Feel Good French – Empowering Intermediate French Learners

After a fire injured his left hand, Django Reinhardt had to find another way to play guitar. Hear how the Manouche musician’s life near Paris, his discovery of jazz and his partnership with Stéphane Grappelli became part of a sound all his own.

Extraordinary Lives in France · Season 2, Episode 13. Déborah tells this true story in slow French and explains a few useful expressions. The Spotify video version shows French and English subtitles together.

Try listening to Minor Swing after the episode. Can you hear a smile, sadness or nostalgia in the guitar? Leave a comment and follow the show for the next story.

Expressions: le bal bat son plein (the dance is in full swing); reprendre du poil de la bête (to get back on your feet); trouver chaussure à son pied (to find someone who suits you).

For another jazz story set in France, find our episode on Miles Davis and Juliette Gréco. For the French conversation group waiting list: https://tally.so/r/0Q4DqZ

CHAPTERS
00:00 The fire and Django’s injured hand
01:09 A Manouche childhood near Paris
02:17 Learning to play again
03:34 Discovering jazz
04:46 Stéphane Grappelli
06:38 Minor Swing
07:09 The guitar as a voice
08:11 Listen for yourself

Music: “Cafe Regrette” by Asher Fulero; “Mother Rhythm” by Roy Edwin Williams, courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Photographs and period material: William P. Gottlieb / Library of Congress; Eugène Atget, Agence Rol / Bibliothèque nationale de France; Studio Harcourt; Freimut Bahlo; unknown author, Concert du 16 Novembre 1940. Stéphane Grappelli photograph by Roland Godefroy, Deauville, 1991, CC BY-SA 3.0; fitted/animated adaptation under the same licence: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StephaneGrappelli25.JPG and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ .