Raquel Bitton (singer)
Encyclopedia
Raquel Bitton is a critically acclaimed French
jazz
singer and interpreter of Edith Piaf
's songs.
Bitton's hit show, “Raquel Bitton sings Piaf - her story, her songs” has been performed across North America including selling out Carnegie Hall
. Critic Ann Powers, writing in the New York Times, liked Bitton's low-key treatment as she "served her subject by de-emphasizing the pathos in favour of the craft", using "calm narration". Bitton "did well to concentrate on the great singer as a virtuoso rather than a heroine" as the legend was impossible to live up to, but "a bright interpreter like Ms. Bitton certainly can illuminate it", wrote Powers.
The show “PIAF- her story, her songs” was made into a film which won first place at the 25th Classic Telly awards, and received the Special Jury Award for most moving film experience at The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer and interpreter of Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
's songs.
Life and career
As a teenager in 1970, Bitton moved to San Francisco, where she began to work on the songs from the French Age d’Or ('Golden Age'). Her passion for music and song led her to the Edith Piaf songbook. Bitton became a renowned interpreter of Edith Piaf's music.Bitton's hit show, “Raquel Bitton sings Piaf - her story, her songs” has been performed across North America including selling out Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. Critic Ann Powers, writing in the New York Times, liked Bitton's low-key treatment as she "served her subject by de-emphasizing the pathos in favour of the craft", using "calm narration". Bitton "did well to concentrate on the great singer as a virtuoso rather than a heroine" as the legend was impossible to live up to, but "a bright interpreter like Ms. Bitton certainly can illuminate it", wrote Powers.
The show “PIAF- her story, her songs” was made into a film which won first place at the 25th Classic Telly awards, and received the Special Jury Award for most moving film experience at The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Reception
Critic Barry Singer wrote, "Where singers are concerned, imitation ... is never solely an act of homage, however inspired by admiration." Bitton, Singer continued, "is, to put it mildly, stuck on Edith Piaf", and he lists Bitton's Piaf-focused activities: a radio show; a TV documentary; a play; the scenario for a ballet; and "most decisively, learned to sing very much like her idol". The result is eerie, as Bitton performs with "exacting verisimilitude" and "unmistakable passion", "the requisite fierceness of elocution, fluttery intensity of vibrato, and R's rolled like a flotilla of drunken sailors", and "more than a touch of ghoulishness", wrote Singer. The problem is that in so meticulously recreating Piaf's sound, Bitton "buries most of the 'Little Sparrow's' incandescence, Singer concludes.Discography
- Boleros (2009) features songs written by Latin composers Augustin Lara, Armando ManzaneroArmando ManzaneroArmando Manzanero Canché is a Mexican musician and composer of Maya descent, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America....
, Consuelo Velasquez - Paris Blues (2006) features songs written by Djano Reinhardt, Sydnet Bechet
- Dream a Little Dream (2011) features songs written by Jacques BrelJacques BrelJacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
- Raquel Bitton sings Edith Piaf (2000) features songs written by Mikis TheodorakisMikis TheodorakisMikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
, Marguerite MonnotMarguerite MonnotMarguerite Monnot was a French songwriter and composer best known for having written many of the songs performed by Édith Piaf and for the music in the stage musical Irma La Douce.... - In a Jazzy Mood (1998) in collaboration with French composer Paul MisrakiPaul MisrakiPaul Misraki was a French composer of popular music and film scores. Over the course of over 60 years, Misraki wrote the music to 130 films, scoring works by directors like Jean Renoir, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Becker, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Orson Welles, Luis...
- Changes (Country) (1996) features songs written by Roy OrbisonRoy OrbisonRoy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
- I Wish You Love (1994) features songs by Charles TrenetCharles TrenetCharles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...
, Michel LegrandMichel LegrandMichel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
, Gilbert BecaudGilbert BécaudGilbert Bécaud was a French singer, composer and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-known hits are "Nathalie" and "Et Maintenant", a 1961 release that became an English language hit as "What Now My Love"...