Friday's French music break - Voca people

What, no particular song for this week's Friday's French music break?

Just a "group"?

Well yes. And the "group" isn't even French at that.

It's Voca people,  "an Israel-based ensemble performing vocal theatre combining a cappella and beat box vocals to reproduce the sounds of an entire orchestra" (thank you Wikipedia).



The eight-piece troupe is coming to the end of a run at the Bobino theatre in Paris, where it has been playing to packed houses for the past four months, and is about to take the show on the road around France.

So that's your French connection - as tenuous as it might be.

Plenty has been written about the somewhat thin "plot" of the 90-minute show elsewhere.

It centres on eight "aliens" whose spaceship has crash-landed on Earth and who need the "power of musica" to be able to take off again.

That force comes from touching humans (the audience) and sets them off on several musical trips from pop to classical, some old standards to film sound tracks, and because this is France, a medley of French hits.

One thing's for sure, Voca people put on a quirky show with some remarkable vocal gymnastics making it hard to believe that no instruments are involved and you're just listening to voices.

The whole performance is sheer nonsense from beginning to end, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable, and even the most curmudgeonly will leave with a smile on their faces or, at least, a tune in their heads.

Just one tip. 

If you're thinking of going along to see them and you're not into touchy-feely stuff, steer clear of the orchestra seats or those nearest the stage.

Because part of the show - perhaps a little too big a part for some - involves audience participation as the chosen few are dragged up on to the stage as props in the "love scenes".

You've been warned!

Friday's French music break - Garou, "Le jour se lève"

Friday's French music break this week this week is a song recently crowned "record of the year" 2012

It's ""Le jour se lève" taken from the album "Rhythm and Blues" in which the Canadian crooner Garou (real name, Pierre Garand) makes his growling mark on a number of standards in both English and French, as he covers remakes that he would have been best advised to leave well alone.

Now, how exactly Garou managed to walk off with the title "record of the year" with "Le jour se lève" remains something of a mystery.

Garou (screenshot from video clip for "Le jour se lève")

Perhaps it was the phenomenal commercial success of the track.

After all, even in these days in which singles aren't really a measure of popularity, "Le jour se lève" only managed to peak at 115 in the French charts.

There again, maybe it was all down to the success of the single in neighbouring Belgium - where it reached number 22.

Of course Garou's win could have been because of the low standard of the other artists in the running for the title: among them international no-hopers Rihanna ("Diamonds") and Birdy ("Skinny love") or a clutch of Francophone singers, including Matt Pokora, Jenifer, Shy’m, Tal, Marc Lavoine and Amel Bent - all of whom had achieved greater singles chart success in France during 2012.

But wait. Who was making the award?

Oh. It was France's largest private channel TF1, filliing up the schedules with a pre-recorded programme during the holiday period.

Isn't Garou also one of the judges in the second series of "The Voice" due to be broadcast on the very same TF1 in early February?

Well, what do you know. Yes he is. But of course that cannot possibly have played a part in a vote determined by the public from the list of nominees before the competition got underway.

Ergo all definitely very correct and aboveboard and 40-year-old Garou, who first shot to prominence in France for his performance as Quasimodo in the hit musical Notre Dame de Paris in 1998, walked away with yet another award to add to his collection.

What? You've never heard of the musical? Well maybe that's not surprising.

It ran and ran in France, made stars of several of its performers and transferred equally well to Canada. But when it opened in London, the welcome was less than enthusiastic with Independent going all Sun-like in its headlines and describing it as ""A load of old bells".

http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/reviews/notredame00.htm

Anyway, back to "Le jour se lève", a truly wondrous remake of a song originally recorded by Israeli singer Esther Galil in 1971 - when it really was an international hit (sales of more than five million in Europe).

If you didn't like it first time around...the chances are that Garou's snarling interpretation won't do much for you either.

Have a great weekend.

Yael Naïm wins Best Female Artist at France's Victoires de la musique awards

Tuesday evening saw part two of Les Victoires de la musique awards, the French equivalent of the Grammys, broadcast live from Paris on France 2.

"Part two" because, in their infinite wisdom, organisers decided viewers probably weren't up for several hours of tra-la-la-ing and thank you speeches to all and sundry and split the ceremony in two.

Yael Naïm (screenshot from YouTube video)

February 9 was dedicated solely to newcomers and "revelations" with the public getting to vote in each category and the whole shebang being broadcast live from the northern city of Lille on France 2's (much) smaller sister station France 4.

Meanwhile Tuesday saw awards handed out to the "more established" artists with industry professionals getting to determine who got what.

Of course the voting procedure is more complex than that; but by and large the heavyweight awards were decided by those "in the know" who had already whittled the nominees in each category down to four and, apart from the Song of the Year which was left to a public vote, determined who got the gongs.

