Friday's French music break - Vianney, "Pas là"

Friday's French music break this week is proof that there are a number of talented young singer-songwriters ready to make their mark on the French music scene.

It's "Pas là" from the 23-year-old Vianney Bureau who goes simply by his first name as a performer.

Vianney (screenshot from "Pas là" official video)

"Pas là" is the second track to be released from his debut album "Idées blanches" and deals with that time-honored tradition of disappointed love.

Nothing startling new there...but given its wonderfully melancholic (and at the same time very catchy) melody combined with clever lyrics, it has been getting plenty of airplay.

Just listen to the opening lines of the song and you'll soon be aware that Vianney is no ordinary songwriter but one blessed with the talent to write poetically.

And, oh yes, his voice has a gentle elegance to it and a pitch quite different from many others of his generation. Plus he has an ability to perform live that just makes you want to hear more (check out this acoustic version during an appearance on France Ô)

Vianney hasn't gone unnoticed among music critics with Yannick Delneste writing enthusiastically to say the least) in the regional daily Sud Ouest after the release of the first single "Je te déteste" that it had "a sense of an unstoppable and unifying melody, swirling vocals and clever texts"

And in L'Express, Gilles Médioni described Vianney as being "exceptional and different" not just because of his musicality but also his background.

"Polite, cheerful and stylish, he attended a military lycée (at this own request), grew up in Panama in a family of four boys, went to business school in Paris before completing a diploma at the private fashion school Esmod."

Those were experiences which Vianney himself said had "opened his mind socially and artistically" as did presumably the part time jobs, singing in the Paris métro, a hitchiking trip to Israel  (crossing the Balkans and Turkey), cycling to Stockholm and, and and.

Yes, he sure has packed a lot (of unusual things) into a short space of time, and probably is as far removed as is possible from the TV talent show route that so many of his generation take to achieve instant (and often ephemeral) fame.

Put simply, Vianney, who has apparently been writing songs ever since he "discovered music" at the age of 12 is a name to remember and, more importantly, a talent to remember.

His album "Idées blanches"  - only released in October 2014 - has already been nominated for a Victoires de la musique award (the French equivalent of the Grammys) alongside Indila's "Mini World" and François and the Atlas Mountains "Piano ombre" in the category Album révélations.

The winner will be announced on February 13.

Vianney has several dates lined up throughout France from March onwards, including one at Le Trianon in Paris and smaller venues such as Rock School Barbey in Bordeaux, La Dynamo in Toulouse and the Cargo de Nuit in Arles.

But keep an eye on his Facebook page for news of further dates.

For the moment though, here's "Pas là".

Enjoy.

You will!

Bordeaux manager, Willy Sagnol, apologises for "non-racist" racist comments

Willy Sagnol, the manager of Ligue 1 side FC Girondins de Bordeaux, has apologised for the way in which remarks he made recently appeared to some to be racist when he suggested  that African players are "powerful" but "lack technique, intelligence and discipline".

Willy Sagnol (screenshot BFM TV report)

"I apologise if my comments were misinterpreted and if I offended some people," he said at a press conference on Thursday.

"I was referring on a purely sporting level and not on either a political or social one."

The 37-year-old former French international was referring to comments he made while being interviewed by the regional daily Sud Ouest earlier this week - comments that angered some.

“The advantage of the typical African player is that he isn't expensive to recruit," he said.

"He’s generally ready to fight and is powerful on the pitch.," continued Sagnol.

"But football is not just about that. It's also about technical skills, intelligence and discipline.”

The proverbial "you know what" soon hit the fan.

Lilian Thuram, a former international team mate of Sagnol's from 2000-2008, and arguably one of the most articulate men in the game, said he was both "surprised" and "disappointed" by the Bordeaux manager's comments.

Lilian Thuram (screenshot Bourdin Direct, July 2014)

"There has always been a certain prejudice about players originating from Africa, and that has  always focused on strength over intelligence," said Thuram who, since he retired, has been active in the fight against both racism and discrimination.

"When you read or listen what Willy Sagnol said, you can see that it simply reinforces those preconceptions," he continued.

"That surprises me as he has never made such comments in the past. It is true, unfortunately, that we live in a country in which prejudice remain. And such comments simply strengthen that."


Thuram : "Sagnol renforce les préjugés" sur les... by Europe1fr

 It strengthens them. I am extremely surprised that he can keep that kind of talk . Because , whether the national team or club , he ( Willy Sagnol ) had to play with players of African or African origin and had found that there was intelligent players , disciplined and tactically very good .

Others were less gentle in their criticism with the French anti-racist French NGO SOS Racisme calling on the Fédération française de football (the French football federation, FFF) and the minister of sports to take action and labelling Sagnols comments as, "Laid-back racism".

And Pape Diouf, the former president of  Olympique de Marseille, called on all African players in Ligue 1 to boycott one day's play in the championship.

Not everyone was so incensed by Sagnol's comments - least of all the president of Bordeaux, Jean-Louis Triaud.

"We don't want to widen the scope of what was happened especially as we find it totally unjustifiable," said Triaud.

"I'm angry because anyone who knows Willy Sagnol knows he is anything but racist. The interpretation of his statement was totally wrong."

Meanwhile sports journalist Jean-Michel Larqué went a step further.

Jean-Michel Larqué (screenshot BFM TV report)

"I'm sure that Willy Sagnol was referring to the 'intelligence of the game'," he said.

"A couple of decades ago young African players were referred to as 'rough diamonds' because they had learned the game on the streets and had little knowledge on the tactical level: they didn't know 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 meant. Was that racism?"

"Let's just stop with all this polemic."

So there you have it. Sagnol's comments were clearly "laid back" or "non-racist" - depending on whose arguments you follow.

