Festival Chants d'Elles

A festival committed to female voices

Founded in 1999 by Yves-Marie Deniel, the Festival Chants d'Elles was born from a simple but essential observation: women remain underrepresented in the field of song. For over twenty-five years, this unique festival has been working to correct this injustice by offering a privileged stage to female artists, whether they are singers, songwriters, musicians, or performers.

The festival's motto, forged by its founder — « Together, let's listen to the world sing! » — perfectly summarizes the spirit of openness, tolerance, and solidarity that animates each edition.

A month of female song

Every autumn, from late October to late November, the Festival Chants d'Elles unfolds a generous and eclectic program across Seine-Maritime and Eure. About sixty events punctuate this musical season:

• Concerts in venues: nationally and internationally renowned artists perform in the performance venues and cultural centers of the Rouen metropolitan area and its surroundings
• Song cafés: intimate concerts in cafés and friendly venues, fostering proximity between artists and the public
• Master classes and workshops: transmission and sharing sessions led by invited artists, open to amateurs and professionals
• Shows in media libraries: cultural events at the heart of public reading networks, reaching a wide and family audience
• Meetings and conferences: discussions around the place of women in music, women's rights, and female artistic creation

A program open to the world

The richness of the Festival Chants d'Elles lies in the diversity of its programming. Artists from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and mainland France share the festival stages, offering a vibrant panorama of contemporary female song. Over the years, the festival has hosted artists such as Agnès Bihl, Sarah Lancman, Kolinga, Françoiz Breut, Christine Zayed, Sylvia Fernandez, Eve Risser, and many others, in genres ranging from French song to world music, from jazz to pop, from folk to experimental.

Strong territorial roots

The Festival Chants d'Elles is deeply rooted in the Norman territory. Supported by the association À travers chants and funded by the Normandy Region, the Department of Seine-Maritime, the Rouen Normandy Metropolis, and numerous local authorities, it irrigates a dense network of cultural venues: the Espace Yannick Boitrelle in Saint-Léger-du-Bourg-Denis, the Centre culturel Simone Signoret in Amfreville-la-Mivoie, as well as media libraries, municipal halls, and concert cafés spread throughout the territory.

Over twenty-five years of passion

Since its creation in 1999, the Festival Chants d'Elles has continuously grown and reinvented itself. In 2019, it celebrated its twentieth anniversary with an exceptional edition of 68 events. Today, it stands as one of the leading festivals in France for female song, consistently and passionately defending the place of women in music.