Artificial Intelligence in French Pop music?

 

We had an entire program composed with "female singer with a Paris flair" songs entirely creayed by AI. The problems? Who gets paid? Who gets royalties? How about the droits d'auteurs? While discussions about AI-generated tracks into music platforms (whether by potential AI artists or now by users themselves) seem endless, TikTok has been invaded for the past few months by a new trend: transforming text messages from loved ones in songs! An american mother garnered nearly 10 million view by converting her 11-year-old daughter's messages ("All I want for Christmas is Snapchat" or "Mom, why aren't you responding?" or "Don't you enjoy Mother Nature?" - "No mom, I prefer Father Ipad") into a pop-punk hit, while others transform exchanges with their manager on Slack into gospel songs or awkward attempts to contact their exes into musicals...

In short, the best (and especially the worst) is now possible thanks to   EasyMusic, Suno, Mureka, Udio, ElevenLabs and many others, while are embroiled in a copyright dispute with part of the music indistry. Ben Sisario reporter at The New York Times states in an article of July 13, 2026 that "the French Streaming Deezer announced that at least 75,000 A.I.-generated tracks - nearly half its daily intake - are uploaded to its system, most of them low-quality slop that are never listened to."

On top of that, as far as I am concerned, AI ["IA" Intelligence Artificielle in French] is not very creative, all the songs sound the same. Not very intelligent if you ask me. 

Go to Conversations to hear a show I programmed with only AI songs and let me know what you think.

 

 

We will eventually upload all these conversations and promotions.

Please requests them if interested.

 

Alan Stivell 810805; Alexandrer Lagoya, Claude Bolling 800515; Antonine Maillet "Prix Goncourt 79" 840410; Brigitte Fosey; Catherine Deneuve "Le dernier metro" 800510; Charles Aznavour at the Concord Pavilion 790820; Claude Baudoin "Bear Valley" 821215; Claude Berry "Dans un moment d'égarement" 781010; Claude Bolling, Alexandre Lagoya  800515; Claude Lelouch "Les Uns et les Autres" 810615; Claude Lelouch "Robert Robert" 781010; Claude Lelouch "Toute une vie" 760710; Cleo Restaurant Berkeley promo - Kathy Ortega; Enrico Macias 811105; Eugene Ionesco 780316; Francois Truffaut "Le dernier métro" 800510; François Truffaut français 800510; Herb Caen promo RaC; Jacques Yvart "speaks of Brassens" 811030; Jean Francois Paillard 790601; Jeanne d'Arc ship sailing out of San Francisco; Jeanne Moreau 820801; Josephine Araldo - SF Chefs 771030; KCSM - Kathy & Robert; KFJC - Kathy & Robert; KQED - Kathy & Robert; Kronenbourg beer promo; Marcel Azola 821012; Maurice André 771205; Michel Debost - Paris Chamber 801116; Michel Drach "Le pullover rouge"; Michel Folon 881014; Michel Legrand 800525; Mireille Mathieu 820415; Nana Mouskouri 780505; Philippe Entremont 800515; President François Mitterand 840326; Quebec à la Carte by Gabrielle; Quebec a la Carte KTYM Los Angeles; Queen Ida; RaC theme by baby Fabienne; RaC theme - Radio over; San Francisco à la Carte; Serendipity Tavel agency Promo; The Brussels Restaurant promo Lafayette; Yves Montand 821012; Yves Montand 781010.

Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.

 

Emmanuel on stage with Stephane  Grapelli at Paul Mason Winery,

Saratoga, August 10, 1979  [7:17 minutes] Photo by SF Chronicle.

Herb Caen was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love letter to San Francisco"—appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle for almost sixty years and made him a household name throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Herb Caen was an avid supporter of our French Radio program and created a few promotions including this one.

Photo by Nancy Wong.

 

Promo - RaC Herb Caen, circa 1978 - [1 minute]

Conversation with Savilia Blunk - a Mountain biker  from Inverness - who raced in the Olympics in Paris [finished 12th] and was ready to compete in Andorra - a small country in high altitude nestled in the Pyrenées between France and Spain. [UPDATE: she finished 8th in both of her races]

 

[August 30th, 2024 - 18:37 minutes]

    Stacey Kent (born 1965) is an American jazz singer from New Jersey. She was nominated for a Grammy Award and was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture in 2009.[3] She is married to saxophonist and composer Jim Tomlison who produces her albums and writes songs for her with his lyricist partner, novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.

    She spoke to me while checking at their hotel in Spain sharing mostly her French album with us while on tour.

Stacey Kent, November 26, 2023, 22 minutes

The Abeo Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2018, was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet from 2021-2023. The members of the quartet are violinists Njioma Grevious and Rebecca Benjamin, violist James Kang and newest member, cellist Macintyre Taback.

Recent highlights have included performances at Music@Menlo, the Schneider Concert Series, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and collaborations with members of the Calidore and Dover string quartets. In March 2024, Abeo returned to perform at the Kennedy Center.

I had a conversation with Njioma and Macintyre before their performances in Inverness.

 

Abeo Quartet, November 22, 2024, 22 minutes

Conversation with Ian Maksin, cellist, composer and multilingual vocalist prior to his coming to Inverness, CA, December 28 & 29, 2024.

 

Recorded Dec. 18, 2024                                                                        28:30 minutes 

I had a conversation with Mohini Dey all the way in Mumbai, India, the only female in the top ten most important Bass players of the 21st Century. She performed in Point Reyes Station on January 25. 

 

Recorded in early January 2025                                                                                                      28:30 minutes

Pierre Bensusan is a French-Algerian acoustic guitarist. As Sephardic Jews, his family came from Spain, Spanish Morocco, and French Algeria. His music has been characterized as Celtic, folk, world music, New-age, and chamber jazz. He has published three books of music and tablature. He plays in DADGAD tuning.

 

French conversation recorded late May 2025                                             26:44 minutes.

Plagiarism or just borrowing the tune of one of Charles Aznavour song? The following singers used the melody of "Parceque tu crois": Bitter Sweet [Laundry], Dr. Drê [What's the difference?], Faf Larage [T'es moyen], Hugel [W.T.F.], Tragêdie [L'art du corps et du coeur], and Indila [Dernière danse]

 

Charles Aznavour song, produced June 5, 2025                                                    9:34

Conversation with with jazz pianist and composer Jahari Stampley

 

July 3, 2025                                                                                               20:30

Serene, pianist experimentalist

 

February 25, 2025                                                   28:31

Conversation with Hungarian pianist, composer, and educator Zsigmond Gerlóczy. Based in Budapest and praised for his innovative artistry, Gerlóczy is known for his compelling performances and pioneering work as both a soloist and collaborator. He is also an active educator, I connected with him teaching piano, composition, and theory at Swarnabhoomi Music Academy in Chennai, India.

 

Recorded August 1, 2025                                                                                    23:09

Conversation with Ugo Bienvenu about his animé film ARCO .

Ugo Bienvenu is a French illustrator, director, screenwriter, comic book author, producer, publisher, artistic director, and entrepreneur.

As an artistic director, he works mainly for Hermès and Chanel. ARCO, his first feature film, is included in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

I was privileged to spend a few minutes with Mr. Bienvenu speaking about this magical and beautifully animated journey through time. ARCO [name of the young boy] is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who sneakily travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with a young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two children may also be the only ones who can save our planet. 

As Mr. Bienvenu told me, it is a movie to see again and again like Snow White, Peter Pan or Pinocchio. 

 

Recorded January 25, 2026                                    14:45 minutes

Gautier Capuçon's cello becomes the voice of the Earth in an inspired album of world premiere recordings: Gaïa. Uniting seventeen original contributions by sixteen contemporary composers, this project sets out to explore humanity's relationship to nature through a multifaceted lens, drawing from different musical genres, aesthetics, and cultural influences as well as the formidable contrasts of the natural world.

 

Recorded January 19, 2026                                                                                22:44 minutes

Conversation with Oliver Laxe about his film Sirāt

 

A father (Sergi López) and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They are searching for Mar — daughter and sister — who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading, but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits.

 

The film has been nominated in the Foreign film and best sound categories.

 

Recorded February 13, 2026                                                         27:17 minutes

Norwegian saxophonist Håkon Kornstad uses instrumental skill, live looping, and his imagination to become a one-man orchestra, creating minimalist grooves, freeform elegies, eastern mysticism, and jazz balladry. Adding his newly trained operatic tenor voice, he brings forth an unprecedented sound, merging jazz improvisation with the grandeur of opera. He is the tenor who plays tenor saxophone.

 

Recorded March 20, 2026                                                                                24:02 minutes

UNDER CONSTRUCTION, many more conversations to come!

Please come back soon!

BEAUCOUP D'AUTRES CONVERSATIONS à venir!

Revenez vite!

Artificial Intelligence in French Pop music? We had an entire program composed with "female singer with a Paris flair" songs entirely creayed by AI. The problems? Who gets paid? Who gets royalties? How about the droits d'auteurs? Plus, they all sound the same! Let me know what you think

 

Recorded - june 5 - 2026                                                                                 60 minutes

Coming Soon

 

Recorded -                                                                                 - minutes

Myriam is a French woman pedalling solo from Calgary Canada to South America, at her own pace with a budget of $20/day. It is not her first trip: a couple of years ago she traveled from France through Spain, Portugal, Morocco to end up in Sénégal. Here is a conversation we had while she was traveling through Point Reyes Station.

 

Recorded October 16, 2026                                                                                                                  15 minutes