Or better still, they were accurate - as some of these Bordeaux supporters seemed to think, when questioned.

"Much ado about nothing," says the first man interviewed.

"What he says is simply the truth," says the second.

"There's a little bit of everything - African and European - in the side and there's no need to get into an argument about anything," says the third.



The bottom line?

Already expressing racist (and maybe now would be a good time for those naysayers to reach for their dictionaries to discover the definition of racism) thoughts in private is indefensible and against so much of what the so-called beautiful game has tried to combat over the past decades.

But to express them publicly  is both inexcusable, ignorant and downright stupid.

EDF's final demand for zero euros - "pay up or risk being cut off"

Électricité de France, or EDF as it seems to prefer being called, might well be the world's largest utility company and its British subsidiary truly proud to be "powering the London 2012 Games" but that doesn't prevent it from making a complete arse of itself back home in France.

(screenshot from EDF commercial)

Yes, no matter how international it might be hiding behind those initials, EDF is, at its core, French.

And that means adding a totally new dimension to the way in which client relations are defined and conducted.

After all in France the customer is only sometimes king.

Consider the case of Jérémy Chassagne.

He lives with his girlfriend in the southwest of France, not far from the village of Roaillan in a house which the regional daily Sud Ouest describes as being "lost in the middle of vineyards."

It's in an area famous for its Graves Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) wines and well worth a visit, but that's another matter entirely.

Chassagne pays his bills regularly but when the most recent one from EDF plopped through his letterbox he and his girlfriend were away and, as he told the paper, he was a little late in sending the cheque.

That meant of course that EDF sent him a reminder with the standard "request to disregard this letter if payment has already been made."

As it was obvious to Chassagne that the two letters had crossed in the post, that's exactly what he did.

All well and good, except last week he received a final demand from EDF telling him to pay his bill or risk being cut off.

How exactly he is supposed to pay though, has left him in something of a quandary.

You see, it's obvious from the amount at the end of the letter that EDF has already received his cheque, because the final demand is for precisely €0.

That's right, nothing, nada, niente or rien if you like.

"It's crazy and we're not sure what to do," he told the paper.

"We could wait and see whether EDF actually follows through with its threat to cut us off but that would probably mean we would have to pay a charge to be reconnected," he continued.

"Or we could send a cheque for €0 which is what my father (a retired EDF employee who obviously knows what he's talking about) advised us to do."

He's still waiting to hear again from EDF.

How hard is it to be called Johnny?

Apparently it's incredibly difficult for Johnny Layre from the French city of Pau which sits on the northern edge of the Pyrénées.

So much so that he says it's ruining his life and he wants to change it.

Now before you scoff in incomprehension at what appears to be a completely reasonable first name, consider the plight of the poor man.

He was named after that "singing icon" of the French-speaking world, the ageing rocker Johnny Hallyday.

French rocker Johnny Hallyday (screenshot from YouTube video)

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but Layre's mother was reportedly a huge fan and "lumbered" her son with the apparently unfortunate name: one which the 23-year-old carpenter says has made him the object of teasing and mockery since his early childhood.

"I'm fed up with the constant fun being poked at me because of my name or being asked 'Johnny as in Hallyday'," he told the regional daily Sud Ouest.

Layre wants to drop his first name altogether and remove it from all official documents, replacing it with his second name "Karim".

He has already tried once but was turned down by a court in Pau last May because he had, "not sufficient grounds or documentation to support his application."

The problem is that in France, as is the case in many countries, the law makes it especially difficult for a person to change their first name.

"It's not enough for someone to say that they are the object of ridicule, it has to be proven and the change of name justified," Christine Lamothe, a judge at the family division of the high court in Pau, told paper.

"There's a law in place to prevent someone from acting on a whim or a mood change," she said.

"If someone wants to change their name then they have to come up with grounds for wanting to do so and back it up with testimony from relatives."

Layre has appealed the court's first ruling, provided sworn declarations that he has always been known among family and friends as "Karim" and is waiting for a decision, expected on April 11.

Just as well that Carson, Cash, Depp, Mathis, Wilkinson and others didn't have the same problem.

Raymond Domenech's monthly €5,600 unemployment benefit cheque

Time for another chapter in the financial life of the former coach of the national football team, Raymond Domenech.

And it comes from the regional daily newspaper, Sud Ouest, which says it has got its hands on documents outlining how much unemployment benefit he'll be getting every month.

Raymond Domenech (snapshot from commercial)

Domenech was fired by the Fédération Française de Football (French Football Federation, FFF) from his job in September for "gross misconduct" and a month later was spotted in Paris filing his application for unemployment benefit.

According to Sud Ouest, Domenech has already received the rather modest €1,736...and 32 centimes for his first nine days jobless.

But he'll actually be entitled to much more on a monthly basis once unemployment benefit kicks in properly - between €5,600 and €5,900.

That's the full amount to which he's eligible apparently, based on the contributions he made while employed and his previous salary.

And the 58-year-old could spend the next three years happily collecting his entitlement while he looks for another "senior technical sporting position".

There again, he's also waiting for the outcome of a €2.9 million compensation claim from the FFF, which his lawyer filed with an industrial tribunal last week.

And if your head is still spinning with figures, then there's more as even though he's officially unemployed and looking for work, Domenech has obviously been busy.

It can surely be no coincidence that the day on which the amount of unemployment benefit he receives is revealed by a paper is the very same day a publicity campaign featuring Domenech is released.

It's for the online poker site, Bwin - Domenech is an amateur fan of the game.

Raymond Domenech (snapshot from commercial)

Mind you how much or whether he was paid for in the commercial is being kept under wraps.

When questioned, the president of Bwin France, Carlo Constanzia, wouldn't go into details saying simply, "He (Domenech) will be invited to one of our tournaments next year."