6 Aug 2025

Music with Kirsten Zemke: The short-lived Yé-yé phenomenon

From Nine To Noon, 11:05 am on 6 August 2025
Image from Wes Anderson's movie Moonrise Kingdom which features the genre of Yé-yé musical style.

Photo: IMDb

Music correspondent Kirsten Zemke explores the Yé-yé style of music that emerged in France in the early 1960s in response to American rock'n'roll.

It didn't last long, it faded in the 1970s - but it's had somewhat of a revival through its use in movies by Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino.

Kirsten Zemke is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences