Les Nubians record with the late great father of Bossa Nova, Henri Salvador. “Que le mot soit perle” is a sweet song dedicated to all children orphaned by AIDS.

Meet troubadour Hugo Bonneville, a socially aware singer-songwriter whose love of words makes his lyrics pure poetry. Hugo shares with us what being a musician means to him.

Unique and talented young singer-songwriter Charles-Baptiste brings us “Sale type”: a lighthearted song for the broken-hearted. Sing it from the rooftops, Charles!

Montpellier-based heavy metal group Peach FTL has been going strong since 1997. “L’Empreinte” comes from their first album, Addiction, released in 2005. They followed up Addiction with Supernova in 2007.

This electro-pop song named “La place des anges” belongs to the Belgian group Yaaz’s album Azerty. The word “Azerty” refers to the Qwerty keyboard’s cousin, which is more adapted to French typing.

Wallen was born to a family of Moroccan immigrants in Bobigny. In “Donna,” she sings about the life of teenage girls struggling to handle family, love, and school.

Miss Acacia is a character in the novel La Mécanique du Cœur (“The Mechanics of the Heart”) by Dionysos lead singer Mathias Malzieu; in it, the protagonist falls madly in love with her.

“Neige” is another fantastical number from French rock band Dionysos. The group, which has been together since high school, lists several film directors among their influences, and it’s not hard to see the impact of one in particular, Tim Burton, on the dark, whimsical stylings of this video.

“Tes lacets sont des fées” is an upbeat tune by rock band Dionysos, accompanied by singer Olivia Ruiz. This animated clip transports us into an inferno of love and innocence.

Jeronimo is the musical alias of Belgian singer-songwriter Jérôme Mardaga. “Les mains qui tremblent” is a solemn song about the sadness that comes from a break up.

Lunatic Age is a four-member group from France’s Montpellier, a band that makes rock and roll “as though every song could be the last.” The song “À quoi bon?” deals with the heavy subjects of alcoholism and child abuse.

This musical adaptation of Marceline Desbordes-Valmore’s poem “La Sincère,” performed by Karin Clercq, is a touching and troubling song — themes the video captures well with its New York setting. You can hear tracks from her brand new album, La Vie Buissonnière, here.

Get lost in the dreamy lyrics and musical styling of Vincent Venet with this song from his 2005 album “Humeur.” Venet, who describes himself as an author, composer, performer, and director, wrote and composed the album in just several weeks in the beautiful Ardennes of Belgium.

The band No One Is Innocent (whose name is also the title of a single by the seminal punk band the Sex Pistols—coincidence?) have described themselves as “electro-rock-blues” and list influences as diverse as Beck, Betty Davis, and Black Sabbath.

“La Peur” was written around the time of France’s most recent presidential election, and if you listen to the lyrics, it’s not hard to hear its influence on the song’s theme. Perhaps now No One will write an ode to the USA’s new president; they could call it “L’Espoir.”

Debout Sur Le Zinc is a seven-member group that plays a unique fusion of rock and traditional French, Irish, and Gypsy folk music. The band’s name (which means “standing on the zinc,” as in the zinc countertop of a bar) comes from the Jacques Prévert poem “Et la fête continue”—and indeed DSLZ is the perfect music for a fête!