which enjoyed a spectacular take-off a decade ago - is currently in a state of transition; where Dub Inc have emerged as the figureheads of a much-needed French reggae revival.

There's no rest for the wicked - or even badtempered rock chicks - it seems! The minute she wound up the successful tour that followed her acclaimed debut album, Mademoiselle K had to hotfoot it straight back into the studio to work on a follow-up. No wonder she called her new album Jamais la paix...

This year the Sakifo festival kicked off at Port-Louis, Mauritius, before moving to Saint Pierre on the south end of Réunion Island. The festival's six stages played host to over fifty different concerts. Sakifo's success ever since its debut is largely down to its balanced and consistent programming.

French Canadian Félix Leclerc was the consummate artist. He was a composer, author, singer, poet, chansonnier, and even an actor. Twenty years after his death his legacy remains huge.

3 Ma, an album whose creators describe it as “a trans-African project for strings”, features a talented trio of musicians from Madagascar, Mali and Morocco.

The 2008 edition of Francofolies is bigger, better and more charged with history than ever. RFI Musique joins in the fun as French Canada marks ...

Dick Rivers, the French sixties star renowned for his Elvis-style posturing and his fascination with rock'n'roll, is a changed man. His new album, L’homme sans âge (featuring music and lyrics by Joseph d’Anvers) finds the former rocker tapping into a melancholy country vein.

Vincent Kenis works with Marc Hollander on the seminal indie label Crammed Discs but is perhaps best-known as musicologist and for pioneering "trad-modern" Congolese sounds.

Bumcello have proved to be a highly versatile double act over the years. Now on their sixth opus, Lychee Queen, Vincent Ségal and Cyril Atef embark on a new musical adventure, heading off to soak up cool Californian sounds and experimental soul influences on America's West Coast.

In 1977, a relatively unknown French singer by the name of Laurent Voulzy was catapulted to overnight fame thanks to the chart-topping single Rockollection (written in collaboration with Alain Souchon).

Veteran French blues star Bill Deraime makes a welcome return this month with Bouge Encore, an album featuring reorchestrated versions of his old hits and a series of brand new songs. ...

After having been made available for free listening online the day before yesterday, Carla Bruni's new album Comme si de rien n’était is officially released in record stores today Friday,...

On Yakaar, the first album of their career to be released internationally, Les Frères Guissé explore full musical diversity, playing a wide spectrum of Peulh rhythms as well as touching...

Invisible Worlds, the fifth album from the Nantes-based fusion group Mukta, continues to meld elements of jazz with traditional Indian sounds. Over the past decade, Mukta - the group's...

Christophe re-emerged in 2001 with his album Comm’ si la terre penchait, the prelude to his historic comeback on the live circuit. Now, seven years on, ...

Four years after her explosive debut album, Codification, Laetitia Shériff has hit the ground running with her eagerly-awaited follow-up, Games Over.

Papa Wemba, aware of his ongoing status as one of the Congolese music scene's most successful exports ever, has decided to share his decades of experience with his young compatriots.

On June 21st music fans across the planet will be out on the streets in force, taking part in the 27th edition of the Fête de la Musique. Since the French invented this annual music celebration, the phenomenon...

On the compelling fusion album Kalashnik Love, Algerian oud-player Mehdi Haddab guides his new trio, Speed Caravan, through a rock'n'roll reworking of the classics.

Pedro Winter (the manager of Daft Punk and the man who discovered hot new French dance act Justice) swears Tahiti Boy is the Next Big Thing.

On his new album L’Homme du Monde, Arthur H has gone off on a wildly different tangent, abandoning the gentle piano melancholy of Adieu Tristesse to soak up a burst of solar guitar energy and 'joie de vivre.

It has been seven years since that globe-trotting activist Manu Chao embarked on a major French tour. True, Mr. Chao has sporadically popped up at local bars, ...

Not quite a silver jubilee, but still a rare milestone in the French rap world - those legendary Marseillais superstars IAM celebrate the 20th anniversary of their career this year with the same line-up they started out with. The group ...

The bass may be his chosen instrument in life - and the one on which he has built his reputation as a jazzman - but Etienne Mbappé did not want his second solo offering, ...

Wasis Diop, poetic songwriter and musical mystic, is viewed as something of an outsider in his native Senegal. But that is just the way it suits him.

Eight years after his last studio album, L’Echo des étoiles, Maxime Le Forestier has made a welcome comeback to the French music scene. His new album - Restons amants (Let's stay lovers!) ...

After kicking off his new tour with two concerts at the legendary Olympia, in Paris, at the beginning of May, Georges Moustaki is back in the spotlight with a sparkling new album, ...

Never in music history has the Eurovision song contest caused such a furore in France. And all because of a young bearded electro-pop wonder by the name of Sébastien Tellier!

Céline Dion has been safely ensconced in Las Vegas for the past five years. But Quebec's big-voiced diva has finally hit the road again on an eagerly-anticipated tour.

Rokia Traore's new album, Tchamantché, is a bold and courageous move. After all, it is a rare thing for an international-selling artist to change the winning formula that brought them chart success.

After a seven-year absence on the recording front, Yves Duteil, the multi-platinum disc-winning singer who immortalised Petit pont de bois and La Tarentelle, ...

Considered by many to be the latest music sensation, Ibrahim Maalouf lends new momentum to the world of jazz with the oriental-jazz sounds of his trumpet, coloured with electronic music. An all-round instrumentalist,...

On Monday March 31st, Fabien Marsaud - better known to slam fans as Grand Corps Malade - was one of the morning’s first customers at the Virgin Megastore in Saint-Denis.

With La Grande Ouverture, their third album in ten years, Sacre du Tympan confirm their dazzling style, bringing singers like M, ...

The pianist Martial Solal, who has just celebrated his 80th birthday, mixes tradition and avant-garde in his highly creative pieces. His most recent work, Longitude, ...

At a time ripe with retrospectives and anthologies of Nigerian music, Seun Kuti, son of super-famous Fela, has brought out his first album, Many Things.

Cult Belgian rock band Deus - soon to be celebrating the 20th year of their career - are currently back in the spotlight with their fifth album, Vantage Point. ...

Albin de la Simone, renowned for playing keyboards with Vanessa Paradis and a number of other music stars, is now a respected solo artist in his own right.

After several years living in Berlin, Gonzales relocated to Paris in 2004 and since then the Canadian has found himself in great demand, arranging albums for Philippe Katerine, ...

Three years after breaking onto the music scene with her last album Le Fil, Camille proves she is as musically innovative and vocally audacious as ever. Her new album, ...