Dundee Inver-Discs

with Ciarri Winter, Class of 1990, a Musician based in Paris.

Castaways must select eight records, providing as much detail as they wish about the reasons for their choices. They are provided with a copy of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare and their chosen Bible or philosophical text. They may also select one book (omnibuses are allowed!) and one luxury item. Unfortunately, this cannot be another person, but pianos and a lifetime’s supply of ‘X’ are often popular choices.

Newly arrived in Paris, one of the first songs I heard being sung in bars was Sous Le Ciel de Paris, a classic of Edith Piaf. Years later playing in the Hotel Le Bristol, I was singing another Piaf song when I was approached by French singer, Mirielle Matthieu, who is considered the best of the modern interpreters of Piaf. Offering me a glass of champagne and an invitation to join her table, it was delightful to hear her anecdotes and thoughts on Piaf and her music, all whilst sitting under a huge portrait of Marie Antoinette. The night after the attacks on the Bataclan, I was playing in another part of Paris and I felt this was the song to begin my set with. It was a song which, as soon as I began to play, summed up the moment perfectly. Take 6 have almost come to define the genre of gospel acapella for me since my teens and I have always been a fan of their song Amen. The song popped up again by chance being sung by the choir at the end of Meghan Markle’s wedding. A friend I met in Paris knew the group, so one day I ended up showing them around. Whilst playing in a floating boat called ʻO Fil de LʼEauʼ – a two-storied restaurant with a white grand piano, which was directly facing the Notre Dame Cathedral – the group joined me around the piano and sang. The owners heard us and offered free drinks all round at once. When Eartha Kitt came to Europe, she ended up in Paris of course! She quickly learned a whole host of French chansons sung in her own inimitable way. The popular French chanson C’est Si Bon was easily adaptable to a jazz style and I have included it in my repertoire ever since I first heard it as I was inspired by Earthaʼs sublime version. It certainly is an education in style to play in the Ritz Hotel in Paris with its gorgeous clientele and historic setting. I have made a lot of fashion and artistic friends from playing in the Hemingway Bar and it has been one of the highlights of my stay with absolutely no question. The superlative version of Puttin’ On The Ritz by Ella Fitzgerald reminds me, and I’m sure everyone else, that sometimes it is very nice to dress up for dinner, to see and be seen! Hit The Road Jack by Ray Charles is probably a song that every pianist knows but that I was fortunate enough to sing in London, accompanied by Jamie Cullum on piano. Later, in a nightclub gig, I ended up singing this as part of my set. The house band were a mix of many nationalities and you were never quite certain what accompaniment you were going to get. Their main directive was to start slow, pick up tempo and end with a huge crashing finale. I do remember singing ʻDanny Boyʼ as a request one night whilst the band kicked in 10 minutes later with a fast reggae tempo. There was no option but to continue in that style! A sophisticated song sung by French musical and creative legends Dalida & Alain Delon, Paroles Paroles is so catchy that after you hear it once you canʼt stop singing the chorus. It always reminds me of summer, and with the immortal line of ʻcaramel bonbon et chocolatʼ you really canʼt go wrong. Alain Delon also sounds like exactly the kind of romantic Frenchman you have always dreamed of to sweep you off your feet, and when he recorded this he certainly was. Chanson de Maxence by Jacques Revaux is a beautiful song about the search for loveʼs true ideal. It is well known from the film ʻLes Demoiselles de Rochefortʼ, an iconic film starring Catherine Deneuve. One of my residencies in Paris is playing in a restaurant in St. Germain where Mme Deneuve used to eat with her husband. According to local gossip, French film star Marion Cotillard, who played Edith Piaf, owns a shop across the street. The husband of Cotillard also worked with Scottish Gaelic musician, Griogair Labruidh, with whom I sang in this year’s Knockengorroch Festival! The nostalgic hymn Paris by Yael Naim sums up all my experiences abroad as I continue to play and live in Paris. When I arrived, I lived in a Jewish area just outside the city, so this song holds many happy memories for me. My luxury item would definitely be my Devon Rex cat Luna, whose real name is Indira de Rossellier. Marguerite de Navarre’s The Heptameron would be my book of choice. It is a medieval book where 10 men and 10 women retreat to a castle to wait out the plague and has always been a piece of literature that has interested me. The book sees its characters sharing stories to pass the time, most of which are usually a battle between genders.