Culture pop | ARTE

Popkultur | ARTE

Pop culture | ARTE

Cultura pop | ARTE

Popkultura | ARTE

Latest trends, alternative art, geek culture, and innovative formats

Pop culture

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What is the vocal alchemy that propels pop singers to the pinnacle of success, decade after decade? While many of them, like Freddy Mercury or Alicia Keys, display impeccable power and technique, these assets are not always what counts. Can we identify common characteristics in the immense diversity of voices from pop music, past and present? With interviews from musicians such as Damn Albarn, DJ Koze, Joy Denalane and Joan as Police Woman, the first part of this two-part documentary explores the very essence of the pop voice.

Exploring the very essence of the pop singing voice, with interviews from musicians Damon Albarn, DJ Koze, and Joan as Police Woman.

The Magic Voices of Pop 

Nobody captured the atmosphere of 1990s Berlin better than him. German photographer Daniel Josefsohn, who died in 2016 at the age of 54, made his mark in advertising with his irreverent aesthetic and punk sensibility. It was his spontaneous, imperfect images shot for an MTV campaign in 1994 that first made him famous.

Nobody captured the atmosphere of 1990s Berlin better than than German photographer Daniel Josefsohn.

DJ Punk - The Photographer Daniel Josefsohn

Genre fluid music takes a swipe at musical categorisation. Argentinian artist Amalia Ulman presents her first film, El Planeta, at the Sundance Film Festival. Algerian-born artist Adel Abdessemed imbues his works with the violence of the world  and The e-sports team Karmine Corp has won the European League of Legends Championships.

Tracks

Cultural magazine show. .After gender fluid comes genre fluid as musical categorisation ends. Argentinian artist Amalia Ulman presents her first film and e-sports team Karmine Corp win big.

Genre-Fluid Music / Amalia Ulman / Adel Abdessemed / Karmine Corp

Twenty years ago the music industry was in big trouble with illegal downloads from Napster and Limewire destroying record sales. Today the industry is buoyant thanks to Spotify and other subscription streaming services. But there is a downside: Most artists earn very little of the billions generated by streaming.

The music industry is buoyant thanks to Spotify and other subscription streaming services. But there is a downside: Most artists receive very little of the billions generated by streaming.

Has Streaming Saved Music?

In the company of Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris, Tracks explores how smartphones have revolutionised our lives in just 14 years. After the Anthropocene comes the Smartphonocene!

Tracks Special

When the Smartphone Took Over the World

In 2019, Les Indes galantes was performed at the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, hip hop style. This baroque opera, composed by Jean-Philippe Rameau, is an ode to colonial exoticism, and its reworking is the brainchild of Bintou Dembélé, the first black woman to choreograph a ballet at the Paris Opera.

Gymnastics

In 2019, Les Indes galantes was performed at the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, hip hop style

Operatic Hip Hop: Dance Decolonised

David Guetta, Bob Sinclair and Martin Solveig take the charts by storm and become (very) mainstream. Argentine filmmaker Laura Casabé creates horror in the jungle. Kosovar artist Alban Muja’s works focus on his young homeland’s identity and American artist Lynn Hershman Leeson focuses on the relationship between humans and technology.

When David Guetta and his French DJ friends took the world by storm. 

Monster French DJs

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With his Stetson on his head and a cigarette in his mouth, Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997), was a singer-songwriter of incandescent, beautifully despairing country songs. He was an artist plagued by demons, often under the influence of alcohol and drugs, but he nevertheless wrote some of the masterpieces of American song, including "If I Needed You" and "To Live is to Fly", and managed to climb to the top of the charts in spite of himself with the song "Pancho and Lefty", first popularised by Emmylou Harris and then covered by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. His song 'Kathleen' was recently covered by Tindersticks.
 Troubled Troubadour
Through concert footage, film archives and interviews, this remarkable documentary sensitively traces Townes Van Zandt's formative experiences and existential and artistic ups and downs - from the beginning of his musical career, inspired by early Bob Dylan records and legendary blues bard Lightnin' Hopkins, to his untimely death. His managers, his children, his three wives and numerous musician friends shed light on his personality and reveal the affection they had for this troubled troubadour.

Portait of troubled Texan folk singer Townes van Zandt (1944-1997) who wrote beautiful and despairing country songs.

Townes Van Zandt: Be Here to Love Me

Peaches, M.I.A., Dorian Electra and King Krule: this Tracks special highlights the most impressive vocalists to have featured on the show. Gender fluid, subversive, and challenging, these are the artists that break boundaries across genres.

Peaches, M.I.A., Dorian Electra and King Krule: this Tracks special highlights the most impressive vocalists to have featured on the show

The Best Vocalists of Tracks

In a city as crowded as Tokyo, even the rooftop space isn't wasted, but converted instead into golf courses, or football pitches. But it's not just a place to decompress. For some, it's compulsory. 

