Olivier Bourderionnet received a Licence d’anglais from the University of Paris III (La Sorbonne Nouvelle) a Masters of Arts from the University of New Orleans and a Ph.D. from Tulane University.

He teaches courses on contemporary French literature and culture, French cinema and pop culture. His first book, Swing Troubadour. Vian, Brassens, Gainsbourg: les Trente Glorieuses en 33 tours (Summa Pub, 2011), examines the transformation of post-Second World War France through the prism of popular music and the impact of jazz on French chanson. His new book, Serge Gainsbourg an International Perspective (Bloomsbury 2024), co-edited with Olivier Julien (Sorbonne Université) is the first English-language academic study devoted entirely to French artist Serge Gainsbourg. Bourderionnet has contributed numerous book chapters to French and American volumes on the topics of French popular music and French cultural studies. His articles in academic journals—touching on a broad variety of topics such as music in the interwar period, music, and film, French Hip-hop culture, and more—have appeared in Research in African Literatures, French Cultural Studies, Volume! La revue des musiques populaires, CFFS, and The World Journal of Popular Music. 

 

 

Publications

Book

Swing Troubadours. Brassens, Vian, Gainsbourg: Les Trente Glorieuses en 33 tours. Summa Publications
(March, 2012)  

Articles

“Francophilie d'un répertoire du jazz : quelle histoire les ‘standards’ racontent-ils ?” in Circulations musicales transatlantiques au XXe siècle. Des Beatles au Hardcore Punk. Lucas Le Texier and Philippe Poirrier eds.  Editions Universitaires de Dijon 2021.  

“Jouer avec la forme: politique et poétique du jazz dans la prose et les chansons de Boris Vian.” ATeM Archiv für Textmusikforschung 3, 2 (2019). 

“Aristide Bruant, a Bohemian Entrepreneur,” “Mouloudji a Twentieth-Century Gavroche” and “Felix Leclerc a Quebecois Pioneer on the 1950’s Parisian Scene” in An Anthology of French and Francophone Singers from A to Z “Singin’ in French.” Michaël Abecassis and Marcelline Block eds. Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2018. p 109-113; 381-385; 483-488  

"Fréhel: une héroïne naturaliste de la chanson et du cinéma de l'entre-deux-guerres" Excavatio. Vol. XXVIII. (2017)

"Place de la République 1974-2004: the Sociological Time-Machine of Cinéma Direct." Contemporary French & Francophone Studies: Sites. Vol. 20 Iss. 4-5. (2016)

“Exposing the Politics of French Rap on Prime Time Television: De L’encre by Hamé and Ekoué." Journal of World Popular Music (2.2) 2015. (224-236)

"A 'Picture Perfect' Banlieue Artist: Abd Al Malik or the Perils of a Conciliatory Rap Discourse in France."French Cultural Studies May 2011, vol. 22, number 2 (download available here)

"Regard sur les musiques actuelles : nostalgie, métissage et mondialisation" in Marie-Christine Weidmann Koop and Rosalie Vermette, eds. "France in the Twenty-First Century: New Perspectives / La France à l'aube du XXIe siècle: nouvelles perspectives." Birmingham, AL: Summa Publications, 2009. (355-370)

"Displacement in French/Displacement of French: The Reggae and R’n’B of Tiken Jah Fakoly and Corneille."Research in African Literatures - Volume 39, Number 4, Winter 2008 (download available here)

“Brassens et Gainsbourg: contemporains? Métamorphoses de la chanson au cœur des ‘Trente Glorieuses.’”Contemporary French Civilization. Winter/Spring 2006. Vol. XXX, number 1

Book Reviews

Jazz and Postwar French Identity Improvising the Nation. Elizabeth Vihlen-McGregor. Modern and Contemporary France. (Spring 2017).

Black Soundscapes, White Stages: The Meaning of Francophone Sound in the Black Atlantic. Edwin C. Hill. Contemporary French Civilization (spring 2015).

Stereo: Comparative Perspectives on the Sociological Study of Popular Music in  France and Britain by Dauncey and Le Guern  Contemporary French Civilization. (fall 2012)

Protest Music in France: Production, Identity and Audiences by Barbara Lebrun
French Review Dec. 2010. Vol.84:2

Paris Africain: Rhythms of the African Diaspora by James A. Winders
Contemporary French Civilization. Summer/Fall 2008
Vol. XXXII, number 2

The André Hodeir Jazz Reader. Jean-Louis Pautrot, ed.
Contemporary French Civilization. Winter/Spring 2007
Vol. XXXII, number 1

La France de Zebda 1981-2004: faire de la musique un acte politique by Danielle Marx-Scouras
Contemporary French Civilization. Summer/Fall 2007 
Vol. XXXI, number 2

Brel and Chanson, by Sara Poole.
Contemporary French Civilization. Summer/Fall 2005 
Vol. XXIX, number 2

Papers Presented in Conferences

“Place de la République 1974 – 2004: the Sociological Time-Machine of Cinéma Direct”  20th- and 21st-Century French and Francophone International Colloquium. Baton Rouge, LA. Feb. 26-28, 2015.

"Fréhel où l'incarnation d'un héritage naturaliste dans la chanson de l'entre-deux-guerres." AIZEN International Conference: Emile Zola and Naturalism. University of New Orleans. March 6-8, 2014

"Exposing the Politics of French Rap on Prime Time Television: Authorship, Authenticity and Ideology in De L'encreby Hamé and Ekoué." Changing the Tune: Popular Music and Politics in the XXIst Century. International Conference. University of Strasbourg, France. June 7-8, 2013.

"Displaying Culture in Contemporary French Best-Sellers."
Organizer and presider of Special Session on Contemporary French Literature at the Modern Language Association conference in Los Angeles. January 5-8, 2011

"Louis Malle's Zazie dans le métro: educating "la chienlit" in its pre-teens."
20th- and 21st-Century French and Francophone International Colloquium
University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. March 25-28, 2010

"Immédiateté de la voix : Abd Al Malik entre hip-hop et chanson"
23ème Congrès Mondial du Conseil International d'Etudes Francophones.
New Orleans, La (6/2009)

"Making Hip-Hop "Respectable": Abd Al Malik, a Picture-Perfect Banlieue Artist?" Organizer of Special Session: "Chanson and Social Malaise in France" at the 2007 MLA conference in Chicago, Ill.

"Amadou et Mariam, Manu Chao, Keren Ann and Carla Bruni: A few 'French Exceptions' on the American Pop Music Market!"
20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium, University of Texas A&M, College Station.

"Displacement in French / Displacement of French: The Francophone World Music and R'n'B of Tiken Jah Fakoly and Corneille"
20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium, University of Miami, Florida.

"Post-colonial Pied-Noir Identities and Cinema:L'autre Côté de la Mer by Dominique Cabrera and Là-bas Mon Pays by Alexandre Arcady.
20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium, University of Florida, Gainesville.

"Brassens et Gainsbourg, contemporains? Des sabots d'Hélène à Melody Nelson, visages changeants d'une musique populaire résolument hexagonale."
20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium, University of Florida, Tallahassee.

"Vian, Brassens, Gainsbourg: pour une poésie swing." 20th Century French Studies Colloquium. Cultural Capital: Canons, Cultures and Contexts, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.