David McKenna
, May 18th, 2021 08:14
David McKenna ponders the influence of Paris’ Seine-Saint-Denis suburb and samples Marseille rap, mongrel folk and prepared pianos. Home page photograph: Sourdure by Eloïse Decazes
Recently I’ve been reflecting on the outsize impact of one of France’s smallest administrative departments – Seine-Saint-Denis, which covers a little over 90 square miles and is known informally as
le quatre-vingt treize or
le neuf-trois – ‘the ninety-three’) after its department number – on French popular music. Listening to Gazo’s superb
Drill FR release and looking up some autobiographical details, I found myself thinking “oh,
le 93 again!”
Established in 1968, Seine-Saint-Denis is part of Paris’s