lockdown : vinyl find #17.

Back in the days, I was going camping from time to time. All I had to do was to choose an area on the map, then drive to it. The only criteria was that it shouldn't imply days and days of driving to get there, and it should be big enough with woods to spend four to seven days exploring the area without getting bored. 

So, one day my finger pointed at the region called Morvan, in France. Very rural, not very populated, with a few noticeable sites for visiting, and a bit of wild. It was the end of spring, maybe the beginning of summer, the weather was perfect to camp and hike. 

But while driving around the area to simply go from one site to another, I stumbled upon a few good surprises : flea markets. It was indeed the best season. Some of them were huge and attracted big crowds from all around. I remember buying a lot of records, sometimes even entire lots when people wanted to get rid of their records as soon as possible. 

Back then, I had another recurring tip : charity shops. They were unloading records for cheap. When I was crossing a bigger town, I saw the sign of one of those charity stores and immediately diverted my course. It was even better than expected. Usually, there was a bit of competition, even very limited, for records. This day, at this place, there was absolutely none, nobody cared. 

I found the first album by Béatrice Tékielsky, not knowing the first thing about her. I didn't own a smartphone back then, applications were almost non existent, so I had to go with my intuition. The cover told me about a serious record, not especially yéyé, but something conceived with rigor. The credits told me it was folk music : guitars, bass (including an electric bass), piano, organ, flutes, drums. Very folky. And it told me vocals would be the main focus. 

So I bought it, and it was exactly what I imagined. Serious lyrics over discreet music, both from Mrs Tékielsky. 

Later on, I learned that Béatrice Tékielsky had a career under the Mama Béa moniker, and enjoyed quite some success in the alternative/avant-garde scene of the late 1970's-1980's. Although not his best effort, "Je cherche un pays..." could have launched a decent career... but it apparently didn't. There's indeed a 5-year hiatus between this album and the following one, which she released under the new name of Mama Béa Tékielsky. 

"Je cherche un pays..." offers a soft sound, a trembling yet powerful voice, while Mama Béa's following albums would display a rage. What happened during those 5 years, I do not know. But if you pay enough attention to the lyrics of this first album, it already indicates which direction Mama Béa would later take and which message she would voice. Deep down she was already a rebel. 

Béatrice Tiékelsky - Je cherche un pays...

Here are a few songs from this album of chanson française... in no particular order.

At the end of my trip, needless to say the trunk of my car was filled with records.