The Balluche was created in 2006 in Tours in the heart of the community of musicians known as ‘La Saugrenue’. Originally solely instrumental, the group strived to reappropriate the sound of Musette from the 1930s by using the typical formation of the genre: accordion, gypsy jazz guitar/ banjo, double bass and jâse (a forerunner of the drum kit). They delved into music by the pioneers of this style: Émile Vacher, Gus Viseur, Tony Murena and Jo Privat, exploring all of the genres spanned by the Musette canon (waltz, tango, paso doble, java). They also took interest in the gypsy jazz style (‘jazz manouche’) which is closely tied to the emergence and evolution of Musette (Django Reinhardt began his career by accompanying accordionists at the balls). The arrival of a singer in 2007 was a landmark moment and a turning point in the group’s early days. From here they began to revisit songs from the réaliste genre: Fréhel, Damia, Marie Dubas and Edith Piaf. In no time they composed their own tracks in these styles, inspired by thematic issues specific to the réaliste style/era, using authentic Parisian slang, and also incorporating more personal musical elements. On stage the five colourful characters - each endowed with their own charming nickname - perform a show combining emotion, poetry, humour and intensity in a unique ambiance somewhere between cabaret, a Musette ball, and music-hall. Internationally recognised and identified as worldmusic artists, the members of the Balluche perform on stages across the globe. Today, the group performs two distinct concerts: ‘Balluche Soundsystem’, a performance combining cotemporary acoustics and the 1930s styles and ‘Le P'tit Bal Perdu’, a full-fledged cabaret ball served the old-fashioned way.