The teenage violist Valentin Tournet plays an excerpt from Marin Marais' "Folies d'Espagne" (Follies of Spain) in this interview. He talks about the folia, an early music theme from Spain, as well as the passion for music he developed at a very young age.

Nicola Sirkis, head of Indochine, the new wave French rock band that’s been popular since the 1980s, has a few things to say about some of his fellow artists. (Could he mean megastar Johnny Hallyday?) Nicola’s strong voice (in many senses) is clearly one of the reasons Indochine has so much staying power.

Melissa tells us how the music video for “Army of Love” came to be. She produced and directed it herself, with the help of animator Thomas Guerigen. It was a labor of love—one that paid off!

We hear a bit more from the lovely Pascale: on her beginnings in the musical world (she started early), her new album, and her music’s special combination of rhythm and soul.

French-Canadian singer-songwriter Pascale—who prefers to introduce herself in verse rather than give the usual “hello my name is”—tells us of the importance of maintaining optimism and lightness in the face of hardship.

Hugo Bonneville talks about the relationship between music and money, the success of his first album, and offers us all the sound advice to take a good long look at ourselves.

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.

The lovely singer tells us in franglais about franglais. She discusses her experiences growing up bilingual in Quebec, her international travels, and why it’s not always a good idea to tell someone if you’ve ripped your pants…

From dreams to reality, putting forth “a little bit of energy each day,” Annie Chartrand, a vocalist who debuted singing behind her bathroom door, burst onto the music scene in 2006. Here is an interview with the singer of Ma blonde est une chanteuse [My Girlfriend Is a Singer]—a group that's actually part of a love story…

As Laurent Voulzy is walking down the beach, he chances upon a fan, and sings a little duet with her. At his concert that night, she’ll be in the front row. Can that “change the face of the world”?

Mario Canonge is one of the most exciting pianists tickling today’s plastic ivories, and Yabla was lucky enough to have caught him in person.

Mario has been influenced by Martinique, and he discusses what it means to represent and build upon French Caribbean rhythms on the world stage.

Nelly suggests some songs for more advanced French speakers: Charles Aznavour's "La bohème," Angèle's "Balance ton quoi," Stromae's "Formidable," Serge Gainsbourg's "La javanaise," and Orelsan's "Tout va bien."

Sophie-SongJa Lévy takes us into her music workshop, SongJa Flûtes. She is a transverse flute (concert flute) specialist who will show you the different parts of the instrument and teach you a few technical terms.

The French pop group Baden Baden talk about their second studio album, Mille Éclairs (A Thousand Lightning Bolts), on this episode of "Watt's In." The band members discuss their creative process and the differences between playing onstage and in the recording studio. You'll also hear a few excerpts from their song "À tes côtés" (At Your Side).

Why not bring the orchestra to the people instead of the people going to the orchestra? That's exactly what the Lyon Villeurbanne Symphony Orchestra did. They brought the opera Carmen to the bowling alley in the town of Mornant so that people would not have to travel hundreds of miles to enjoy the show.

Oldelaf's "Bérénice" is a beautiful love song with a somewhat tragic (but very comical!) ending. You'll both laugh at and be moved by Oldelaf's poetic language and soulful crooning.

Indila, a French singer whose first single "Dernière Danse" (Last Dance) topped the chart in 2013, talks about her debut as a singer. She felt more comfortable as a writer and composer of melodies and only recently started singing onstage.

In his brilliant song "Papaoutai" (Dad, Where Are You?), Stromae depicts the endless game of hide and seek that some children play with their fathers. Stromae (né Paul Van Haver), who was raised by his mother, lost his own father in 1994 to the Rwandan Genocide.

The Musée des Abattoirs (Slaughterhouse Museum) in Toulouse devoted an entire exhibition to dub music, a subgenre of reggae. The exhibition featured a selection of Jamaican-style sound systems and culminated in a big dub concert.

The pianist Alexandre Tharaud plays Beethoven and Chopin in the beautiful surroundings of the Chambord castle. It's an outdoor concert, but the acoustics are so powerful that the performers can hear a pin drop from the audience!

The Lille Piano Festival is taking place in a subway station, where pianists bring music to the train commuters for their enjoyment and perhaps a gentle introduction to jazz and classical music.

The musician Yacine Boularès talks to us about his large family, which spans two continents, and explains the origins of French influence in Tunisia.

Yacine Boularès, a young French musician of Tunisian origin, demonstrates some of the differences between Western and Arabic music on his saxophone. If you like what you hear, check out Yacine's jazz band, Afro Groove Collective.