Ten artists and bands from Béarn worth listening to
We often hear people say that nothing ever happens here. That’s not true, and we’re in a good position to say so: since 2016, we’ve played 147 times, almost always in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. We meet plenty of people there.
Here are ten artists and bands from Béarn. This isn’t a ranking: they’re listed in alphabetical order, so you don’t go looking for a ‘top ten’ where there isn’t one. Nor is it a directory - ten names don’t cover the whole scene, and there are bound to be some missing.
Kalune
Blurring the lines between hip-hop, world music and French chanson. The name comes from ‘callune’, the heather that grows on the slopes of the Pyrenees. Following several collaborative projects, including an album with Les Gueules de WaB, his first solo album features seventeen tracks recorded at home, with Anaïs Laffon on violin and Adrian Waves on guitars and keyboards.
L’Envoûtante
A voice, drums, and electronic textures verging on trip-hop. The Pau-based band sums up their sound as follows: rock without guitars, rap without a DJ. Their album is called Radio Étoiles.
Listen to L’Envoûtante on Bandcamp
Les Sebbens
A duo, a festive pop sound, their own compositions mixed with modern, reimagined covers. They played at the Festimarché in Orthez this summer.
Minstrel
This is our guitarist’s solo project. We’re not going to pretend to be objective, so have a listen and judge for yourselves.
Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs
Electric blues and soul, formed in 2017 in the Pyrenees. Maëlys Baey sings and plays the saxophone. An EP, 3 Dollar Show, in 2020, followed by a debut album, Summer Soulstice.
Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs on YouTube
Miu Queiroz
Brazilian rhythms, Afro-Latin influences, and French chanson on top. She grew up surrounded by samba, jazz and soul - her father, Carlinhos Queiroz, is a Brazilian bassist based in Pau - and she took to the stage at the age of twenty-one, performing as a duo with him. Her first EP is called UNE.
Nadau
By far the oldest on this list: the band has been around since 1973, comes from Labastide-Cézéracq and sings in Béarnais. They have played to a full house at the Olympia four times. In 1980, they backed the first Calandreta, an Occitan-language school, in Pau. To mark their fiftieth anniversary, in November 2023, they played to a sold-out crowd at the Zénith in Pau, with two additional dates added the following February.
The SuperSoul Brothers
Their website sums it up in four words: ‘from Béarn to Memphis’. Vintage soul born in Pau in late 2015, signed to Dixiefrog, with David ‘Feelgood Dave’ Noël on vocals. Shadows & Lights in 2021, By the Way in 2024. They are the band that represented France at the European Blues Challenge.
The SuperSoul Brothers’ website
TidyMess
Us. It would have been dishonest to compile a list of the Béarn music scene and then slip out quietly on tiptoe.
Willo
A duo formed in 2016: Cécile on vocals and guitar, Olivier on composition, guitar and vocals. Acoustic folk with touches of blues and soul, written in English. Debut album Eternal Jetlag in 2021, followed by an acoustic EP.
And the others
There are bound to be some missing. If you’re playing in Béarn and aren’t on this page, do get in touch: this list isn’t meant to be set in stone.
Header photo: Fabien Gaby