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Trenet international
The press worldwide reflects on the life of the deceased singer.
Paris
26/02/2001 -
Carry on sending us your thoughts on the death of Charles Trenet
Quebec
As far as non-French press is concerned, the Quebec press has given by far the most exposure to the death of Charles Trenet. A dispatch from Reuters entitled "Quebec is mourning the death of Charles Trenet" sums up in one sentence the impact the singer had in Quebec: "A quick dip into Quebec’s national archives is proof to any visitor the importance Trenet has played in Quebec’s musical history."
On Monday morning, the day he died, a huge, impressive photo (signed Jacques Nadeau) of the madman singing, laughing and rolling his blue eyes held prime position on the front web page of the daily paper Le Devoir. The next day, Odile Tremblay recalled Trenet: "French for sure, but Charles Trenet was also almost one of us, he was part of Quebec’s history, in as much as he sang there many times in his life. The older generation still go all misty -eyed when they remember his performances at the Cabaret Chez Gérard in Quebec where, starting in 1948, he appeared regularly over a period of fifteen years."
Above all, the press never fails to remind us of Gilbert Rozon’s suffering. Since 1983 this man from Montreal has been the "international manager" of the deceased singer, and has taken care of his career in France since 1987. In an article for the agency la Presse canadienne, Michel Dolbec remembers how Rozon was the one who brought Trenet back to perform on stage in 83, in Quebec even before France, and how he organised the great show to celebrate the singer’s 80th birthday at the Bastille Opera in Paris, which President Mitterrand attended.
Finally, in an excellent article in the daily paper La Presse, Jean-Christophe Laurence recounts the "long love story between Trenet and Quebec". He talks about how the Frenchman, "even went as far as buying a disused theatre in the metropolis before he had even had time to settle in". In this article, Gérard Thibault, owner of the aforementioned cabaret, Chez Gérard, remarks that "Charles Trenet knew Quebec better than many people from Quebec".
The United States of America
Although Charles Trenet lived and worked in the States for several years, and despite the fact that he was a star turn at the Bagdad in post-war New York and was wooed by Hollywood, the American press scarcely mentions his death. The journalist David D'Arcy, from the NPR (National Public Radio) confirms this lack of interest: "Nowadays most Americans don’t know much about France. There was a time back in the 40s and 50s when, quite the opposite, France was linked with writers and artists. That was when la Mer was a standard played from the Bronx to Beverly Hills. But try finding someone under forty who knows who Trenet was. In the Manhattan branch of Tower Records, the shelf with Trenet on stayed untouched this week. Poor America."
When his days are over, Charles Aznavour, a great friend of Trenet, will no doubt be the only French man to have the privilege of being on the cover of the American papers. So - few repercussions in the dailies. Those that chose to talk about him (Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicles…), mainly reproduce the identical dispatch from Associated Press by Cécile Roux. The CNN website announced his death through a Reuters dispatch where the atmosphere at his early concerts is likened to "Sixties Beatlemania".
However one newspaper, and not the least important one, ran an original story: the New York Times. Alan Riding recalls a Trenet who "although less well-known than Chevalier, Piaf and Aznavour abroad, personified the chanson francaise", this last The United States of America
Although Charles Trenet lived and worked in the States for several years, and despite the fact that he was a star turn at the Bagdad in post-war New York and was wooed by Hollywood, the American press scarcely mentions his death. The journalist David D'Arcy, from the NPR (National Public Radio) confirms this lack of interest: "Nowadays most Americans don’t know much about France. There was a time back in the 40s and 50s when, quite the opposite, France was linked with writers and artists. That was when la Mer was a standard played from the Bronx to Beverly Hills. But try finding someone under forty who knows who Trenet was. In the Manhattan branch of Tower Records, the shelf with Trenet on stayed untouched this week. Poor America."
When his days are over, Charles Aznavour, a great friend of Trenet, will no doubt be the only French man to have the privilege of being on the cover of the American papers. So - few repercussions in the dailies. Those that chose to talk about him (Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicles…), mainly reproduce the identical dispatch from Associated Press by Cécile Roux. The CNN website announced his death through a Reuters dispatch where the atmosphere at his early concerts is likened to "Sixties Beatlemania".
However one newspaper, and not the least important one, ran an original story: the New York Times. Alan Riding recalls a Trenet who "although less well-known than Chevalier, Piaf and Aznavour abroad, personified the chanson francaise", this last The United States of America
Although Charles Trenet lived and worked in the States for several years, and despite the fact that he was a star turn at the Bagdad in post-war New York and was wooed by Hollywood, the American press scarcely mentions his death. The journalist David D'Arcy, from the NPR (National Public Radio) confirms this lack of interest: "Nowadays most Americans don’t know much about France. There was a time back in the 40s and 50s when, quite the opposite, France was linked with writers and artists. That was when la Mer was a standard played from the Bronx to Beverly Hills. But try finding someone under forty who knows who Trenet was. In the Manhattan branch of Tower Records, the shelf with Trenet on stayed untouched this week. Poor America."
When his days are over, Charles Aznavour, a great friend of Trenet, will no doubt be the only French man to have the privilege of being on the cover of the American papers. So - few repercussions in the dailies. Those that chose to talk about him (Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicles…), mainly reproduce the identical dispatch from Associated Press by Cécile Roux. The CNN website announced his death through a Reuters dispatch where the atmosphere at his early concerts is likened to "Sixties Beatlemania".
However one newspaper, and not the least important one, ran an original story: the New York Times. Alan Riding recalls a Trenet who "although less well-known than Chevalier, Piaf and Aznavour abroad, personified the chanson francaise", this last expression being quoted as is often the case in the English-speaking press. He describes his compositions as "typically French lyrics", but revealing "the influence of American jazz which was very popular in Paris at that time".On the other hand, as is often the case in the press (even in France), the period under occupation is alluded to in several ways. For Riding, Trenet "was attacked by the French right-wing during the war because of his ties with the government of the popular Front ".
Europe
The British also seem to be fascinated by the war years. Peter Lennon of the London Guardian, tackles the subject even more directly than the American. : "The Folies Bergères and the Parisian Gaieté, where he was hugely successful, were among the favourite hotspots for the Wehrmacht. In June 43, Jews were banned from performing or watching shows there. All the while, Trenet joyfully sang Douce France for a privileged audience..." Then he reproaches the French for having treated his "collaboration" as "innocent and of minor importance". He then reminds us, as does Véronique Mortaigne in le Monde, that "when the press accused Trenet for being Jewish and the son of a rabbi, he produced four generations worth of birth certificates to prove that he didn’t have any Jewish blood." He finally completes his case by writing that Trenet has been forgiven "partly because show business could be regarded as the kindergarten of French politics, whose naughty habits were to be indulged". Elsewhere the British press recognises Trenet’s talent. James Kirkup, in The Independent, notes that Trenet’s songs are of a "deceptive simplicity : every phrase, every note is delivered with the utmost care and the greatest artistic ingenuity - the kind of work which is far removed from the repetitive monotones in rock and rap music."
In Switzerland, and in particular in the daily paper Le Temps, the deceased singer is evoked in a poetic, touching way. In an editorial, Laurent Wolf describes Trenet as "inventor of French chanson". According to him, with Trenet "trains run in apartments.(…) His poetry was close to surrealism and to the unending inventiveness of popular language. He played with images, words and ideas. And he never displayed his own suffering or that of others. He had a melancholic’s sense of humour". On the same day, Vincent Monnet confirms that "From the early years of his career, Trenet managed to reconcile the French working classes and the Parisian intelligentsia ".
A similar viewpoint, but expressed differently is given by Michel Barbey, also in Le Temps, "Trenet is the man who brings Valentine’s nipples and Armstrong’s keys to French chanson.". Finally, according to Nicolas Dufour, "Mourning is even more delicate for a radio station : the crazy singer was one of the first chansonniers to team up with new forms of media. (…) He will have given to the media as much as he lived from them ".
In Spain, the newspaper Diario 16 announces in its edition of the 20th of February, the demise of the singer whilst emphasising his role as an innovator: "Author, composer and performer of almost a thousand songs, among others, the world-wide hit La mer, helped to introduce French chanson into the modern era, owing to the quality of his lyrics and his musical talent." As for the well-known daily El Pais Octavi Martí describes the period of the Second World War whilst keeping in the picture the role that his songs played right up until very recently. : "Many of his songs verged on the surreal, they were almost always gaily optimistic, but they occasionally had an air of melancholy about them, like, among others one of his hits entitled Douce France, a tune which was hummed by Petain supporters and by members of the French resistance. In 88, it was even used to gather the electorate around François Mitterrand."
Still on the same theme, Laura Putti in the Italian daily La Repubblica, reminds us of his non-political stand. : "He continued to give concerts during the Occupation and, like Chevalier and Piaf in 43, went to Germany to entertain the French troops. That was the only grim moment in a brilliant career which almost span a century." Michele Serra, in another article almost mourns the fact that there is no Italian equivalent to Trenet: "The death of Trenet is for France (and for all francophiles world-wide) cause for mourning. Something quite similar could have happened here with Modugno if he had sung for longer, if we lived in a less divided country and if we had fewer dialects". Even if the writer of the article praises Trenet’s undeniable artistic talent, she is less kind when describing one of his last concerts in Italy: "For some lucky ones it was a real shock to see and hear Trenet at San Remo about eight years ago. Looking decrepid, with the fixed smile of an aging actress plastered on his face, he was wearing a ridiculous white suit and when he sang, leaning into the mike, he tiptoed, showing his shoes, which were also - white".
Latin America
The newspaper Uno Mas Uno in Mexico describes why for some, Trenet was a man ahead of his time : "With his combination of Jazz style phrases and simple lyrics, Trenet was one of the first French artists to use the radio as a means of mass communication in the pre-war years." It also suggests a different interpretation of his position during the Second World War: "His open homosexuality, his taste for jazz and his friendship with Jewish artists caused him to be targeted by the Nazis during the German occupation between 40 and 44, whilst the collaborationist press considered him as having an unhealthy influence on young people."
