RIP Gabriel Yacoub from Malicorne
The singer-songwriter, pioneer of the French folk revival, died at 72
The other day, I was researching music to play during my radio show - The Locomotion, it’s in French and sometimes in English - and I ended up listening to two full albums from Gabriel Yacoub, because of one single mention from my guests Bourrasque. The first album was Almanach, Malicorne’s magnum opus from 1976 and the other was new to me: a duet album between Gabriel Yacoub and his then-wife, Marie Sauvet, named Pierre de Grenoble, recorded right before they started their band Malicorne. Both are very nice.
A few days later, it was announced that Gabriel Yacoub died in his home on January 22. As sad as this news is, it’s also a perfect occasion to introduce you to the French Folk Revival.
Gabriel Yacoub was born in Paris in 1952 from a Lebanese father and a French mother. As a child, Gabriel became obsessed by The Beatles and, later on, British and American folk music. He naturally started his own band at 17, the New Ragged Company, to play covers of American folk music, before transitioning to something that will become his life statement: traditional music of French regions. But he wasn’t alone.
He played with René Werneer, a classical violinist who will become influent in the Celtic music scene. And they became good friend with Alan Stivell, the leading man in Breton music, touring for a while with him, playing at his festivals, etc. I haven’t talked much about Breton music on here but that’s for another day because Gabriel Yacoub was more interested in the music from the central regions.
Frenchsplaining the French Folk Revival
In the seventies, a bunch of French musicians became obsessed by the old songs from the French folklore. Music critics have dubbed it the Folk Revival, following the American folk music revival led by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, among other musicians, between the 40’s and the mid-60’s. Funny coincidence: those musicians are portrayed as antagonists in the new Bob Dylan biopic A Perfect Unknown. The French Folk revival happened right after, between 1964 and 1982, according to Valérie Rouvière in her master’s thesis. You might know a couple of bands like Mont-Jòia, Mélusine, Tri Yann, Alan Stivell and of course Malicorne !
If you read I Only Listen to French Music regularly, as you should, you know I talk quite often about current musicians inspired by the traditional folk repertoire, adapting collected works from the past. Gabriel Yacoub, Malicorne and the rest of the French folk revival made a clear point that they never intended to reproduce what was made before. Their intent was to create something new with forgotten songs. Gabriel Yacoub declared his goal was to “normalized traditional music instead of preserving it”. The result is more likely to sound like to British psychedelic folk than actual French traditional music.
Gabriel & Marie from Malicorne
Gabriel and Marie Yacoub started Malicorne after releasing their first album recorded as a couple. Pierre de Grenoble [trad: Pierre from Grenoble] is a gorgeous experimental record from 1973, with a bunch of renown musicians, including the guitarist Dan Ar Braz. Named after the eponymous traditional song from the Dauphiné region: a former province that was overlapping with most of the current French territory in the Alps (minus the Duchy of Savoy of course that was neither French nor Italian up until 1847). After the unexpected success of the record, they needed a band to tour. That’s how Malicorne was born.
The first official record from Malicorne was released a year later, in 1974. It’s a pleasant affair but not essential as it lacks most of Malicorne’s well-known traits. But don’t sleep on their second album, sometimes named Le Mariage Anglais [trad: The English Wedding] after a traditional song about the marriage between Henrietta Maria of France and the future King of England Charles I on 1625. Le Mariage Anglais is their second biggest success with 100 000 records sold and the beginning of their particular style of progressive folk, when they added polyphonic singing and old-ass instruments.
Malicorne released an album almost every year between 1974 and 1981 (they skipped 1980). As I said, their magnum opus is the third one: Almanach, a concept album about “the magical practices directly related to the twelve months of the year”. Like a calendar with 12 tracks. Released in 1976, it’s their biggest success with 500 000 units sold. Here’s a cheap music video of their best song, sung by Marie Sauvet, sounding like it’s straight from Led Zeppelin IV.
Malicorne love concept albums! They also have one about animals, Le bestiaire [trad: The bestiary], and another named L'Extraordinaire Tour de France d'Adélard Rousseau, dit Nivernais la clef des cœurs, Compagnon charpentier du devoir about a compagnon* carpenter travelling around France. Just a good excuse to sing songs from everywhere.
Their 8th and final album, Les cathédrales de l'industrie [trad: The Cathedrals of Industry] was released in 1986. Heavily inspired by Peter Gabriel’s music, it’s almost a solo record from Gabriel Yacoub, without any traditional song. Marie was still there tho. The second track, Dormeur [trad: Sleeper] is a banger.
Surprisingly, their entire discography is available on Bandcamp. Even Spotify doesn’t have everything.
Solo career and Malicorne’s comeback
On the second part of his career, Gabriel Yacoub wrote is own songs, still on the folk-rock register. Sadly, his solo act didn’t get much attention compared to Malicorne’s initial run. Probably because it’s pretty bland.
He also recorded a song in one of les Ogres de Barback’s albums for children and another for the soundtrack for Le peuple migrateur [Winged Migration], a 2001 documentary about migrating birds around the world.
Malicorne came back as a full band in 2010 for a concert after more than 20 years of inactivity. After that, they continued to tour for a while with Gabriel, Marie and the original members. A new record was announced but never published. Malicorne played their last show in 2017. Gabriel Yacoub died 7 years later, in Bourges. He was 72.
Five years ago, I wouldn’t have written this post as I wasn’t interested in French folk music that much. I’m glad I’ve fell into the well since then. I’ve interviewed my fair share of young traditional musicians from France and most of them had a nice thing to say about Malicorne.
If you want to listen a good sample of Gabriel Yacoub’s music you can listen to Planète Ocora’s tribute show, with interviews from his ex-wife Marie Sauvet and journalist Philippe Krümm. Planète Ocora is a radio show from our public service broadcaster about traditional music in France and in the world. It’s usually very good.