La Tordue

La Tordue (French for "The Twisted") was a popular musical group from Paris, France that existed from 1989 to 2003.

French writer and artist Benoît Morel was working as a designer at publishing house Éditions Gallimard in Paris’s Belleville quarter when he met Pierre Payan, a multi-instrumentalist who was in need of lyrics. Morel had already written lyrics for neo-realist group Les Têtes Raides, and discovered that he and Payan shared an interest in 'literary’ music such as the work of Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré's song interpretations of the poetry of Louis Aragon, Les Frères Jacques' performances of the poems of Jacques Prévert, and anarchist singer-songwriter Gaston Couté. The two were soon joined by Eric "Fil" Philippon, and began playing out in October 1990 with the release of a self-financed 10" vinyl EP and as openers for Les Têtes Raides. By 1992 La Tordue were headlining gigs that featured a rotation of many instruments, including concertina, guitar, piano, double bass, musical saw and saucepans.

This versatility of instrumentation allowed the band to play a variety of venues from informal gigs on the street to large festivals, and soon La Tordue found themselves headed on a 400-date tour. In 1993, they opened the Transmusicales rock festival in Morel's hometown of Rennes. The following year they were selected by FAIR (Fonds d'Aide à l'Initiative Rock) and went on to win the Tremplin du Chorus des Halles competition, following this up with the Grand Prix du Sentier des Halles and the Prix du Coup de Cœur Francophone. In June 1994 they performed at the Music Festival of Romania, a month later they were guests at the Francofolies festival in La Rochelle.

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