Friday's French music break - Calogero, "La fin de la fin du monde"

Friday's French music break this week is far from being a recent song, but over the past couple of weeks it has been receiving a fair bit of air play - and not just because it's a spirited little number with a catchy riff.

It's the 2009 single "La fin de la fin du monde" by Calogero, taken from his album of the same year "L'embellie"

Mayan predictions aside, the sound is quite typical of Calogero's "pop rock" musical style as a solo artist.

Calogero (screenshot YouTube video)

He has had a string of hits over the years such as the 2001 "En apesanteur" "covered recently by Shy'm), his 2003 homage to Soeur Emmanuelle "Yalla", "Face à la mer" in 2004 with hip hop artist and rapper Passi and another duet in 2007 with fellow composer and singer, Stanislas, "La débâcle des sentiments".

Calogero's bio on his official site doesn't exactly tell you much about the man (although there is quite a revealing video interview which focuses mainly on his new project "Circus") apart from promoting his most recent album and tour in which he re-interpreted some of his own songs with a symphony orchestra.

But pop over to the ever faithful and admittedly not always entirely accurate Wikipedia and you'll discover a rather sketchy profile of a man whose, "Moving lyrics and tender voice (in other words he can sing but it's nothing extraordinary) have made him one of France's top pop/rock singers."

For a more complete profile you can check out Radio France International's biography of Calogero (in English) or the TV5 Monde's archives (in French)

It's perhaps not so much the "tender voice" that has guaranteed Calogero a faithful fan base, but rather the instantly appealing and memorable melodies he composes as well as lyrics that are far from being banal.

Both have contributed to his success and helped him pick up the best male singer award at the 2004 Victoires de la Musique - the French equivalent of the Grammys.

Next up for the 41-year-old is the "Circus" project: a band of sorts made up of fellow established artists, Stanislas, Philippe Uminski, Elsa Fourlon and Karen Brunon.

If you want to see them in concert watch out for them next year when they'll be performing songs from their debut album written by the likes of Jean-Jacques Goldman (don't barf - even if you don't like him, you have to admit he's talented and successful), Dominique A and Marc Lavoine.

There again we might not all live that long...which brings us back nicely to this week's Friday's French Music break, "La fin de la fin du monde".

See ya around again soon...or maybe not.

Soeur Emmanuelle is dead

Tributes have been paid across France after the news that one of the country's most remarkable and much-loved women is dead.

Soeur Emmanuelle, who dedicated her life to helping the poor and was often compared to Mother Therese. died on Monday morning at the age of 99.

She died peacefully in her sleep at the home where she was being cared for in Callian in the south of France, the president of the association "Asmae-Association Sœur Emmanuelle" Trao Nguyen announced.

The comparison to Mother Therese is one Soeur Emmanuelle - born Madeleine Cinquin in Brussels, Belgium - repeatedly downplayed with the comment that she was "no saint".

But hers was a rich life that included setting up an association for unmarried mothers, working in Turkey and Tunisia and then at the age of 63 in the slums of Cairo, where she remained for 21 years.

Even when she returned to France at the age of 85 - supposedly to retire - she continued working with the homeless, and made a number of television appearances to promote humanitarian causes.

For the past decade she spent most of her time in a retirement home in Callian, receiving visitors but not leaving the village.

Apart from many memories, Soeur Emmanuelle also leaves behind a series of books including one published in August "J'ai 100 ans et je voudrais vous dire " (I'm 100 years old and I would like to tell) in which she not only outlined what she considered her many faults but also left us with the thought that, "Without helping others and without sharing, humanity cannot progress."

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner was among one of the first to respond to the news.

"My Soeur Emmanuelle is dead, she would have been 100 years old, always young, admirable and beautiful, and I have a very heavy heart" he said in a statement.

"I always remember what a joy it was to work alongside her. I will always keep the memory of the life force she gave and her ability to make mountains move," he added.

"A woman of the streets. An incredible force who would tenderly tell you off."

Even though she was sometimes at odds with the conventional thinking of the Catholic church - she spoke out in favour of the clergy being allowed to marry and even wrote to Pope John-Paul II telling him she thought contraception should be allowed - the Vatican was also quick to respond to news of her death.

A spokesman for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, said the church had lost "one if the greatest examples of Christian charity."

"Her life showed how Christian charity could succeed regardless of national, racial or religious differences," he said.

