Espace Brassens

Commemorative plaque to Georges Brassens. Image published under the GNU Free Documentation License, verison 1.2 or later

The Espace Brassens is a museum in Sete dedicated to the French singer and songwriter Georges Brassens (1921-1981).

Brassens, who was born in Sete, is regarded as one of France's greatest post-war poets.

A modest man, he achieved iconic status by his sensitive verses which tackled many of the great issues of his day. An anti-establishment figure for much of his life, Brassens endeared himself to the masses by highlighting injustices, poking fun at pomposity and  mercilessly lampooning bullies.

Brassens, expelled from his school in Sete, was sent to Paris where he worked for Renault before the Nazi invasion. During the occupation he absconded from a Nazi labour camp and was hidden in Paris by a friend of his aunt.

Several of his songs deal with the occupation, particularly the arrogance of those French gendarmes who collaborated with the Nazis.

Brassens wrote approximately two hundred and fifty songs. Amongst the more notable are "Chanson pour l'Auvergnat" whose lyrics champion the rights of the downtrodden against the police, "Les amoureux des bancs publics" which encourages adolescents to kiss in public, and "La Gorille" which recounts the fictional tale of how a gorilla buggered a robed judge whom it mistook for a woman.

Although Brassens has inspired many other singers around the world, particularly in Italy and Spain, he remains a purely French icon due to the cultural idiosyncrasies of his songs and the difficulties which these cause for translators.

The Espace Brassens, equipped with modern sound and image technology, provides a virtual biography of the singer accompanied by recordings and films.

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