Olympia (Paris)

Olympia (commonly known as L'Olympia, Olympia Hall or Paris Olympia) is a music hall located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Located at No. 28, Boulevard des Capucines, its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin and Auber.

History

Founded in 1888, by Joseph Oller, the creator of the Moulin Rouge, today easily recognizable by its giant red glowing letters announcing its name. It opened in 1889 as the "Montagnes Russes" but was renamed the Olympia in 1893. Besides musicians, the Olympia played host to a variety of entertainment including circuses, ballets, and operettas. However, following a steady decline in appearances by the great stars, from 1929 until 1944 it served as a movie theater. It may have opened as a music hall under the German occupation of France during World War II, but certainly in 1945 after the Liberation, it was a music hall free to Allied troops in uniform. Attendees had to listen to the playing of four national anthems before the varied programs that always ended with a spirited can-can performed by dancers, some of whom were no longer young. Thereafter, at times it may have reverted to movies again until Bruno Coquatrix revived it as a music hall with a grand re-opening in February 1954. After his death, it ultimately went into another decline and was in danger of being torn down and turned into a parking lot but on 7 January 1993, France's then Minister of Culture, Jack Lang issued a preservation order for the Olympia that resulted in two years of construction work to rebuild a perfect replica of the façade and the grandeur of its famous red interior.

À l'Olympia

À l'Olympia (French; "At the Olympia" in English) may refer to:

À l'Olympia (Celine Dion album)

À l'Olympia (meaning At the Olympia) is a live album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on November 14, 1994. It's her 2nd live album, 16th French album and 19th in total.

Content

The album was recorded on September 28 and 29, 1994, during two sold-out concerts at the Paris Olympia. Among songs from singer's previous French album Dion chante Plamondon, Dion performed also "Calling You," (Academy Award nominated song from Bagdad Café), "Quand on n'a que l'amour" (originally by Jacques Brel), and a medley of songs from the Starmania musical, including two songs unavailable on Dion previous releases: "Quand on arrive en ville" and "Naziland, ce soir on danse" (full English version of that song called "Tonight We Dance (Extravagance!)" was recorded by Dion and included on the Tycoon compilation in 1992).

Although À l'Olympia was unavailable in most important music markets (United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia), the B-sides of English singles released there in 1995 and 1996 included tracks from that album.

À l'Olympia (Jorge Ben album)

à l'Olympia is a 1975 live album by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben Jor recorded at Olympia.

Track listing

All tracks written by Jorge Ben

References

À l'Olympia (Alan Stivell album)

À l'Olympia (Also called At the Olympia and Olympia Concert) was Stivell's first live album, recording in Paris Olympia. It was released by Fontana in 1972.

Significance

This live is divided into a first acoustic-folk party, the second being logically qualified electrical. The evening is traveling around the Keltia, Brittany, and sometimes trips further north. It is broadcast live on one of only three radios of France (seven million listeners the live on Europe 1 radio) He was accompanied by Dan Ar Braz on guitar, Michel Santangelli (the future drummer for Jacques Higelin) on percussion, Gabriel Yacoub, René Werneer, Pascal Stive, Gérard Levasseur, Serj Parayre and Michaël Klec’h.

Stivell à l'Olympia sold a staggering 1,500,000 copies in just over a year (more than 2 million thereafter) and put both Stivell and Breton music on the cultural map once and for all

Context and consequences

1972, the year of its release, was one of radical ferment at home and abroad. The widespread revolt of May 1968 had generated a "back to the earth" movement amongst French students and intelligensia. The entry of Britain and Ireland into the EEC was seen by radicals in Brittany as the long awaited opportunity to bring the Celtic nations together and make the ancient dream of Celtic unity a reality. Alan Stivell was closely identified with these trends, even at times hailed as a champion of one or the other cause, but he was himself, as he often later claimed, uneasy about taking on the role of a musical freedom fighter. His deep fascination with cutting edge technology, fuelled by his early love of science fiction put him at odds with any "back to the earth" idealism. Despite the hopes he shared with many of his fellow Breton for a Celtic cultural revival and unity, he always sought to avoid being straight-jacketed by a narrow traditionalist outlook.

Émilie Simon À L'Olympia

À L’Olympia is a live album, and DVD, by French electronic musician Émilie Simon, released in February 2007. It includes songs from all of her albums. The album contains material taken from a concert in September 2006 at the Olympia. The DVD contains footage of the making of the album, a video produced by her in Japan for “Dame de lotus”, and all her three music videos to date.

Track listing

CD

Opendisc tracks

DVD

Charts

Album

References