Ricardo Garcia Oliveri in Clarín, the big Argentine daily, writes "It’s no exaggeration to compare him to Gardel . (…). Just like tango singers with Gardel, French singers encounter problems when they stumble across a theme they haven’t yet recorded - which in any case is extremely rare- as they never knew how to perform it, how to recount it, whether to sing through tears, or whether to sing laughing..." Gardel and Trenet should both be allocated places in the same pantheon dedicated to song, claims this journalist who continues "He came to Argentina in 1947 hired by LR1 Radio Lel Mundo whose news highlighted the fact that he had come from New York and on the day he sang at the Embassy, the encore lasted 50 minutes. He still came back; the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, the Argentines learnt to love him whilst whistling Que reste-t'il de nos amours, Je chante, Chanson d'amour, Si tu vas à Paris …" Trenet following the footsteps of Gardel to have a place in the heart of the Argentines ?
Japan
Let’s end with the land of the Rising Sun where the announcement of Trenet’s was met with much emotion. Frédéric Charles, foreign correspondant in Tokyo, tells us what the singer meant to the Japanese: "Charles Trénet was discovered by the Japanese after the war, and only those who went through that period of destruction and frustration which followed defeat and the American occupation, remember him and feel, on hearing about his death, more sadness than nostalgia. As it was a period of history that they would prefer to forget - the time of Hiroshima when victims were turned to dust by the atomic bomb The prosperity which they have since achieved, and the economic power they possess despite their present difficulties still seems much more comfortable."
"Only Japanese over fifty know who Charles Trenet is", acknowledges Shuji Kato, head of an Association for lovers of French chanson. Through Jazz, Charles Trenet enabled them to recreate a world apart from the city, a place of refuge, a place to escape to. Clubs for French chanson appeared in parts of Tokyo at the beginning of the 50s, like Koga’s which still exists in the Akasaka area, and where the owner, himself a singer, translates into Japanese lyrics as precious as: "You have to keep some smiles ready to make fun of days without joy". "From la Mer to Fleur bleue, his songs, always upbeat, offered hope to the Japanese after the war", adds Shuji Kato. One of the regulars at Koga’s who has been coming for over thirty years, Chiyoko Sakurai, a teacher of Japanese literature, says that these clubs for French chanson, often dark, and with carpets at the back of the room, were synonymous with post-war disorientation. "I discovered Charles Trenet, his poetry, his simple pleasures, his faith in the future thanks to Mr Koga’s translations. I understood it in my language as I can’t speak French. But through him I could dream, I could imagine a better world and not give in to nihilism, unlike many Japanese intellectuals of the time. Joyfully I sing, repeating these phrases which can be a little frivolous as they are light-hearted, he came at such a painful period in history where the Japanese had completely lost faith in themselves, believe me, these words really helped us to bear the unbearable." she says.
Chiyoko Sakurai’s children and grand-children were themselves influenced by the popular American culture, Hollywood and their own more or less crazy singers. And they themselves have borrowed formulas from Trenet, like American swing, fox-trot or waltz-musette, to layer on top of their own poetry. "Charles Trenet had his time of glory in Japan in the 50s and 60s, it’s true. But it’s indisputable that Japanese song has been influenced by him, our artists improved themselves with his records, they studied them in minute detail in order to develop their own style and to create a no less original musical journey", reckons Chiyoko Sakurai.
"These jazzy, uplifting rhythms brought a new sound" reminisces Shuji Kato. It was the Japanese who, right after the terrible years of defeat, succumbed to being swept away by the wave of jazz as expressed by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong who Charles Trenet spent time with. The link was established: " Jazz and Trenet songs - what more could you ask for? For the Japanese he was a sort of French George Gershwin, and, like him, they dreamt of a new world. At the end of the day, despite inevitable misunderstandings, considering the cultural differences, those Japanese who were twenty in the post-war years felt very close to Trenet", confides Shuhei Ohno, the editor of Ça gaze, a Japanese magazine dedicated to French chanson.
What is left of Trenet today in Japan? "La Mer. This melody is always being hummed in this country thanks to radio and television. Young Japanese know this tune even if they don’t know who wrote it", replies Hiroshi Ashino, another specialist of French chanson in Tokyo. "Alas, Trenet’s songs don’t feature in the Karaoke bars, numerous and popular as they are in Japan. The Japanese youth who frequent this kind of place prefer songwriters such as Jo Dassin or Claude François. For their melodies are considered as being easier to sing in Japanese. Japan is changing, but Trenet has not been forgotten."
Epilogue
India (The Hindu), Germany (Stern), Algeria (El Watan), Poland (Gazeta Wyborcza), Senegal (Le Soleil), there is still a very long list of newspapers that made a tribute to the artist. La Mer the song by far the most quoted, which enabled Charles Trenet to leave a legacy of poetry in the international collective memory.
RFI Music compilation: Jean-Jacques Dufayet, Valérie Passelègue, Catherine Pouplain
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