CABARET IS NOT AN ACADEMIC SUBJECT

Photo: Danielle Darrieux.

EVEN PIAF WAS NOT A CABARET SINGER!

Edith Piaf started as a very poor and obscure cabaret singer at the very beginning of her career, when she was homeless and penniless.  At a very early age, when she was unknown, she sang in low class “boites de nuits”. Once discovered, she categorically refused to sing in Cabarets and strongly refused to be called a “Cabaret Singer”. All her future performances will take place at France’s most prestigious theaters and stages. Never again, to sing in a Cabaret! To “understand” and “feel” what a CABARET IS, one must be a part of it or at least must have frequented it in its traditional, original and authentic aspect and setting. Cabaret is not an academic subject we study in a university. Cabaret as a theme and as a “human reality” cannot be studied, understood and felt by reading about it or, occasionally attending one of its contemporary acts in ritzy nightclubs and spots in New York or California.  For, we are going to see and learn that the majority of American Cabaret artists, performers, singers, musicians, critics and public alike in America did not grasp the true essence, spirit, business, objectives, mechanism and troubles of the REAL and TRADITIONAL CABARET  which was created and originated in France and Germany! The folks in the United States misinterpreted and misunderstood what an original cabaret was or is. In fact, there is no “true” Cabaret in America. Through out this essay, you will realize that what is portrayed and defined as a CABARET in America is in fact everything but CABARET! The majority of artists, performers and writers in America believe that if a singer is singing songs by Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Jacques Brel, Juliette Greco, Catherine Sauvage, Mistinguet or Barbara, her repertoire by itself would de facto create a Cabaret ambience, and her act would become a Cabaret act. Unfortunately, this is not quite accurate, for Cabaret (as we shall see later) demands more than singing French songs and communicating with the audience in an intimate and cozy setting and manner!

 

 

Continues on the next page.