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Tous des frères Theatre Armande Béjart
16 Pl. de l'Hôtel de ville
92600 Asnières-sur-Seine
Sat 26 Nov 2022 20:30
Sun 27 Nov 2022 15:00
Tickets: Theater box office +33 01 47 33 69 36
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I did attend their gala weekend twice. It's not bad, and I do like the old Poppys songs. But it's in the same bracket as the Tempokids galas. e.g., entertaining, usually well sung, but not amazing, and no classical, just pop. One of the years I went they had launched their "New Poppys" group and album and I was lucky enough to meet and get the autographs of several of their singers. Worth going if you like Poppys style songs, but no online booking, which is a pain. There is or was an Ibis Styles nearby for your hotel needs. Asnières Sur Seine with trains to central Paris, or Gabriel Peri on the Metro, with Theatre Armande Béjart sitting approximately half-way between both next to the town hall.
Celtic wrote: ↑<span title="Sun Nov 06, 2022 9:01 pm">1 year ago</span>
I did attend their gala weekend twice. It's not bad, and I do like the old Poppys songs. But it's in the same bracket as the Tempokids galas. e.g., entertaining, usually well sung, but not amazing, and no classical, just pop.
I watched a recent benefit concert they appeared in (playlist of 8 videos). The format was nice in that one boy was showcased in each song but none of them were strong singers.
As for old Poppys songs, you might enjoy this recently remastered one from 1971:
Luckdragon wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Nov 07, 2022 6:30 am">1 year ago</span>
As for old Poppys songs, you might enjoy this recently remastered one from 1971:
On one of my two visits I got talking to a group of fans and was randomly given a 2CD set of Les Poppys tracks by a French fan for free, which was unexpected and very nice. But no cover and none of the tracks were named, which has always frustrated me, so finally about 2 months ago I spent a whole day trawling through YT Poppys vids to identify them all!! Got all the names in the end and it was quite a fun way to spend the day, listening to all the old tracks and videos.
► Show Spoiler
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Here's one of my favourites, "Les Arbres".
Edit: changed YT link to one without noise on the audio.
Without wanting to derail the thread too much, Tempokids who I mentioned above are very similar to Les Petits Chanteurs d'Asnières/Les Poppys.
Je Vole above is excellent and the young singer on the left, Jules, continued to develop into a fantastic singer. I first heard him the following year at their gala weekend.
Tempokids tend to have galas or double concerts in the Spring. I saw them once in Cernay in Alsace. Essentially, if you like the current Poppys group, you will probably like Tempokids too. I actually bumped into Jules in Paris at the Les Petits Chanteurs d'Asnières gala weekend and got his autograph.
Wow I did not know there were still people out of France interested in Les Poppys/PCA This is my entire childhood. Though I was born after the Poppys era, my mum used to be a fan and owned all of their albums. Subsequently, when we would ride the car for long hours during holidays, we would listen to it and I know all the songs very well could have been a Poppys.
I booked a ticket for their gala (online), this will be my first time attending one of their concert. I do not expect to be very impressed but I expect a few good voices, a good moment and atmosphere. I hope they are still good... I noticed the choir direction has been the work of one of the late New Poppys, very young man, lately. He sure knows what makes them special, he was very good as a treble.
Oh! They have online booking again! The second year I went it was phone booking only, I had to get my tickets through a friend and ended up with a terrible seat! I would like to attend again one year, but probably not this time. Hope you enjoy it!
Who is the director now? It was Christian Germain when I heard them last.
One of the things I do like about PCA/Les Poppys is how older members stay on and take on other roles in a similar way to Libera. The drummer in that clip is Martin Petit, who was part of the New Poppys group in 2016, he's 20yo now but has clearly found a great new role in the group.
Short review of the gala I attended yesterday (short because I lack time). It was a great show.
I almost find the title "Petits Chanteurs" out of date, it's not so much a choir, more of a performance group. You won't really be able to hear the different voice parts clearly (the instrument's sound is to loud, generally speaking, it does not allow to enjoy the voices as much as you would like, but then again I am not sure all the kids sing so well... I would LIKE TO KNOW).
But what is impressive is that all their soloists are SO GOOD. All the songs have soloists, and they sing most of it. So, there is at least 15 to 20 kids that do sing very very well, able to pick a mic and make a show (sing, dance, make you sing). I suspect the sound is so loud and you will only hear clearly the choir because there are very young and quite inexperienced singers on stage, and it would not be so interesting to hear, maybe ? If they do sing well, then it's a shame we can't hear them more clearly.
Also, it started late and ended late and you could tell everyone was getting tired, the young ones as well as older ones, more and more out of focus and chatting even during the songs...
I am pointing what could be better in my opinion and taste, but really the point of this choir is : they are having so much fun !!! This is awesome. You can tell the boys play a huge part in everything, the choregraphies, the setlist choice... It's their show, and I really liked that, and it is very generously shared with the audience. A lot of lights too, great ones.
Also like someone underlined, they have a great tradition of the older boys sticking with the group, doing lower parts, playing instruments, leading the young ones, taking pictures, videos... The "New Poppys" boys (or at least a few of them) are still on stage, they are "the big boys", basically. And it is impressive that there are boys on stage from 5 (the "new boys" only sang two songs) to like 22 maybe...
Martin Petit isn't only the percussionnist, he is also the music director, but Christian Germain is still directing the choir. I guess they work a lot together since I saw pictures of Martin directing during rehearsals. But he did a solo. If you think you don't know Martin Petit, well you might have came across one of his solos, really. He was a leader in the "New Poppys" and a candidate at The Voice Kids in France... His performance was GREAT and in my opinion the judges not buzzing him is one of the greatest shame to this TV show ever. I would love to have a chat with Martin and tell him so.
There weren't much of the old Poppys' songs, only "Non non je ne veux pas faire la guerre" (No I don't want to go to war), rewritten to match the current hostilities in the world... I like the fact they are still "political" (their songs about the Cold War, and other actualities were great), but I would have loved to hear more "classical" (Poppys) songs, whose harmonies are so much better fitting for a choir.
Also I enjoyed their program (3 euros !), cake sales, album sales and all. It was a great atmosphere, the gala is mostly for the people living nearby and families and friends, and... previous Poppys You can tell the choir is doing something great to all these peoples, it felt like a family party. Honestly it was strange to see all the boys running amongst the audience during the break, saying hi to everyone. When you are a usual Libera fans this seems unbelievable
Thanks to everyone involved in Les Petits Chanteurs d'Asnières, and, as fan, I loved to see some of my favorite soloists, current and previous. I have to mention the little boy from past year gala with the solo in the video Luckdragon shared (on the right), I think his name is Leon and his voice is fantastical and getting stronger. There were like 3 or 4 trebles I was really impressed with and I'm sure some of you would have loved to hear too.
I will probably attend the gala next year if I can.
The 2023 live gala is coming up on November 26 in Asnières-sur-Seine and Les Poppys are posting some clips from the 2022 event on their YT channel. Here are a couple:
could have been a Poppys.
