Friday, October 9, 2009

For Friday night: Je suis swing!

 Very expressive cover of Johnny Hess' 1940 hit, performed by a Belgian band in 1993.
The Zazous, Wiki tells us, were a subculture in France during World War II. They were young people expressing their individuality by wearing big or garish clothing (similar to the zoot suit fashion in America a few years before) and dancing wildly to swing jazz and bebop. Men wore large lumber jackets, while women wore short skirts, striped stockings and heavy shoes, and often carried umbrellas. The Vichy regime tried hard to suppress the movement - but their music is still alive.

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