Perhaps the most interesting category of the evening was that of Best Female Artist because it had, in a real sense, a truly international flavour to it.

Added to that, there were some stunning performances although only three of the nominees were present.

Canadian Cœur de pirate (otherwise known as Béatrice Martin when she's not performing) who won the award in 2010 for Best Song gave a simple voice and piano rendition of "Francis" from her self-titled 2009 album.

Nigerian-French singer-songwriter Aṣa (pronounced Asha), trademark big specs and velvet timbre of a voice, treated the audience and viewers to a groovy "Be my man" taken from her 2010 album "Beautiful imperfection".



And French-Israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naïm added a touch of soul and jazz as well as a heap of gospel to her pop-folk rock "Come home" from her "She was a boy" album.

Phew!

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Only Vanessa Paradis - French model-actress-singer and partner of Johnny Depp (or should that be the other way round?) was missing.

Perhaps she had guessed she wouldn't be picking up an award this time around but she already has a heap of them to her name.

And the winner is...Yael Naïm.

In the night's other categories awards were picked up by Gaëtan Roussel for both Best Male Artist and Best Album, M (full name Matthieu Chedid) and veteran Eddy Mitchell jointly for best concert/show/tour and Philippe Katerine (love him or hate him) for his splendidly as-usual off-the-wall "La banane" as Best Video.



The last award for Best Song - and the only one on the night left to the public vote - went to "Je veux" by Zaz.

As Paris Match said, "A lively evening and a long way from the seemingly interminable hours of poorly paced entertainment" viewers were subjected to last year.

Sarkozy starts visit to Israel

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, begins a three-day visit to Israel on Sunday in what the press back home is reporting as further proof of an improvement in relations between the two countries.

It'll be only the third time a French president has visited Israel, and Sarkozy is likely to have a far more conciliatory tone than his predecessors.

That shouldn't be too difficult. In 1996, during a visit to Jeruslam's old town, Jacques Chirac lost his rag with Israeli security as he was jostled during a walkabout and famously threatened to take the first 'plane home.

And in 1982 during a speech to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, François Mitterrand received a less than warm welcome when he stressed the need for Palestinians' rights to be recognised alongside Israel.

Not exactly renowned for the lightest of diplomatic touches, Sarkozy's trip has been diligently organised to avoid similar confrontations.

First up he's being kept well clear of East Jerusalem, he won't see the reality of how Palestinians live and he'll be kept well away from the "wall" or "separation barrier" (depending on whose definition you accept) .

Even though he's due to meet the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, it's being interpreted in the French press as "minimum service." The two men will meet on Tuesday in Bethlehem rather than Ramallah for "practical reasons" according to Sarkozy's own press office.

And when he addresses the Knesset on Monday, Sarkozy is bound to receive nods of approval should he renew his call for tougher international sanctions on Iran if it continues to fail to "come clean" on its nuclear programme.

It'll also be interesting to see exactly what he'll have to say about Israeli settlement plans and whether, as rumoured, he'll call for a freeze on them and an easing-up of travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Sarkozy's trip has several goals - political, diplomatic and business - and has been scheduled a little earlier than planned at the insistence of the Israeli president, Shimon Pires, who was Sarkozy's guest in Paris back in March.

According to Ayelet Frish, a spokeswoman for Peres, he was reportedly blown away by the welcome he received in Paris and wants to return the favour by making Sarkozy feel at home. On Monday Peres will throw a gala dinner in honour of the French president and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

The fast-forwarded schedule shouldn't pose too many problems for Sarkozy and indeed could work to his advantage. It'll give him a chance to test the waters in the Middle East peace process.

France takes on the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union in July and will become the de facto leader of the "Quartet" ( EU, Russia, United States and United Nations) trying to mediate in the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He's also keen to put the finishing touches to one of his major international initiatives - the Mediterranean Union.

It's due to be launched in Paris on July 13, and Sarkozy would like nothing more than a photo-coup handshake between the Israeli prime minister, Ehoud Olmert and the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad during that launch. Both men are expected to attend.

Apart from his wife, Sarkozy will also be accompanied by three members of the government: the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, the interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie and the justice minister Rachida Dati - who never seems to miss a chance to collect air miles.

Any state visit by Sarkozy of course also has commercial undertones - he is after all France's best salesman. So there's perhaps no surprise that going along for the ride will be Laurence Parisot, boss of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (Movement of French Enterprises, MEDEF) the largest union of employers in this country. She'll heading a delegation of business leaders, so don't be surprised if there are a few dotted lines signed or at least negotiations started.

Sarkozy's visit to Israel will be well worth watching to see just how he brings his own very personal style to politics in a part of the world in which he is reportedly being perceived as the most pro-Israeli French head of state in recent years.