Soeur Emmanuelle made many appearances on French television and radio over the years, and as recently as July in a poll of this country's most popular people, she ranked sixth.

There is simply too much to say about an exceptional woman who made such a difference to the lives of so many, and televised tributes have already been announced for the coming days.

According to her wishes there will be a simple funeral ceremony in the village of Callian on Wednesday.

But perhaps the last word for the moment is best left with the woman herself.

"I've had a good and happy life," she said in her recent book

"I can only keep repeating that it's necessary to give others optimism , the will and love."


Addition

Soeur Emmanuelle truly was an extraordinary person, and neither this post nor the previous one I wrote really gets across just how remarkable she was.

Her spirit, energy and humanity were a lesson to us all - regardless of religion, nationality or race. And that has been a point made time and time again throughout the course of today (Monday) here in France.

She spoke and appealed to generations of French, and they appeared to listen to her. She addressed everyone, French presidents, clergy, the homeless, intellectuals - you name it - in the informal "tu" form, and cajoled, bullied, smiled and won her way into the hearts of an enormous number of people.

In a statement on Monday, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy said (and I paraphrase)
"She was a Sister to us all, a woman of the highest conviction, but also one of action, for whom charity actually meant doing something concrete for the benefit of humanity worldwide."

Politicians from Left to Right and religious leaders here in France have either issued statements or spoken to press, radio and television today about what she meant to the French and world at large.

Lunchtime TV news was dedicated in the most part to her death, and doubtless the story will lead the prime time news this evening on both the country's major national channels. There are further special programmes scheduled for the coming weeks and in particular for November 16, when she would have celebrated her 100th birthday.

French nun with a past full of naughty habits declares she's "no saint"

It's hard to tell the tale of an amazing woman who has lived for almost a century in just one book. In fact it's probably impossible.

And although there have already been eight others written by one of France's most remarkable women, this is likely to be the last.

"J'ai 100 ans et je voudrais vous dire " (I'm 100 years old and I would like to tell you) published last Thursday, documents the life story of Soeur Emmanuelle, a remarkable woman by anyone's standards.

Born in Brussels, Belgium on November 16 1908, Madeleine Cinquin as was - now Soeur Emmanuelle, has a glorious past - both laic and religious - that has endeared her to the French over the years.

The 99-year-old no longer gives many interviews, which is not surprising given her advanced age and deteriorating health, but this volume of memoirs and reflections is the exception.

Co-authored by the writers Annabelle Cayrol and Jacques Duquesne, it's a series of interviews carried out by the two of them that reveal perhaps the naughtier side of a woman who is well known to the French and much loved throughout the country as a whole. In a recent poll of this country's most popular people, she ranked sixth.

While not exactly being an ecclesiastical bodice ripper, this book is not far from it, outlining the outspoken and controversial views that have often seen her at odds with the accepted doctrine of the Catholic church.

Everyone already knew for example that she had spoken out in favour of the clergy being allowed to marry. But in this book we also learn that she wrote to Pope John Paul II, telling him in no uncertain terms that she thought contraception should be allowed.

There are also some colourful disclosures of a slightly crazy young lady who clearly (back in inter-war years) lived life to the full while studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, dancing, flirting and falling in love before in 1929 she took her religious vows and became a nun.

There is of course also a look at the time she spent in the slums of Cairo, Egypt - she went there in 1971 aged 63 and saw the poverty of many living there and decided to stay, which she did for the next 21 years returning to France in 1993.

Little wonder that she has often been referred to as this country's Mother Therese - a comparison she has always shrugged off with the repeated declarations that she is "no saint."

This book might well leave many thinking otherwise, especially given her own explanations as to why for example, she founded an association for single mothers and how well into her 80s after returning from Cairo supposedly to enjoy retirement in the south of France, she started helping the homeless in the village where she lives.

"I've had a good and happy life," she says in the book "I can only keep repeating that it's necessary to give others optimism , the will and love.

"Without helping others and without sharing, humanity cannot progress."

She's also not afraid to admit to faults, claiming that she can be both bad-tempered and vindictive. And according to Duquesne is still very much alert and aware of the impact her words might have on others.

"If you write that I've said I'm no saint," Duquesne told national radio in relating a conversation he had had with Soeur Emmanuelle during the writing of the book, " People are going to think 'what humility that woman is showing.'"