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French Music Seen From Abroad Oct. 2007
Chao, Vartan and Co
Paris
31/10/2007 -
There’s no doubt about it. The big story of this autumn season is the new album from Manu Chao! Chao, former frontman of La Mano Negra who became a global star with the release of Clandestino in 1998, had not recorded a solo album for six years. So the release of La Radiolina (Because) at the beginning of September caused a huge stir in the international media. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo (7/9) adopted an ironic tone, headlining "Manu Chao kidnaps Manu Chao!" The paper’s critic claimed, "Take Chao’s new album, La Radiolina – and wham! bam! three minutes later, George Bush is back again!" Meanwhile, America’s Newsday (31/8) accused Chao of "repeating himself" and The Seattle Post (5/9) wrote that "What emerges on La Radiolina is a sound familiar to fans of his past albums." So is Chao guilty of rehashing the same old themes? The Peruvian news website RPP (31/8) considers that Chao is simply "continuing his social activism." Be that as it may, there’s no denying that Chao’s latest single Rainin’ In Paradise is brilliantly catchy and most journalists have given La Radiolina good reviews. After ten years’ solo career, Chao may have a few less surprises up his sleeve, but his international influence remains strong. As the Boston Globe puts it, (U.S., 2/9) "Manu Chao thinks locally and inspires globally."
While Manu Chao has been creating a stir on the recording front, a group of other French artists including Chimène Badi headed out to Morocco for a major collective concert on 27 October. The news website Magharebia.com (28/10) reported that "The ‘Concert for Tolerance’ lit up the Moroccan night in Agadir", bringing together a host of artists "from the Maghreb and other regions of the world." "The concert attracted an audience of over 100,000, mostly made up of young music fans aged between 15 and 25." French singers were well represented on stage in Agadir. "The French artist Chimène Badi, who is of Algerian origin, performed her song Je viens du sud, affirming her attachment to Morocco; (…) Faudel sang Abdelkader Boualam’s masterpiece Tellement nebghik, accompanied by the people of Agadir who danced and sang along. The applause continued for Khaled who performed his hits Désert and Aïcha (the latter written by the French Jewish songwriter and composer Jean-Jacques Goldman)." Kenza Farah, a French singer of Kabylian origin, and David Hallyday, "son of French singing star Johnny Hallyday", also rallied to the cause.
While Hallyday junior was campaigning for tolerance in Morocco and Hallyday senior was flitting off to Switzerland to avoid the taxman, David’s mother Sylvie Vartan was busy playing human rights ambassador. The Bulgarian news portal News.bg reported that Sylvie Vartan, "the Bulgarian-born French singer of international fame", was amongst the delegation which accompanied the French president Nicolas Sarkozy on a flying visit to Sofia on 4 October. "Sylvie Vartan has played a major role in mobilising French public opinion in support of the Bulgarian nurses who had been sentenced to death in Libya,” reported News.bg, “She even wrote a letter to the Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi demanding the nurses’ release."
Meanwhile, over in London, luxury jewellers Cartier brought a touch of French chic to the National History Museum, organising a special jet-set ‘soirée.’ Britain’s Telegraph (18/10) reported that "After dinner, there was a performance by French singer Arielle Dombasle" who must have felt very at home amidst the celebrity crowd which included the Prince and Princess of Kent, fashion designers Amanda Wakeley and Bruce Oldfield and rock star Rod Stewart and his wife. Looking every inch the diva, Dombasle "sizzled in silver and Cartier diamonds" crooning her way "through a programme of salsa and samba standards" to general applause.
Bertrand Cantat, former lead singer of French rock band Noir Désir, did not meet with such general consensus on his recent release from jail. Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia (16/10) reported that "musician Bertrand Cantat is currently on parole after having served four years of his prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend", French actress Marie Trintignant, who died in Lithuania in 2003 after a violent row with Cantat. "The actress’s mother… has always opposed the idea of Cantat being granted parole. And she expressed her anger that the convicted man had served barely four years of his sentence whereas other murderers had to spend a full twenty years behind bars." As internet chatrooms buzz with fans and detractors exchanging heated opinions, the case has rekindled the debate on domestic violence in France.
Gilles Rio
Translation : Julie Street
31/08/2007 -
