Chapi Chapo

Chapi Chapo is a French short stop-motion series. Created by Italo Bettiol and Stephano Lonati, with music by François de Roubaix, it premiered in 1974 on R(T)F Telvision (and later on Boomerang) and ran for 60 5-minute episodes.

The show aired on American television in the 1980s as part of Nickelodeon's Pinwheel.

It was named "Chapi Chapo" as a play-on-words with the French word, chapeaux, which means "hats". Both of the main characters wore oversized hats that matched their clothing. The one in red is Chapi (a girl) and the one in blue is Chapo (a boy).

Episodes

Babelfish translation in parenthesis.

1. La Tapisserie (The Tapestry)
2. Le Rangement (The Cleanup)
3. Les Fleurs (The Flowers)
4. Le Ver à soie (The Silkworm)
5. La Cage (The Cage)
6. Les Bateaux (The Boats)
7. Le Jet d'eau (The Water Jet)
8. Le Potager (The Kitchen Garden)
9. L'Étoile (The Star)
10. Le Cube espiègle (The Mischievous Cube)
11. Le Bonhomme de neige (The Snowman)
12. Do ré mi (The Music)
13. La Course d'autos (The Cars Race)
14. Le Diablotin (The Imp)
15. La Fée (The Fairy)
16. La Balance (The Balance)
17. Le Cube magique (The Magic Cube)
18. La Corrida (The Bullfight)
19. Le Mouton (The Sheep)
20. Le Saut en hauteur (The High Jump)
21. Le Pantin (The Puppet)
22. Le Nuage (The Cloud)
23. L'Hippopotame (The Hippopotamus)
24. La Balançoire (The Swing)
25. La Lecture (Reading)
26. Le Phoque (The Seal)
27. La Baguette magique (The Magic Wand)
28. Les Patins à roulettes (The Roller Skates)
29. Le Gâteau (The Cake)
30. Le Lapin (The Rabbit)
31. La Gymnastique (The Gymnastics)
32. Le Martien (The Martian)
33. La Perruque (The Wig)
34. Cache-cache (Hide-and-Seek)
35. Le Nid (The Nest)
36. Le Cerf-volant (The Kite)
37. Jeu de cubes (Playing With Cubes)
38. La Danse des cubes (Dance of the Cubes)
39. L'Épouvantail (The Scarecrow)
40. La Tortue et l'Escargot (The Tortoise and the Snail)
41. Le Trésor (The Treasure)
42. La Multiplication (Multiplication)
43. Jeu de Martien (Playing With The Martian)
44. Le Puzzle (The Puzzle)
45. Le Repas (The Meal)
46. La Pyramide (The Pyramid)
47. Le Lion (The Lion)
48. Le Chien (The Dog)
49. La Promenade du chien (Walking the Dog)
50. Jeu de phoques (Playing With Seals)
51. La Peau de lion (Skin of Lion)
52. Les Œufs (The Eggs)
53. Les Cris d'animaux (Animal Sounds)
54. L'Arbre (The Tree)
55. Le Dompteur (The Trainer)
56. Le Théâtre (The Theatre)
57. Le Robot (The Robot)
58. Le Funambule (The Tightrope Walker)
59. L'Avion (The Plane)
60. Le Train (The Train)

Music

• Music : François de Roubaix
• Words : Charles Level

The lyrics were a combination of nonsense words.

Chapi Chapo patapo
Chapo Chapi patapi
Piripipi rabada dada
Dada dada
Pacha pacho pitipo
Pacho pacha pitipa
Piripipi rabada dida

In 2007, a band called Chapi Chapo et les petites musiques de pluie ("Chapi-Chapo and wee music for rainy times") recorded an album entitled Ar mizioù du ("Black words" in Breton), released by Error!Lofi-recordings and My Little Cab. The album is available for listening online at the band's website (http://chapimusic.free.fr). While not a cover of the original music by François de Roubaix, it is an homage to his work and uses toy versions of musical instruments as a reference to childhood and the Chapi-Chapo series.

External sources

• Chapi Chapo photos, music and video clips
• Bunny Ears TV features full length episodes of Chapi Chapo, child safe environment