Variété Internationale - BnF Collection

Portuguese fado, Hawaiian guitar, Brazilian samba, American crooners… Every kind of international popular music can be found in the French National library audio collection From the appearance of the first Hawaiian guitar recordings in the 1920's to the earliest ballroom orchestras in the 1930’, the British Dance Bands and American Big Bands or German Schlager Bands, the beginning of the "variety music" in an international level is part of the collection. You can also find all the hugely popular singers, like American crooner Bing Crosby , considered as one of the first "pop music" singers. The postwar saw the arrival of new orchestras, like Glen Miller’s, and new singers, the most famous of whom was Frank Sinatra. Great artists from all around the world also managed to introduce new repertoires such as the fado, born by the fame of Portugal’s Voice, Amália Rodrigues. The mid-1950’s saw the appearance of Rock ‘n’ Roll (with Bill Haley’s Rock around the clock in 1955), which conquered American teenagers; this new genre would later spread throughout the world and influence a wide range of musical expressions.