Friday's French music break - Étienne Daho, "En surface"

Friday's French music break this week is from a singer who first broke on to the music scene back in 1981.

It's "En surface", the most recent single from Étienne Daho and taken from his 2013 album "Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée"

Étienne Daho (screenshot from official video of "En surface".

As you can tell, Daho has been around a while and has built up a firm and loyal fan base and has become (in the words of the promotional blurb) "one of the most influential personalities to have emerged on the French scene in the last 30 years"

Part of the problem (for those not quite so enamoured of his music) is that Daho seems to have been "singing"  (inverted commas entirely intentional as he has a "voice" that surely only the French could "love") variations of the same song since the 1980s.

And in fact, he appears to be well and truly stuck in that era, offering up little that is sparklingly different, not to mention tuneful and instead relying on a tried and tested recipe of electro-pop "synth-driven and rock-surf influenced" (his English language Wikipedia entry, so you know it must be right). music which has, admittedly, served him well over the decades.

Very well in fact with every album turning gold or platinum and a slew of successful singles.

Granted "the familiarity factor" could probably be said to be true for many artists who've proven their longevity, but in the process, Daho just sounds too moody and bored when he sings. Don't you think?

"En surface" is one of those songs that you hear and wish would be over quickly because the melody and the "low whispery voice" have a combined soporific effect (for some) which will simply send you off to the Land of Nod.

All right. That's not exactly fair - just an opinion.

There are plenty around who have enjoyed, and continue to do so, Daho's music. And the album from which this track was taken, received some pretty good reviews when it was released.

Writing in Le Journal du dimanche, critic Éric Mandel described "Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée" as an "ambitious and elegant album" and one that was "sumptuous with songs that stood out for their emotional power."

Oh well.

And then there are the diehard fans, some of whose comments on the "En surface" video on YouTube are equally gushing

"Magnifique chanson , magnifique clip, magnifique chanteur, magnifique voix !" for example. Really, you shouldn't need to run that throught Google translate.

Or

"Une très belle chanson."

And

"Ma chanson préférée de l'album.....octobre est encore loin  pour revivre la magie de ses concerts."

Ah October...and the "Diskönoir" tour which will, over the next few months, see Daho take the show on the road around France (with three dates at Olympia in Paris) Belgium and Luxembourg, plus a date in London on October 23.

Ready? Judge for yourselves.

Actually it's not so bad after a dozen or so hearings....

UK couple scoop EuroMillions jackpot but where's September's French winner?

A British couple were the winners of last Friday's Euromillions draw picking up a cool £101 million or €115 million.

(screenshot from EuroMillions commercial)

But in France there's still a mystery surrounding an even bigger jackpot "won" almost a month ago.

That's because nobody has stepped forward to make a claim for the €162 million for five correct numbers plus the two lucky stars in the September 13 draw.

The operator of the lottery in France, La Française des Jeux (FDJ), apparently has still had no news from the claimant and will only issue a statement once the winner has stepped forward and then "only in accordance with his or her wishes."

The winning ticket was apparently bought in the northwestern département of Calvados.

Yes the very same area known for its apple brandy, which might give a clue as to why nobody has yet made a claim.

And let's face it, the amount is hardly inconsiderable.

Should the winner eventually be identified he/she or they would have the 250th largest fortune in France.

But hey, who's counting centimes here?

It's not the first time someone has been in less than a hurry to pick up an enormous lottery cheque in France.

As Le Parisien reports, right now FDJ is waiting for the winner of €8 million in the national lottery draw from August 13 to make his or her claim.

Time is running out though as FDJ has rules about how long a jackpot can remain unclaimed and the deadline is October 12 at one minute to midnight.

As for the Euromillions winner from Calvados - well the deadline for making a claim is November 12.

EuroMillions ticket - sadly not a winner

Just for the record, those numbers for the September 13 draw in case you haven't already checked were - and still are - 9, 28, 30, 32, 49 and the two lucky stars 9 and 10 (you can check them out here)

EuroMillions is a transnational lottery incorporating national operators in nine European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

France's embarrassment and anger over Strategic Airlines

Strategic Airlines - a charter company banned by France - makes a mockery of the country's civil aviation authority and takes advantage of a lack of European Union-wide regulations.

(screenshot from TF1 news)

In a special report during its prime time news on Monday, French television channel TF1 looked at how a European subsidiary of the Australian-based company Strategic Airlines had managed to flout a ban placed on it by the French civil aviation authority last September.

The charter airline simply moved its headquarters to neighbouring Luxembourg, as a "completely separate subsidiary" gained a licence from that country's aviation authority, and continued its flights from French airports to destinations in Greece and Portugal.

Strategic Airlines first gained a licence to fly in Europe in 2009 but its name soon became synonymous, as far as passengers and authorities in France were concerned, with technical problems and delays.

Complaints about waits of up to 30 hours because of technical problems and 'planes described by passengers as "flying coffins" as well as spot-checks carried out French civil aviation authority officials led to its licence being revoked in September 2010.

But just a few weeks later the company was back in business.

It had found a loophole in European Union regulations: there is no single agency within the 27-member state bloc responsible for overseeing airlines.

Perhaps the European Aviation Safety Agency would be the body most able to fulfil that function, but its role is limited as it makes clear on its website.

"The Agency works hand in hand with the national authorities which continue to carry out many operational tasks, such as certification of individual aircraft or licencing of pilots."

In other words each member state is responsible for deciding whether a licence will be issued to an airline and although a blacklist of airlines exists, it only applies to non-European companies.

And, according to Gilles Gompertz the general manager of the airline consulting business Avico, Strategic took full advantage of the inadequacy of EU-wide regulations.

"We closed the the door (to the airline) in September 2010 and one month later we opened the window," he said.

"What cannot be explained is the refusal by the company to correct faults and to return to the market after it has effectively been banned. That's shocking."

While Luxembourg's civil aviation authority is apparently "keeping a close eye" on Strategic's operations, it did little to prevent the airline once again upsetting passengers in December, this time those bound for the island of Madeira.

After a 10-hour wait, they were informed that their 'plane had been cancelled - an incident the airline put down to having been the fault of the tour operator.