There’s no stopping
Charles Aznavour, the on-going French chanson legend. “
He came to Ellis Island in 1948, a French Armenian singer who once sold fake silk stockings to Nazi soldiers, a struggling artist with no visa but big dreams of performing in America,”
The San Francisco Gate recalled (6/9), “Some six decades, 60 movies and 740 recorded songs later, Charles Aznavour returns to the United States this month for a series of concerts… billed as his farewell tour of North America.” The singer insists he is intent on making the most of his impending retirement. He told a reporter from The San Francisco Gate, "I'm 82 years old, and I've only got 20, 25, 35 years left to live… I'm an optimist, but still, that's not a lot!" The American daily adds that "after touring Germany and Japan, Aznavour is now focusing on English-speaking countries before moving on to perform in Spanish-speaking ones.” Meanwhile, after his U.S. tour, the globe-trotting singer is due to accompany President Chirac and his wife on an official visit to Armenia on 29 September. According to the official press agency Gramma (22/8), Aznavour has also "announced that he will be travelling to Cuba to record an album with the Cuban pianist Chucho Valdéz."
Arielle Dombasle was actually born in the U.S.A. (to French parents living in Connecticut), but she has never really managed to make a successful breakthrough in the States. Up until now, as a journalist from The New Yorker (11/9) gleefully reminded readers, she was best known for "her appearance, in 1984, in the TV mini-series ‘Lace’, in which she played a prostitute." To make matters worse, "Mrs. B.H.L." strikes a lesser figure in the States than her eminently better-known husband, "the philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy… whose latest book ‘American Vertigo’ has become a no.1 best-seller in the States” since its publication a few months ago. Diva Dombasle has decided it’s time to set matters straight and she is now "getting ready to present another facet of her artistic personality: singer. The other night, Dombasle was to be found rehearsing in a recording studio with the New York Big Band, who will accompany her when she performs at The Supper Club", on Broadway, where Ms. Dombasle will perform her own tantalising versions of "hits from the 1940s and 50s." The curtain goes up on 20 September.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan newspaper El Observador (10/8) reported that Manu Chao, a veritable superstar in Latin America, "finally managed to conquer the U.S." this summer. Up until now, "the French singer of Spanish origin, whose music has not only crossed geographical frontiers but also political and ideological ones" had enjoyed limited success in the notoriously "difficult market" in the States. But "his sermons on love set the Big Apple alight (…) as he closed his North American tour in New York" with a rousingly successful finale. On an altogether more surprising note, French classical music is also having something of a Golden Moment in the States right now with a special tribute from American musicians. In September, "The Los Angeles Philharmonic will be performing a French programme at The Hollywood Bowl made up of famous works by Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Dukas and Ravel," reported The Los Angeles Times (9/9). Just prior to this the Randolph Road Theatre in Washington "opened its fourth season with ‘Salut la France’, a concert of arias and ensemble pieces taken from French operas," including Bizet’s legendary Carmen and Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment (The Washington Post, 11/9).
While Aznavour, Dombasle and Chao had their sights set on the States, other artists such as
Charlotte Gainsbourg were busy targeting ‘old’ Europe. Ms. Gainsbourg, whose last album
Charlotte For Ever (recorded with her notorious father, Serge) dates back twenty years ago, just after the release of the scandalous
Lemon Incest, re-emerged on the music scene at the end of August with the release of a brand new album,
5:55 (Because Music). British broadsheet
The Guardian (1/9), described
5:55 as a "
reverential" album. What’s more, as
Le Devoir, in Canada (28/8) informed its readers, it features some "
exquisite melodies" written by Dunckel and Godin (aka Air) and "
the quality of made-to-measure compositions courtesy of Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Air and occasional contributions from Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy)… The tracks are not a direct tribute to Gainsbourg Sr., but his ghost is never far away."
German newspaper
Der Tagesspiegel (8/9) was somewhat less complimentary, however, noting that "
Charlotte is a brave girl indeed… The daughter of the great Serge cannot sing. Or rather, it does not matter whether Charlotte Gainsbourg ‘sings’ or not … it’s clear she’s not even trying (…) The main problem, it appears, is that she does not have a voice." The same, we should point out, was once said of her illustrious father and no matter what German music critics may think,
5:55 has earned rave reviews elsewhere in Europe, including Norway (
VG, 12/9) and Denmark (
Berlingske Tidende, 27/8).
