Charlotte Gainsbourg doesn’t sing, she whispers. A barely audible hiss, a style pioneered by her father, the great Serge Gainsbourg. But with her new album comes a new voice, Charlotte’s voice. We can hear it. Finally. And appreciate it. It’s soft, and yet it carries a strong feeling. With ‘IRM’ (the French equivalent of “MRI” an acronym for magnetic resonance imaging), produced by Beck who also wrote most of the songs, the chemistry between the singer and Beck offers a great illustration of a perfect collaboration.

No need to say we really like Charlotte Gainsbourg’s second album. You can find many information on her official website. The French actress (Michel Gondry’s “Science of Sleep”, Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist”) and singer is proud of her legacy and definitely goes beyond, with her own personality and style. Charlotte Gainsbourg is very talented, don’t miss her new album!

Johnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor, he is an icon, a rock legend (known as the “French Elvis” abroad) and one of France’s biggest stars. For a week now, every eyes in France are focused on the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. Johnny Hallyday’s hospitalization has gone unnoticed by Americans, and his name may not ring a bell to any of our foreign readers but what’s happening there is something we wanted to talk about.

Last month, Hallyday had a back surgery to repair a disc that was damaged, it was performed by Stéphane Delajoux at a clinic that is popular with celebrities. Four days later, the singer was already out of the clinic, on a plane to Los Angeles. But during the travel, he suffered so much he left LAX being pushed in a wheelchair. A few days later, he was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai hospital; another surgery has been performed and he was then placed into a medically-induced coma last week.

Since then, French journalists have been sent to L.A and newspapers and television news try to find out what went wrong with the first surgery, and why Hallyday’s condition is still officially unknown. Many voices raise concerning the French doctor who performed the first surgery in France and his competence; some others wonder if the singer will be able to go on his ‘Route 66′ tour starting in January (doubtful…). But what really baffled us was an interview from Michel Drucker, a famous French TV journalist and a good friend of Hallyday, in which he explains how much Johnny Hallyday suffered for years and how he managed to perform on stage using strong medication.

That’s when we made the connection to Michael Jackson. Johnny Hallyday is a great performer with a strong voice and we really hope everything will be fine for him. People talk, whether rightly or wrongly, we now see another side of the singer and what is said is quite surprising. We all knew Johnny Hallyday enjoyed his life and fully lived it, but now we fear his medical situation could be worsened because of his previous bad behaviours. We hope we will soon be able to shed light on what went wrong on the first the surgery and what caused his suffering.

Tiens bon, Johnny, on est avec toi!

We love music at the Sama Gazette, and everyday we share together the latest album we bought or the song we listen. Today we are listening to Norah Jones‘ new album: The Fall, and needless to say we all love it. It was released by Blue Note Records on November 17 and it really is a must have; Norah Jones gets more interesting with every record!

We like Light As A Feather a lot, but also I Wouldn’t Need You, You’ve Ruined Me, Back To Manhattan and Tell Yer Mama… But also Man of the Hour and every other song from this album. It’s more rock than jazz but we still love Norah Jones. And the art for her album with the singer in a top hat and a snowy white gown sitting next to the dog is amazing.

You can buy The Fall directly on Norah Jones Website.

And also check Blue Note Records Website.

In August, we tried to answer the question in our post: Who is Sliimy? The late answer… For those of you who think Sliimy is the only exportable French singer in the world, let us introduce you Matthieu Chedid, aka ‘M’. He’s almost forty, he writes great songs with sometimes off-beat lyrics, he plays guitar and he’s very creative.

Plus, Matthieu Chedid and Max Dana share several common points: they are both called ‘M’ and the logotype of album ’Mister Mystère’ is almost the same Max used like 10 years ago (letter ‘M’ on black/white background). More than enough good reasons to decide to introduce you Matthieu Chedid and his new album.

A quick bio: his grand-mother was the poetess Andrée Chedid, his father is the renowed French singer Louis Chedid. ‘M’ used to have a ‘M’ shape hair cut (not so weird, really). He collaborated with Sean Lennon, Vanessa Paradis and Brigitte Fontaine. His new album ‘Mister Mystère’ reveals even more of the (maturing) duality he borrows and we love it.

Watch the clip of the song ‘Le roi des ombres’ and ‘M’ will probably win you over, as we were a long time ago… You can also check his official website. See, we provide full services to the ones we love

At that time, the video showing Kanye West grabbing the mic as Taylor Swift accepts her award on stage at the MTV’s Video Music Awards this week-end, has been seen worldwide. He obviously drank too much, as we could see him taking swigs from a bottle on the VMAs carpet.

Some did enjoy the show, some others say it was a disrespectful act, and some others think the whole thing was a publicity stunt. The Sama Team decided to investigate; read below the conclusions of our extensive five minutes investigation:

What Kanye drank was not alcohol, it was a sirup colored beverage,

put in the first bottle the singer could grab.

Her girlfriend was smiling, laughing on his side,

even when Kanye was taking swigs because she knew it wasn’t alcohol.

Kanye really believes Beyonce’s video is the best of this decade,

so he couldn’t be drank when saying it on stage.

Any resemblance to the Bruno and Eminem incident

at the MTV Movie Awards is purely coincidental.

It has become a sensitive matter of state

since President Obama called Kanye West a ‘jackass’

He just announced a joint tour with Lady Gaga – but we think

he was drunk when accepting (just kidding, we love Lady Gaga)

So now we clearly see the facts as they really were. Kanye is a brilliant artist, he’s got his own plane and shares (remember in Entourage?) and he wears very strange glasses. We would be proud to accept Kanye West in the Sama Epicurean Fraternal Society of ours which motto is:

Drink in moderation. A true epicurean is a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink). No use to drink (or eat) much to fully enjoy a unique moment). Welcome gift: Whiskey Stones for Manhattans’ amateurs.

The news was posted last week on CNN: Bob Dylan a complete unknown in New Jersey town and I was stunned when I read it. How comes someone still doesn’t recognize Bob Dylan? The story: ‘The rock legend was stopped in July by police in Long Branch, New Jersey [...] Officer Kristie Buble, 24, approached Dylan and asked him for his name…‘ Seriously, Kristie?

A few minutes later, everything went back to normal in Long Branch, New Jersey. Dylan proved who he was by getting ID from tour bus… Dylan is a legend and he is currently on a national tour. So please officers, next time you get a call because Dylan is peering into a window of a house that is for sale, please don’t treat him like a complete unknown. It’s Bob Dylan, for Pete’s sake!