Friday's French music break - John Mamann featuring Kika, "Love Life"

Friday's French music break this week is one of those songs you're more than likely to have heard on the radio in France at some point over over the past few months

It's "Love life" by John Mamann, featuring Portuguese singer Kika, and is the first track to be released from his latest album of the same name.

John Mamann (screenshot from official video)

The song is  heavy on the feel-good factor; a catchy tune (of course) with simple lyrics (what else) sung alternately in French (Mamann) and English (Kika).

Kika (screenshot from official video)

All in all, it an instantly hummable, whistleable (there's plenty of that at both the beginning and end), singalongable (are any of those words?), la-la-la-able song with a pleasant enough mélodie...whoops, melody - and, let's face it, the simplest of refrains that even the most forgetful will not have trouble remembering.

Love life ( la la la la la... ),
Love life ( la la la la la... ),
It's you and I ( la la la la la... ),
Love life ( la la la la la... ).

Now some of you out there who've read previous Friday's French music break posts (here) might have noticed similarities between "Love life" and another duet from French television actress Élisa Tovati and a former Eurovision Song Contest entrant for Belgium (and runner-up in that country's X Factor), Tom Dice.

Back in 2011 the pair teamed up for the equally melodious and gentle-on-the ear summer hit "Il nous faut" sung in both French and English, and written by...Mamann.

In fact, although the 43-year-old is about to release his third album he's probably better known for his songwriting credentials, having composed and produced for the likes of Johnny Hallyday, Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier and Louisy Joseph after she left the all-girl band (French) Popstars winners L5 to pursue a solo career.

Plus...yes there's more...Mamann is one of the composers of the musical Robin des Bois which has recently opened in Paris and stars (yet) another former Popstars winner, Matt Pokora.

Anyway, that's probably more than enough background info.

If you would like more, you can take a look at a more comprehensive bio (in French) online at Universal Music, log on to his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.

Mamann has just appeared as the warm-up act for Zaz in Amiens and has a few performance dates scheduled over the next couple of months, including one at Bus Palladium in Paris on December 3.

For now though, listen to the official video and be prepared perhaps get ready to break out into a few la, la, las.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend.

Verdict of "neglect" for vegan couple over baby's death

A court in the northern city of Amiens has found Sergine and Joël Le Moaligou guilty of neglect and failure to provide medical care or proper nutrition for their daughter, Louise who died in 2008.

screenshot from France 2 report

They couple were both sentenced to five years imprisonment, but are unlikely to spend time behind bars as part if it was suspended and the period they've spent in custody was taken into account.

The sentence was more lenient than the one the prosecution had called for of 10 years imprisonment.

The case was one where faith in an alternative lifestyle - as well-intentioned as it might have been - came head-to-head with reality. And the results were tragic.

The couple are vegans, and had fed Louise on nothing other than breast milk up until the day she died at the age of 11 months.

When Louise started losing weight they took her to see a doctor who suspected pneumonia.

In spite of a recommendation to take their daughter to hospital for further tests and treatment, the parent's decided to care for her at home - using alternative methods.

Her condition didn't improve and by the time they called the emergency services it was too late.

Louise was just 11 months old when she died of a bronchial infection and weighed 5.7 kilogrammes.

The prosecuting attorney Anne-Laure Sandretto had argued that their alternative lifestyle wasn't on trial but rather whether the couple had "shown a lack of care and caused the death of their child.'

That somehow didn't marry with Sandretto's call for a 10-year prison sentence and her insistence that Louise had died "because of her parents' beliefs and rejection of traditional medicine."

An autopsy on Louise revealed that she suffered from a vitamin A and B12 deficiency, both of which are essential to a child's growth.

For Sandretto that suggested proof of the parents' culpability as Louise had only been fed on breast milk.

"The problem of the vitamin B12 deficiency would be linked to the diet of the mother," Sandretto said.

But the couple also had another child, 12-year-old Elodie, who had not suffered the same vitamin deficiencies and a doctor who had seen Louise at eight months had described her as being "in perfect health."

Speaking after the trial Anne-Laure Pillon, the lawyer for the plaintiff, called the decision the right one, even if it might have appeared lenient to some.

"It gives the family some hope," she told France 2 television.

"At the same time it shows limits and makes clear to the parents that they didn't react appropriately."

The couple have also lost partial parental responsibility for education and health of their older daughter.

French man saves pregnant woman from drowning

Give it up for Eddy Devauchelle, a true modern-day hero in the real sense of the word, if ever there were one.

Last Wednesday evening, the 42-year-old electrician jumped into a freezing cold river to rescue a pregnant woman who was trapped inside a car.

And all he had to say after his act of bravery was "I was just doing my duty as a citizen."

It happened in the northern French city of Amiens after the car in which the woman and her husband had been driving was hit by another vehicle and was sent into the river, overturning in the process.

When Devauchelle arrived on the scene he reportedly saw two people kneeling at the water's edge and a man in the river with water up to his neck crying out for help.

"I got out of my car, took off my jacket and wet the back of my neck - the water was freezing," he told the local newspaper, 'Le Courrier Picard'".

He wasn't kidding. The outside air temperature was minus four degrees Celsius.

"And then I got into the river and made my way to the car," he continued.

When Devauchelle reached the car he saw that the eight month pregnant woman was trapped inside, unconscious, and after several attempts managed to force open the door and release her from her seat belt.

After he had made his way back to the river bank with the still unconscious woman, Devauchelle asked others to give him a hand pulling her out of the water.

"They were just standing there doing nothing and I have to admit I wasn't exactly polite," he said, adding that after he had put the woman in the recovery position and she started to come round he asked two girls present to continue rubbing her back.

"I returned to my car to grab a couple of fleeces to keep her warm," he said, while everyone waited for the emergency services to arrive.

Both the expectant mother and her husband were taken to a nearby hospital, where she was kept in for observations, but the hero of the hour was quite clearly Devauchelle,

And the following day the Prefect of the Picardie region, Michel Delpuech, awarded Devauchelle a silver grade medal for courage and dedication "to acknowledge this act of rescue which deserves admiration."

And so say all of us.

Isn't Eddy Devauchelle just the kind of man you would want to have around when it matters?