‘Latin’ Gainsbourg and the Parisian Nightclub Scene

Chapter Abstract: That Serge Gainsbourg made use of Cuban music on recordings such as ‘Mambo Miam Miam’ (mambo), in his film soundtracks ‘L’Eau á la Bouche’ and ‘Cha Cha Cha du Loup’ (both chachachás), and ‘Couleur Café’ (Cuban son) on the Gainsbourg Percussions album, is well known. Perhaps less explored, at least in terms of musical influence, is Gainsbourg’s background as a performer and musical director within the Paris nightclub scene and the important role his father Joseph Ginsburg had on his musical development and career. This chapter is therefore a musical investigation into the influence of both transnational Cuban music and the pan-Caribbean popular music-making context of Paris on Gainsbourg’s Latin-influenced music. Both Joseph Ginsburg and Serge Gainsbourg were integral parts of the Paris nightclub scene and the history of live music in Paris therefore holds the key to understanding Gainsbourg’s eclectic artistic output. Musical analysis of Gainsbourg’s Cuban-influenced recordings reveals not only his overt use of Afro-Cuban elements but also uncovers subtle lines of influence that are rooted in the more típico legacy of the grassroots culture of ‘Latin’ music in Paris. In the 1930s La Cabane Cubaine featured a house band Orchestre Typique Castellanos which lasted up until the second world war and in 1941-42 Joseph Ginsberg was the regular pianist there. The venue, Melody’s Bar, housed another influential Caribbean band led by Cuban Don Emilio Barreto which also included a Jewish pianist, Raymond Gottlieb. Cuban flautist and saxophonist Hériberto ‘Filiberto’ Rico was also in the Barreto band himself before creating his own group, Rico’s Creole Band, which performed an eclectic mix of Cuban and French Caribbean styles at La Coupole in Montparnasse for over thirty years. Gainsbourg’s Latin influences, I argue, can be traced, via musical analysis, to these grassroots connections, related as they are to the transnational influence of Cuban music from the 1920s and ‘30s through to the mid 1960s. How this live scene interacted with the production side of Gainsbourg’s recordings is then examined in order to determine the extent of Gainsbourg’s understanding of clave-based ‘Latin’ music.