I decided to create a blog about the popular European Genre of music known as Yé-yé. Mainly because of it's ever growing obscurity as time has moved forward. A large majority of people have never even heard of the genre nonetheless listened to it. Especially in the United States. Yé-yé music has had a very influential part in the history of what popular music is today and what it will some day evolve into eventually. Also Yé-yé has not only been influential in the evolution of popular music but also has had just as much, if not more, influence on music that has strayed away from the mainstream.




Yé-yé was a popular style of pop music that had emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from teenagers shouting "yeah! yeah!" at concert venues and while listening to the music genre to show enthusiasm. Yé-yé music was unique in a number of ways: first, it was the only musical movement so far to be spearheaded by females; second, it was a mostly European phenomenon, although it grew very popular in Japan in 1965. Yé-yé girls were always young (age 15 through 17 usually) and maintained an innocent public image which was perpetuated through the music.

Yé-yé girls were also sexy, in a deliberately naive way. Often Yé-yé lyrics and music were written by older male songwriters and sometimes would contain sexually suggestive themes and lyrics hidden in metaphors that were meant to sound innocent. A good example of this is featured in a song preformed by France Gall and written my famous Yé-yé singer/ songwriter Serge Gainsbourg called "Les sucettes" ("Lollipops") which include the lyrics "Annie loves lollipops, aniseed lollipops, when the sweet liquid runs down Annie's throat, she is in paradise." Due to France Gall's naivety as a young women she preformed the song never recognizing the hidden reference to fellatio until becoming a little older.



While the yé-yé movement was led by female singers, it was not an exclusively a movement for young women. The yé-yé masterminds (such as Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote several hits for France Gall, Petula Clark, and Brigitte Bardot, but was considerably older and came from a jazz background) were distinct from the actual yé-yé singers. These were harmless, romantic boys singing mostly ballads and love songs.

In this blog I will also touch on more topics than just Yé-yé artists and music exclusively. I will also write about some of the influences the music and culture has had on art, fashion and what the genre has contributed to music that would come to proceed Yé-yé. If you are interested please follow my blog and participate by adding comments and I will do my best to post music and related topics almost everyday.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Tiny Yong



Tiny Yong (born Thien Juong Ton Hu Thi on February 8th 1944) was born into a small family in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her family was Vietnamese but had settled in Cambodia at the time of her birth. Thien Huong's family moved back to their homeland of Vietnam. However, their stay there would be brief due to increasing tensions between North and South Vietnam in the late 1950s. Thien Juong and her family moved to France when she was a teenager. Her father, who was a doctor, resumed his medical career there, while her mother opened a Vietnamese restaurant.

Young Thien had set her sights set on becoming a performer. She began her career by acting in local theatre productions and cabaret. Her television debut came in 1961, with an appearance as Tai-Au in the film Marco Polo, and she followed it shortly afterwards in Le jeu de la verité. In both films, credits gave her name as Thien-Huong. In 1962 she duetted with Jean Philippe on Parfum celeste and sang on the soundtrack of the film L’oiseau de paradis.

She was spotted by Henri Salvador in 1963. The French star was eager to add more females to the roster of his Disques Salvador label. Henri signed her to his record label almost instantly, where her great choice of material and sweet vocals delighted yé-yé fans. This was the launch in her career that she needed.

Renamed Tiny Yong, the singer cut her first EP that year. It led with En rêve, a version of Roy Orbison’s In dreams, but Tais-toi petite folle – a cover of the Shirelles’ Foolish little girl – is generally regarded as the highlight of the release. Salvador himself helped write both of the other tracks on the EP. With frequent spins on the hip Salut les copains radio programme, the release became a chart hit in France.

Tiny continued making albums and taking small film roles here and there until she eventually just faded away the public eye. Not much is known about her after a few last appearances in a crime series known as Allô police on French television in the 1970's. It's strange how such a large majority of yé-yé girls disappeared into obscurity as soon as the Sixties had ended.





18 comments:

  1. cool!suppin bro :)
    check both my blogs are interesting! ;)

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  2. she's cute! and she seems to like dogs!

    i don't know about the last one but she looks good on the second video.

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  3. nice music, but I dont want it hear everytime ^^

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  4. you my friend good some serious posts! >=(

    check my poll, every vote is helpful. He said its gonna be huge.

    smoochies n' poopies :*

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  5. Showing my daily support I REALLY need yours aswell!

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  6. She is small and adorable. Music's not too shabby either :D

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  7. Following you. And I check every day. Hope you can too:
    http://saveithere.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete