Cabarets in France

According to Larousse, a cabaret is defined as an ‘Entertainment establishment where the programmes consist of singing, dance routines and revue shows’. The Petit Robert adds a gastronomic dimension to this: ‘Establishment where a show is presented and where customers can consume beverages, dine and dance’. Taken from the Dutch word ‘caberet’ or ‘cabret’, which denotes affordable accommodation and from the Picard word ‘camberete’, which means ‘small room’, the cabaret originated in France and made a particular name for itself in Paris.

At the end of the 19th century, painter Rodolphe Salis left Châtellerault for Paris. The capital was his chosen destination for opening an artistic and literary cabaret, Le Chat Noir, in 1881. This establishment marked the beginning of the history of the cabaret in France. Because although cabaret-guinguettes for Sunday dancing already existed in the early 19th century, Salis’s venue was a completely new type of cabaret. Before this, no French dictionary used the word ‘cabaret’ to denote a place where you could watch a show or dine and spend the evening.

This led to other cabarets springing up in its wake across Parisian music halls, then elsewhere in France, Europe and beyond. The very nature of cabarets changed: from a simple dinner/show, audiences could now watch cabaret revue shows, humorous cabarets, cabaret concerts and more. In the United States artists even performed burlesque, a mixture of striptease and entertainment. On stage, these artistic shows were very much styled in the American way – and tickets were selling like hot cakes. But French cabarets, particularly Parisian ones, would remain the most iconic thanks to the uniqueness of their shows, which accounts for their continued success right up to present day.