|
Floanne Ankah Trio
www.Floanne.com
A Bastille Day Celebration
At
Flûte Gramercy
(Flûte Gramercy Website)
40 E. 20th St. (btw. Park & Brdwy)
NY, NY
212.529.7870
(DISCOUNT ICON PARKING HERE)
with
Floanne Ankah on Vocals
Benjamin Ickies on accordion
Russ Spiegel on Guitar
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
July 14, 2011
Flûte is an elegant and fanciful champagne bar that first opened in 1997 on West 54th Street, with this second Gramercy Park location opening in 2000. Owner Hervé Rousseau is a native Parisian, and he created a menu of dozens of champagnes, to be purchased by a “tasting”, a flute glass, or a full, ice cold bottle. There are even cocktails made with champagne, as well as a Vietnamese spring roll selection, mini “savories”, like yellowfin tuna tartare, choice Petrossian caviar, and fine chocolate desserts. Flûte has a multi-level ambiance, with nooks and private spaces for parties or dates. Tonight, for Bastille Day, there were bleu, blanc, et rouge balloons, staff in French Revolution era attire, and a chanteuse, named Floanne, who crooned en high with her two musicians. For a Francophile, like me, this was heaven.
My three champagne “tastings” were Moutardier Carte D’Or, Drappier Brut Nature, and Henri Giraud Esprit Rosé. I thoroughly enjoyed the Parisian ballads, the instrumental interludes, and even a chance to dance the waltz with Sébastien, the Flûte Bar Manager. Floanne’s ballads included Aznavour’s “Emmenez-Moi”, “Je Danse avec l’Amour”, and “La Bohème”, which he wrote with Jacques Plante, Trenet’s “Douce France”, and the renowned Legrand/Demy title song from the film, “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg”. In addition, they presented Barbara’s “L’Aigle Noir” and her “Ma Plus Belle Histoire d’Amour”, as well as Clement/Renard’s “Le Temps des Cerises”. Floanne can sing like Edith Piaf, with the “little sparrow’s” poignant vulnerability, and she can also sing like herself, an engaging, vivacious chanteuse. She uses theatrical gesture, humor, and emotion to bring her lyrics, usually in French, sometimes in English, to the hearts of her audience. Of course, many in tonight’s audience were party revelers, and the mood and champagne enhanced this French cultural event. Vive la France!
Floanne Between Sets
at Flute Bar & Lounge, Gramercy
Courtesy of Roberta Zlokower
Floanne Ankah, on Vocals
Benjamin Ickies on Accordion
Russ Speigel on Guitar
Courtesy of Roberta Zlokower
Bastille Day Party
at Flute Bar & Lounge, Gramercy
Courtesy of Roberta Zlokower
Julia, Flute Bar Wait Staff,
at Flute Bar & Lounge, Gramercy
Courtesy of Roberta Zlokower
Sebastien, Flute Bar Manager, and Julia
in Bastille Day Costumes
Courtesy of Roberta Zlokower
Sebastien and Roberta
Courtesy of George Zervoudis
Floanne at Leisure
at Flute Bar & Lounge, Gramercy
Courtesy of George Zervoudis
Floanne, Benjamin, Russ
Entertain Bastille Day Party
at Flute Bar & Lounge, Gramercy
Courtesy of Roberta Zlokower
|
