Black Sessions are performances of live music broadcast on the French radio station France Inter. They are recorded in front of a live audience and feature on the C'est Lenoir show. The name is a pun based on the name of their creator, Bernard Lenoir, translated literally as "Bernard the black"
The first performance was in 1992 and since then many French and international artists have performed Black sessions including:
Andrew Bird
Arctic Monkeys
Band of Horses
Beirut
Belle & Sebastian
Belly
Bloc Party
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
The Boo Radleys
Broadcast
Calexico (Session no. 163; recorded live at studio 105 May 22, 2000) The Cardigans Catatonia Chumbawamba (21 October 1994) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah CocoRosie Cocteau Twins The Cure Death in Vegas (21 October 1999) The Divine Comedy Drugstore Echobelly (21 October 1994) Editors The Eels Elbow Emilie Simon Field Music Feist Franz Ferdinand (recorded 2005) Gemma Hayes Goldfrapp Grandaddy Guillemots Gumball (May 26, 1993) The House of Love (Session no.6; recorded May 6, 1992) Interpol (Interpol released The Black EP which featured a number of tracks from their 2002 Black Session) Klaxons Lloyd Cole (1993 [covered Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"], 1995) Los Campesinos! Lush (*01147 - Session no. 55; recorded live at studio 105 June 28, 1994 Paris, France) Madrugada (Session no. 159; recorded live at studio 105 April 3, 2000) Mazzy Star (1993-10-25) Mojave 3 (in their first public performance) Morphine The National Nick Cave Nine Black Alps (the Glitter Gulch EP released by Nine Black Alps contains "Coldhearted", the song performed on their Black Session) Paul Weller (October 16, 1992) Pavement Placebo (band) The Posies (1 March 1994) Pulp Radiohead The Raveonettes Ride The Rentals Röyksopp (with a power-out goof at the beginning) Sleeper (8 March 1994 - bassist Diid Osman fell over onstage, as recounted in singer Louise Wener's memoir Different For Girls) Rufus Wainwright The Shins The Smashing Pumpkins Smoke City Sparklehorse (Session no. 250 ; recorded September 25, 2006) Suede (recorded October 4, 1996) The Sundays Throwing Muses These New Puritans The Verve The Wedding Present Weezer Wire - released as the album The Black Session: Paris, 10 May 2011 The Wombats Yann Tiersen (2 December 1998, and released as Black Session: Yann Tiersen by Ici, d'ailleurs... on 2 November 1999)
References
External links
List of bands who have performed Black Sessions
C'est Lenoir Official Homepage (in French) Black Sessions photos (1998 - 2000) by Laurent Orseau The Black Sessions: la musique pas comme les autres - list of Black Sessions