Friday's French music break - Keen'V, "Saltimbanque"

Friday's French music break this week has more than a feel of Bollywood about it.

It's "Saltimbanque" by Kevin Bonnet, better known by his stage name,  Keen'V.

Quite frankly, the 32-year-old might not be among the greatest singers around but that hasn't detracted from his popular appeal and he has had a string of hits over the years including most notably "J'aimerais trop" in 2009, "La vie du bon côté" in 2012 and "Dis Moi Oui (Marina)" in 2013.

Keen'V (screenshot from appearance on "Comment ça va bien", France 2 - September 2014)

From the very beginning (in 2008 when he decided to take to the Net by posting on YouTube), Keen'V's style has most definitely been dancefloor inspired mixing elements of ragga(muffin), raggae, zouk, French "varieté", electro and simple pop to come up with a sound that most certainly makes you want to...er...strut your stuff.

Probably most popular with a teenage audience (evidence of that, perhaps, is that he picked up an NRJ music award in 2012 as Révélation francophone de l'année) but has taken steps recently to broaden his appeal to the whole family with appearances in celebrity reality TV programmes such as the French versions of "Splash", le grand plongeon (season one) and "Strictly come dancing" ("Danse avec les stars" - season four).

"Saltimbanque" is the title track from Keen'v's chart-topping fifth studio album released in 2014

True to his dance music style and that of being an acrobat or "saltimbanque" (albeit a vocal one) the song is definitely one made for...well, dancing.

Its lyrics (let's not get too deep here) come across as almost autobiographic with Keen'V "proud to be an acrobat" and having chosen music because "he prefers the nightclub atmosphere".

The song might sound a little too studio over-produced, but that doesn't really matter because its real pull lies in the electro-Bollywood feel and beat.

Take a listen. The official video only features a still of Keen'V and the lyrics, which is a bit of a shame because their a real dance performance would have been a bonus.

And if you want to catch Keen'V live, you're in luck because he'll be embarking on a two-month nationwide tour of France from April with dates scheduled in a number of Zeniths including those in Amiens, Caen, Paris, Toulouse and his home city of Rouen.

Bon week-end and enjoy.

Are French viewers ready to see a same-sex couple appear on "Danse avec les Stars"?

Sticking by the principle that you can never have too much of a "good" thing, it's another post on the French television programme "Danse avec les Stars," - this country's version of the British show "Strictly Come Dancing".

You might have read here earlier this week that it's shortly due to hit French screens for a third season, and although that was a political special, this is about the real thing.

And apparently prime time TV isn't yet ready for two people of the same sex men to be shown dancing together.

That's surely the conclusion to be drawn from the news that the programme's producers have rejected the request by one of the celebrity candidates that he be allowed to dance with another man.

The show will of course feature a number of French singers and actors wanting to give their careers a boost, sporting personalities whose presence might seem more than a little incongruous with the apparent energetic elegance required  to hoof it across the dancefloor and the odd television "star" with the physique and co-ordination skills set to "amuse".

As per the format of the competition, they'll all be paired with a professional dancer and put through their paces every week before dancing live in front of an expert jury in the studio and millions more at home in front of the small screen.

It's entertainment - and very successful.

Emmanuel Moire
(screenshot "Adulte & Sexy" video)

One of the participants in the third season is singer and actor Emmanuel Moire.

For those of you not familiar with Moire, he first came to prominence in the 2005 musical "Le Roi de Soleil", playing - and singing of course - the part, with much longer hair, of Louis XIV.

Most recently he has been starring in the role of the Emcee in the French production of "Cabaret".

The 33-year-old has released two albums and had several hit singles over the years - although nothing along the lines in terms of success of another member of the original cast of "Le Roi de Soleil", Christophe Maé.

Oh yes - and he's openly gay.

No big thing, or at least it shouldn't be for his taking part in "Danse avec les Stars", except Moire reportedly asked programme makers whether he could be paired with a professional male dancer rather than a female one.

His request has apparently been turned down and so Moire will have to "make do" with a female partner unlike a participant in Austria during the country's equivalent 'Dancing Stars" (notice the subtle change in name?) in 2011.

Alfons Haider, who had himself presented the first three seasons of the show, was coupled with professional dancer Vadim Garbuzov, managing to take fourth place overall in spite of calls from the like of former racing driver Niki Lauda for the show to be cancelled because "two men dancing together was not something he wanted his children to see."