Friday's French music break - Mylène Farmer and Sting, "Stolen car"

It's seldom that Friday's French music break features an artist who needs little or no introduction - let alone two!

But that's the case of this week's choice which combines the talents of a Canadian-born French singer, with sales of more than 30 million records in France alone during her 30 + year career, and a British "legend' (the word is not used lightly) who (according to the kind folk over at Wikipedia) ranks among the "world's best-selling music artists" as both a solo performer and with his former group.

The singers (songwriters) in question are of course Mylène Farmer and Sting.

There's so much material available on the Net about both artists, that it's unnecessary to go into any potted biography.

But just in case you need some more info, here are the links to their official sites: Mylene Farmer,
Sting

The pair have teamed up for a remake of "Stolen car", a track taken from Sting's 2003 album "Sacred love" and given a new lease of life.

Where the original is mellow and mellifluous enough (almost to the point of dull - where did Sting leave his "rock" roots you might wonder), the remake is faster, has that typical Farmer ethereal and slightly over-produced studio touch that has very much become her trademark and benefits from the English-French lyric combination.

It entered the French charts this week, toppling the duo of Nicky Jam & Enrique Iglesias from the number one slot, even before the release of the official video.

But, once again, thanks to the power of the Net, you can see snippets of the "making of" in which the two "lock lips" (trust the Daily Mail)

And if you cannot wait, there are some rather "tinny" and distant recordings of the song taken from the radio.

For the moment, here's Sting's 2003 version. As soon as the duo's remake becomes available (the first week of October), it'll be posted here

X Factor à la française "The musical event of the year" - apparently

Just when the French must have thought they were safe from television talent shows, up pops the latest offering - X Factor.

X Factor judges left to right Henry Padovani, Véronic DiCaire, Christophe Willem and Olivier Schultheis (screenshot from YouTube trailer)

On Tuesday the commercial broadcaster M6 will launch the revamped, prime-time search for France's next...er...Sébastien Agius.

Don't worry if you've never heard of him. The chances are, neither have a majority of the French.

Agius was the winner of the first French X Factor in 2009 broadcast on M6's sister channel W9 and although he has released both a single and an album since picking up the title, and played concerts, the 28-year-old has hardly set the French musical scene alight.

Whatever.

The Powers That Be at M6 have obviously decided there's life in the format and, after shelving Nouvelle Star (France's version of Pop Idol) last year at the end of its eighth season, are ready to (re)launch what they proudly and presumably without hyperbolic intent, announce on the show's website will be, "The musical event of the year".

The programme hits the screens on Tuesday evening with an "all-star" line-up of judges that includes - hold your breath - Henry Padovani.

He, M6 proudly informs us, was a "founding member of the British rock group 'The Police'" and is "one of the few French musicians to have had a successful career in Britain."

Apparently he's still "very close" to Sting et al, even though he left barely a year after the group was formed and before it hit the Big Time.

Rest assured though, he has apparently had plenty of success since and brings "with his 360 degrees experience from the world of music as a musician and manager, vision and wisdom to the X Factor candidates."

Ah. There's nothing like laying it on thick.

Joining Padovani is another "heavyweight" from the (French) music scene, Christophe Willem.

Now his is a name with which many French should be familiar and he's very much on tried and tested territory.

The 27-year-old will doubtless be able to give invaluable inside as he's been there, done that and bought the tee-shirt so-to-speak after winning Nouvelle Star back in 2006.

A couple of best-selling albums, several singles, concerts tours and regular television appearances under his belt, Willem says of X Factor that it's a "competition that can clearly change someone's life. I know: I lived it myself."

There's no messing with the musical pedigree of the show's third judge Olivier Schultheis.

He's a musician, lyricist, composer and conductor, son of singer-songwriter Jean and a former student at the prestigious Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris.

Schultheis apparently has "perfect pitch" and has worked with a host of French stars as well as helping launch the careers of several - including Willem.

Completing the line-up of judges, and presumably proving that France's X Factor knows no international boundaries, is Canadian singer and impersonator Véronic Dicaire.

It's not a bad move on the part of the talented 34-year-old who is already a star within the French-speaking community in Canada and fairly blew audiences away in Paris early last year during an extended run at the capital's Théâtre de la Gaîté and returned to play extra dates in November.

Dicaire has a European tour scheduled from this month taking in cities in France, Switzerland and Belgium and an appearance on national telly will surely only boost her appeal to a wider audience.

"By nature sincere and energetic, Dicaire will bring the jury freshness and authenticity," according to M6.

That and, "Anglo-Saxon artistic standards," apparently - whatever that entails.

The whole shebang, including all the stages that have been completed to "discover" the 12 finalists, will begin airing Tuesday March 15 on M6 at 8.45pm local time.

Can you wait?

French TV: when Sting becomes "string"

Ah the delights of live television and radio.

Mistakes are inevitably made: sometimes embarrassing, often amusing as long as they're not inappropriate.

After all who hasn't seen or heard one of those programmes poking fun at presenters' bloopers especially when terribly earnest anchors become tongue tied and mispronounce a name or a word with hilarious results?

And anyone paying attention to the Tuesday evening broadcast of this country's most watched prime time news, will undoubtedly have had a smile on their face courtesy of Laurence Ferrari.

The short report she voiced over was on British rock singer, Sting, who was in Brazil to meet Raoni Metyktire as part of a campaign to urge the country's government to listen to the concerns of indigenous peoples over the proposed construction of the massive Belo Monte hydro-electric dam in the Amazon.

Only Ferrari threw in an "r" into the former Police lead singer's name before making a quick correction and only just preventing herself from laughing (it doesn't matter if you don't speak French, you'll still be able to get the gist of what happened).



True professionalism and probably one many would wish to replicate under similar circumstance, especially those among us who have at one time or another been guilty of on-air giggles.

Such as a certain person not a million miles away from this keyboard who once announced the result of a tennis match between Marc Rosset, then the Swiss number one, and fellow Swiss, Roger Federer, early on in his career, as a "straight sets" win for the latter.

Except the second "s" in "sets" was somehow replaced with an "x", followed by a quick correction and uncontrollable chortling before a jingle came to the rescue.

Just for the record, and to return to Sting, following the recent release of his album "If on a Winter's Night", the 58-year-old will be giving a one-date only concert here in France at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on December 15.