The French Have Soul, Ben L’Oncle Soul

If we forget about the unbearable heat and stench, summers in Paris have a lot to offer between film and music festivals, Paris Plage, open-air cinemas, and free concerts. In the square in front of the City Hall of the 3rd arrondissement, a series of open-air concerts were organized from June 21-July 14 as part of their Festival Soirs d’Ete (Summer Nights Festival). All of the bands were unknown to me except one soulful Frenchie, Ben L’Oncle Soul, a burgeoning singer best known for his covers of “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, “Seven Nation Army” originally by The White Stripes and “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry.

Influenced by soul music from the 60’s and 70’s (as best illustrated by “Soul Wash”, his first EP), Ben was discovered by the French division of Motown France and has been touring the country since March. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to mistake him for a native English speaker as his sound is very much reminiscent of his predecessors, a combination of Ray Charles, Al Green, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. His full album is a mix of songs in English and French and a real departure from much of what occupies the air waves in France.

I caught up with Ben before Friday’s concert and asked him how it was that his English was so impeccable.

“I don’t actually speak English”, he said. “I don’t have a parent that is Anglo-Saxon or a professor of English, it’s all imitation.” “How is it that you speak French so well?”, he asked me. Well, that’s another story.

Throughout the concert he made sure to drop English expressions in between verses and in between songs just to drive home the idea that his image as a modern day “Soulman” was authentic. With other unique covers like “Barbie Girl” and “Say You’ll Be There” by the Spice Girls, it’s only a matter of time before Ben gets noticed abroad as the Frenchie with soul.

I would have liked to film the entire concert but my camera died and I was being pushed around by the crowd. However, with the help of Mr. Cheeseland, I did put together a video of a few of the songs he performed at the concert. (Please forgive the unsteady camera at certain points). If you are reading this in your email inbox, go directly to the blog to view the video that will appear below this message!