Juliette Gréco in New York

The Queen of Charm and Tragedy

New York 

29/09/1999 - 

Juliette Gréco - better known to music fans as "the muse of Saint-Germain" - was originally booked to perform just one concert at the Alliance française in New York (on September 23rd). But when word got out that the legendary 50s chanson star was due to appear in The Big Apple, demand for tickets quickly outstripped supply and Ms. Gréco gracefully accepted to give a repeat performance on the following night. Fans packed into New York's Florence Gould Hall on 23rd September were treated to an unforgettable performance. Gréco strode onto on an all-black stage, dressed from head to toe in her customary black, long black hair cascading down onto her shoulders. The French star's repertoire on this momentous occasion was in perfect keeping with her existentialist uniform - concert highlights included such melancholy favourites as "Un soir d’été", "Le Train de nuit" and "J’arrive". Sadly, fans who held tickets for Ms. Gréco's concert on September 25th were to be sorely disappointed - the French star's second show was cancelled after she suffered heart problems.

With 50 years of career behind her - the last 40 of which she has not set foot in the United States - Ms. Gréco has earned veritable star status, so it was hardly surprising that such a strong following of fans turned out to see her in New York. At the age of 73, the French diva looked as beautiful as ever, her famously svelte figure enrobed in a simple, black sweater. Juliette's repertoire proved that it had lost none of its charm either - audiences still sighed over the story of the old lovers in "Les Vieux amants" and wept a secret tear for the unhappy romance between the fish and the bird (in the Gréco classic "Le Petit poisson et le petit oiseau").

In her heyday Gréco was renowned for her theatrical performances of songs by Léo Ferré, Jacques Brel and her long-time friend, songwriter and recent husband, Gérard Jouannest. At her New York show the French diva proved she is still unsurpassed when it comes to conveying drama and highly-charged emotions to her audience. When the siren of the night-train resounded in "Train de nuit", there was barely a dry eye in the house and the singer held the whole house spellbound with another old favourite, "Un soir d’été" (a song which recounts the tragic tale of a man who strangles his wife then drowns himself, filled with remorse).

Gréco's dark tales of murder, doomed romance and irredeemable loss, drew mixed audiences on 23rd September. True, the majority of fans packed into the Florence Gould Hall were Americans, many of them nostalgic for the France they had known in the post-war years, others attracted by the myth of Paris, international capital of glamour and romance. In fact, most American fans in the audience knew little of France besides the names of its legendary chanson exports - Piaf, Aznavour, Brel… and, of course, Juliette Gréco!
However, the audience at the Florence Gould Hall was not exclusively American - there were also numerous French fans, exiled for too long from their homeland, who were only too glad of the opportunity of indulging in an evening's nostalgia. In short, Ms. Gréco's New York appearance was an emotionally charged affair and, even though there were no actual encores, the audience expressed their admiration with thunderous applause. Fans appeared to leave the auditorium in a happy trance, snapping up Gréco CDs at $15 a piece on the way out. "We came to see Madame French Chanson," one delighted American told me, grinning from ear to ear. "What an evening!", exclaimed another fan, "I'm so happy, I came and I actually saw Her."

But the most extraordinary thing about Juliette Gréco's New York concert was that it appeared to appeal to fans of all ages, from all walks of life. One of the most memorable moments of my evening was when I saw a young, leather-jacketed "biker", who had been singing along to Gréco's songs all evening, leap up from his seat at the end of the show to give his own personal standing ovation to "the muse of Saint-Germain".

Report: KARINE MYRIEM WONG (in New York)
Translation: JULIE STREET