The Bulgarian edition of Francofolies, the international festival of contemporary French music was restored by Blagoevgrad municipality in 2015 after an interruption of close to 25 years. It is a satellite edition of the biggest forum of its kind that has taken place in La Rochelle, France since 1985, but also in Montreal in Canada, Spa in Belgium, in New York, Buenos Aires and in Berlin. The line-up in Bulgaria in 2015 included Patricia Kaas, Patrick Bruel, the Caravan Palace electro-swing band, DJ Bob Sinclair and many others.

This year, one of the best-loved French bands Nouvelle Vagueand young French singer Isabelle Geffroy, better known as ZAZ will be performing on the open-air stage in Blagoevgrad on 18 June. Admission is free to this second edition of Francofolies, Blagoevgrad municipality officials say; city hall is producer of the event.

Nouvelle Vague was set up in 2004 by Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, both of them French jazz musicians. Here is what Marc Collin said for Radio Bulgaria:

“Nouvelle Vague is a music project in which the hits of the 1980s are arranged with a strong Brazilian Bossa Nova influence. Our first covers are punk and new wave; actually we had two options in terms of style - to keep the original version or to play around with the song so that even the original authors say they take their hats off to us. As to the project's name - actually nouvelle vague, Bossa Nova, new wave mean exactly the same thing in different languages,” says Marc Collin.

In 2005 their cover of the song I Melt with Youwas used in the soundtrack of the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith and in Grey's Anatomy. Their biggest hits include Guns of Brixton, Dance with Me, Love Will Tear Us Apart. The punk-Brazilian music-cinema formula has proved a success, as Nouvelle Vague have sold over 700,000 albums and have travelled the world to give concerts.

What makes this band different is that they use a rotating cast of female vocalists. They are coming to Bulgaria with two of them - Liset Alea and Melanie Pain. In their latest studio album Couleurs de Paristhe musicians pay tribute to French music of the 1980s. In Blagoevgrad they will be performing a mix of French and English songs, with a style of performance that they hope will be an unforgettable experience for the audience.

English version: Milena Daynova