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With the first sound of the accordion and piano, the stage of the Croatian House Split transforms this evening into the legendary Parisian cabaret Au Lapin Agile. Located on the steep streets of Montmartre, this oldest active Parisian cabaret (founded in the mid-19th century) was a refuge and inspiration for greats such as Picasso, Modigliani and Apollinaire. The art brought to us tonight by its resident performers, singers, musicians and actors in one, is a tradition that defies the modern customs of the entertainment industry.
The building in Montmartre is not a grandiose hall, but a rustic cottage filled with centuries-old paintings and memorabilia, and functions as an archive of Parisian bohemia. The name is a play on words – back in 1875, the cartoonist André Gill drew a rabbit jumping out of a frying pan (“Le Lapin à Gill” quickly became “Lapin Agile” or the Agile Rabbit) in street parlance. The authenticity of this space has not been preserved by merely preserving the walls, but by stubbornly rejecting the technological mediation of today. There is no stage, microphone or PA. It is a closed acoustic ecosystem in which the architecture of the small, cramped space directly conditions the performance: roles are constantly changing, singers become instrumentalists and narrators, and the audience is transformed from passive observer into active participant.
To truly understand the artistic weight of tonight's program, we must delve into the specific world of French chanson. For the French, chanson is not just entertainment music; it is high literature intended for singing. Due to its immense importance, French scholars (such as academic Stéphane Hirschi) have founded the scientific discipline of cantology, which studies chanson as an inseparable combination of poetry, music, and stage performance.
The key to this symbiosis lies in the French language itself. Unlike languages with strong accents on individual syllables within words (like Croatian or English), French has an even, flowing prosody in which only the end of a phrase is stressed. Because of this fluidity, the musical meter must never stifle the word. The melody must obey the natural rhythm of speech, expanding and contracting according to the text. This is why French chansonniers (chansonniers) rarely sing in the classical, bel canto sense. They act out the text, recite it, whisper and shout, using rubato to put interpretation ahead of vocal perfection.
The lyrics you will hear tonight are not abstract odes to sublime beauty. They are "asphalt poetry", created for the common man. The lyrics delve into the margins of society, outlining the nuances of life in the Parisian underworld, street urchins, marginalized people and passersby in unrequited love. The way in which the subject is approached is rarely a literal retelling; it rests on a series of seemingly banal images through which great existential themes are refracted.
For example, in Jacques Prévert's iconic Les Feuilles mortes (Dead Leaves), the autumn leaves being shoveled are not a mere description of nature, but a powerful, almost cruel metaphor for the transience of time. The chanson depicts a micro-situation: a rumpled bed, the sound of a street accordion, the smell of rain, all in order to evoke that recognizable Parisian spleen, a deep melancholy in which the bitterness of life and the insatiable thirst for romance are mixed.
Tonight's repertoire brings a carefully selected cross-section of this rich musical history. We will hear the roots of cabaret culture through the tunes of Aristide Bruant (Nini peau d'chien), the man who introduced Parisian street slang into poetry, but also Le Temps des cerises, a romance that became the unofficial anthem of the Paris Commune. This is followed by the golden age of anthological works by Édith Piaf (L'Hymne à l'amour), Charles Aznavour (Formidable) and Georges Brassens. Finally, as the Lapin Agile cabaret is not only the guardian of the past but also a living "Academy of French Song", the performers will also present their own original works, proving that the spirit of the chanson continues to create and resonate with modernity.
Although Parisian Montmartre and the Dalmatian coast are two completely different cultural and geographical microworlds, the practice of this kind of cabaret music making is incredibly close to the Mediterranean spirit. This is not about a direct musical similarity, but about the socio-musical function itself. The atmosphere in which the boundaries between performer and listener are erased, in which singing is done without technological aids, around a table and with a glass of wine, is somewhat reminiscent of the intimacy and spontaneity of a capella gatherings in old Dalmatian taverns. Both traditions, each in its own specific code, have preserved music as a means of direct emotional exchange and true togetherness.
So, tonight, forget about the strict rules of conduct in the concert hall. If you are carried away by a familiar melody, feel free to hum along; if you feel the need, clap in the middle of the song. Enter this Parisian musical living room and become part of the cabaret!
Petra Crnčević
My lover of Saint-Jean – Leon Agel / Emile Carrara
Kerchief – Folklore
Time cherries – JB Clément / A. Renard
A bicycle – Francis Lai / Pierre Barouh
Wonderful – Charles Aznavour / Jacques Plante
L'Hymne à l'amour – Edith Piaf / Marguerite Monnot
In Paris – Francis Lemarque
Dead leaves – Jacques Prévert / Joseph Kosma
Belleville Ménilmontant – Aristide Bruant
The storm – Georges Brassens
Distract yourself – Jutine Jérémie
A life – Michel Bergam
Around a lock – Michel Bergam
From Bouges to Cathedrals – Michel Bergam
The thing of the heart – Zoe Fottorino
If I were a man – Diane Tell
When we arrive in town – Luc Plamondon / Michel Berger
The Sky, the Sun and the Sea – François Deguelt
She was so pretty – Alain Barriere
The Spanish Boat – Léo Ferré
And of Lady and of Man – André Minvielle / Marc Perrone
Le Chant des Sardinières –Claude Michel
Padam – Henri Contet / Norbert Glanzberg
A long blonde braid – Michel Bergam / Jean-Claude Orfali
The Stranger – Léo Ferré
It was beautiful life. – Michel Bergam
The Song of Maxence – Michel Legrand
The Green Crocodile – Jean-Claude Orfali
Nini's dog skin – Aristide Bruant
On the Champs-Élysées – Pierre Delanoe
