🇺🇸 Today, I’d like to introduce a French group who named their last album with an interesting Japanese expression. L’Impératrice (= the empress) is a French pop-disco band made up of six musicians. They were founded in 2012 and have become exceedingly popular. Their last album is named “Tako tsubo” (蛸壺)… can you guess what it means?
Tako (蛸) means “octopus” and tsubo (壺) means “jar, pot.” So it is an “octopus pot,” which is a pot left in the bottom of the sea to catch octopuses. Additionally, this word is also used for a disease called たこつぼ心筋症 (takotsubo shinkinshou) which in English is “stress cardiomyopathy,” or “broken heart syndrome”. It is a disease caused by intense emotional or physical stress, and this is what inspired the album. That’s a pretty cool title! By the way, my favorite song by them is “Erreur 404.” You can find them on Spotify here.
Recently, they were also the guest of my favorite French humor radio program “Par Jupiter!” where they explain their title and inspirations, which you can check out here.
🇯🇵 フランスのディスコ・ポップ系バンド「L’Impératrice」（＝皇后）の最新アルバムの名前「Tako Tsubo」が日本語の「蛸壺」からきていてちょっと面白いので、今日はそれについて一言を。海底で蛸を捕まえる壺の意味に加えて、感情的・肉体的ストレスなどから発症する「たこつぼ心筋症」もインスピレーション源だそうです。彼らの音楽にぴったりなドラマティックなタイトルですね！
そのネーミングやバンド結成の経緯、音楽活動などについて、メンバー数名が最近出演したフランスのお笑いラジオ番組「Par Jupiter !」で説明しているので、よろしければ聴いてみてください。 また、彼らのスポティファイは、こちらです。