The entire Maddy Genets discography appears to consist of
two Eps and one 45, issued by Le Kiosque d'Orphée in Paris, a custom pressing
label for recordings made at a small studio at 20, Rue des Tournelles, a couple
of blocks from la Place des Vosges, in a gorgeous art nouveau building that now
houses a second-hand shop called Sissi’s Corner. All three releases are as rare
as Maddy’s teeth, judging by her inability to crack a smile in the portrait
that appears on the cover of this particular EP.
The other two releases are credited to Maddy Genets Et Ses
Accordéons, although the trio that makes up the group appears to be unchanged;
Maddy, her husband, and a man I assume is their son. The name change I guess
came about because Monsieur Genets moved from accordion bothering to thumping
out a tune on an electric organ for the Maddy Genets et son Ensemble EP.
Both of these other discs come in identical sleeves, which
probably means that Maddy and her family had a bunch printed and shoved discs
in willy-nilly, depending on demand. All of the 10 songs distributed over the
three known discs are standard tourist fare, which leads me to believe that the
trio more than likely spent the early 70s busking outside Parisian attractions,
shilling their discs from a suitcase on the pavement rather than through any
stores. I have seen it suggested that some or all of the family were (or are)
blind, which would have certainly helped their earning ability, and explained
why they were unable to work out which record went in which sleeve, although as one correspondent asks, why would Maddy be wearing glasses if she were blind? Perhaps she was visually impaired, rather than completely sightless.
The music the trio played was perfectly acceptable; accordion
instrumentals with the occasional verse sung by Maddy herself, and nothing like
as awful as the covers might lead you to expect (or hope for). Perfect fodder for the tourists around Montmartre or the Marais.
Anyway, have a listen for yourself. Here are all four cuts from the
1973 EP Maddy Genets et son Ensemble, Acropolis, Petite Fleur, Dalila, and Solenzara.
Enjoy!
Download Acropolis HERE
Download Petite Fleur
Download Dalila
Download Solenzara