Gacha Gacha (9/9)

Professional Golf, Tokyo Style

It can be hard to make new friends as an adult, but sometimes catching up with old friends can feel more like keeping up with the Joneses. But the Cheerful cheerleading group is different. They are all about discipline, energy, and mutual support. 

Gacha Gacha (8/9)

How a disparate group of women bonded over their shared love of cheerleading

The Cheerful Squad

Daruma is doll that is supposed to grant wishes. Derived from Buddhism, Daruma is steeped in Shinto tradition. Once a year, at the Jindai-ji temple near Tokyo, a fete full of food, prayer and wishes in dedicated to him. It's a chance for believers to make their wishes for the year ahead. 

Gacha Gacha (6/9)

Once a year, at the Jindai-ji temple near Tokyo, a fete full of food, prayer and wishes in dedicated to Daruma

Daruma, A Nation's Lucky Charm

In Japan politeness is deeply codified depending on your place in the hierarchy. Where you stand in the lift, how you get into a taxi, and especially how you greet others, depends on your social standing. The concept of Ojigi is instilled in every Japanese child, and adults go on to hire consultants to make sure they get the nuances just right. But if it sounds deeply constraining, it is supposed to provide balance and stability.

Gacha Gacha (5/9)

In Japan where you stand in the lift, how you get into a taxi, and especially how you greet others, depends on your social standing

Ojigi, The Art of Deference

Eating ramen in Japan is a unique sensory and auditory experience. Here, the noodles are noisily slurped up. Considered rude in the West, in Japan this every day gesture is imbued with meaning.

Gacha Gacha (2/9)

In Japan, far from being rude, slurping is all about appreciating ramen's unique palette of flavours

Zuru Zuru: The Sound of Street Food

In Japan, the “washlet” combines Western toilets with Japanese hygiene standards. A clever combination of comfort and cleanliness, they're considered a basic essential for people in Japan, although visitors may be left baffled as to how to use them. They have dozens of functionalities.

Gacha Gacha (1/9)

Japanese toilets make the bathroom experience a high tech luxury

Toilets, Perfected

In Japan, finger pointing is a technique that standardises security checks. This practice is a choreography of gestures that keeps trains running safely and on time. Pointing the finger in Japan, far from denoting blame, focuses the mind.

Gacha Gacha (7/9)

Pointing the finger in Japan, far from denoting blame, focuses the mind

Yubisashi Kakunin: It's Polite to Point

Almost every public place in Tokyo is spotless, rubbed and polished clean by government workers. But there are places even their hard-working hands don't quite reach: grimy neighbourhoods full of character and down-in-the-heel charm. And in those streets, roams an elderly ramen seller making his living feeding drunks in the middle of the night.

Gacha Gacha (4/9)

In grimy neighbourhoods full of character, an elderly ramen seller ekes out a living feeding drunks

The Magic Voices of Pop

DJ Punk - The Photographer Daniel Josefsohn

Genre-Fluid Music / Amalia Ulman / Adel Abdessemed / Karmine Corp - Tracks

Has Streaming Saved Music? - Tracks

When the Smartphone Took Over the World - Tracks Special

Operatic Hip Hop: Dance Decolonised - Gymnastics

Monster French DJs - Tracks

All videos

Townes Van Zandt: Be Here to Love Me

The Best Vocalists of Tracks - Tracks

Professional Golf, Tokyo Style - Gacha Gacha (9/9)

The Cheerful Squad - Gacha Gacha (8/9)

Daruma, A Nation's Lucky Charm - Gacha Gacha (6/9)

Ojigi, The Art of Deference - Gacha Gacha (5/9)

Zuru Zuru: The Sound of Street Food - Gacha Gacha (2/9)

Toilets, Perfected - Gacha Gacha (1/9)

Yubisashi Kakunin: It's Polite to Point - Gacha Gacha (7/9)

The Old Ramen Seller - Gacha Gacha (4/9)

CulturePop culture

Les programmes à la une

The Magic Voices of Pop

All videos

Townes Van Zandt: Be Here to Love Me

The Best Vocalists of Tracks - Tracks

Professional Golf, Tokyo Style - Gacha Gacha (9/9)

The Cheerful Squad - Gacha Gacha (8/9)

Daruma, A Nation's Lucky Charm - Gacha Gacha (6/9)

Ojigi, The Art of Deference - Gacha Gacha (5/9)

Zuru Zuru: The Sound of Street Food - Gacha Gacha (2/9)

Toilets, Perfected - Gacha Gacha (1/9)

Yubisashi Kakunin: It's Polite to Point - Gacha Gacha (7/9)

The Old Ramen Seller - Gacha Gacha (4/9)

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