Born Bruno Nicolini in 1969, the singer stage-named Bénabar has been compared to French realist songwriters like Georges Brassens and Renaud. You can also hear a lot of Tom Waits in his lyrically rich sketches of believable people going about their daily struggles. An innovative chanson revisionist, Bénabar loves old French music enough to keep it appealingly fresh, often accompanying his words with accordion or the sort of traditional brass ensemble you might hear in dancehalls on the outskirts of Paris.