Au revoir Gabriel Yacoub!

Perhaps you're unfamiliar with the great French singer-songwriter guitarist, Gabriel Yacoub and his wonderful band Malicorne... (Think the French version of Pentangle/Steeleye Span put together). Please give their delicious album Almanach a spin.

I met Gabriel in the early 80s thanks to my pal, Dan Behrman, the Immigrant as he was known as one of my favorite DJs on WFMU (who brought many great French troubadours to our shores including Pierre Bensusan, Dan ar Braz, and Denis Gasser).

I drove Garbriel around to a couple of gigs in my old Saab…

I also played some mandolin and flute with him and smoked way too many Gauloises with him! The dude was something a handsome scamp and charmed the ladies wherever he went. I also wrote one of my first articles about him in The Coop (the fore-runner to Fast Folk Magazine). Not sure what year this was published. If you know, please send me a note... Either way, I was just getting my training wheels as a music journalist so have mercy… merci!. Au revoir mon ami, bon voyage vers les étoiles.

Gabriel Yacoub, founding member of the popular French folk group Malicorne (which included Celtic harp wizard Alan Stivell) just completed his second tour of Canada and the United States, performing his songs on acoustic guitar. Singing in a clear and powerful voice, Gabriel entranced his audiences with his moody melodies despite a language barrier. I saw him perform at the Bear Mountain World Music Festival last July with Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham in support, and though the sound system hampered their performance somewhat they still shone through. Gabriel sang in French but introduced each song in English, making sure the crowd got the basic idea of what he was singing about. He played a variety of tunes ranging from droning medieval light ballads to folk rock numbers. For the most part I found his guitar style reminiscent of John Renbourn of Pentangle fame – from modal finger picking patterns, to reflective ballads and love songs. One could hear shades of James Taylor as Gabriel punctuated each verse with Taylor's trademark style hammer-ons. Then in “Papa-Loi, Mama-Loi” he could be heard pounding out punchy power chords ala Pete Townshend.

While Gabriel was in New York, he played at the Speakeasy on two occasions. The first was an afterhours set of five songs which included “Paris, Paris,” a sarcastic depiction of the city of love, in which she compared first to a desert, and then to hell. The song moves along with a steady rhythm and catchy melody. It was the first song I heard Gabriel perform and it stuck like glue, even though I didn't understand the words. Most of the time Yakoub tours Spain Italy and Holland, playing his hometown of Paris only once a year. He explained that the club scene there is rather small and records in France are quite expensive too, as the government adds luxury item tax of 33%. Gabriel could be heard on July/August issue of the Coop performing “Bon An Mal An” with Mark Dann on bass. According to Dan Behrman of Immigrant Music Gabriel will return to the United States for another tour within the next year. Check him out!