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French

360 Pick: Rotary Downs Plays On

Arts, Culture & Media

Hurricanes and oil spills won’t stopthis New Orleans band. They embrace city’s gumbo-like spirit layering each tune with a jillion textures and the odd horn riff. Through it all, they never lose their rock n’roll cred. Take ‘Montrez-Vous:’ it’s got a seriously danceable hard-driving percussion but also includes xylophone, cowbell, maracas, bongos, organ, and a […]

Agnès Varda and JR

Agnès Varda and JR are strange bedfellows

Arts
Amadou and Mariam

Live in studio: Amadou & Mariam (& Kurt)

Arts
The band members of Bokanté hail from four continents, and their music draws influences from Caribbean rhythms, West African music, and Mississippi Delta blues.

Bokanté serves up songs in the key of Creole

Culture
Dancer Link Berthomieux says that when French people use the English word ‘black,’ “It’s a trendy way to say ‘noir.’”

Why the English word ‘black’ became the new ‘noir’ in France

Culture
Acadieman is a French Acadian superhero (or perhaps anti-superhero) who speaks Chiac.

Purists don’t like this mix of Acadian French and English, but it may be helping the French language in Canada

Culture

If you want to upset French language purists, learn to speak Chiac. It’s a dialect of Acadian French spoken in New Brunswick that borrows liberally from English. Even as other North American dialects and languages are vanishing, Chiac seems to be sticking around.

Thomas Piketty, the French economist behind President Francois Hollande's plan to tax the wealthy has won acclaim in the US for his work on growing income inequality

A French economist becomes a rock star in the US for writing on the growing gap between rich and poor

Business, Economics and Jobs

Many in France are bemused by the sudden rise to fame in the US of French economist Thomas Piketty. Piketty’s analysis that rising income inequality is bad for the global economy just doesn’t seem so astonishingly new to the French.Many in France are bemused by the sudden rise to fame in the US of French economist Thomas Piketty. Piketty’s analysis that rising income inequality is bad for the global economy just doesn’t seem so astonishingly new to the French.

Le Rencontre, a French-speaking meetup at the Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston, Maine.

In Maine, a little French goes a long way

Arts, Culture & Media

Fifty years ago, kids caught speaking French in Maine schools might be punished. Today, schools are teaching it to help young people regain their heritage, in a state where 20 percent have a Franco-American background.Fifty years ago, kids caught speaking French in Maine schools might be punished. Today, schools are teaching it to help young people regain their heritage, in a state where 20 percent have a Franco-American background.

Gold medalist Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada poses with silver medalist Chloe Dufour-Lapointe. The sisters competed in the women's freestyle skiing moguls at the Sochi Winter Olympics. A Canadian TV host criticized how CBC announcers were pronouncing t

During the Olympics, Canadians are willing to drop their language arguments

Arts, Culture & Media

When a TV host criticized other announcers for their “pretentious” pronunciations of French names during the Olympics, Canadians of all stripes got upset. For once, the language card didn’t work in Canada.

Julie Gayet at Deauville

What the French president’s affair and separation say about love, politics and French culture

Arts, Culture & Media

This weekend, French President François Hollande confirmed that he is separating from his partner Valérie Trierweiler. The French seemed to shrug at the news of Hollande’s affair with actress Julie Gayet, seeing love and politics as separate. But France’s neighbors and its former colonies don’t necessarily agree.