Friday’s French music break…on a Saturday - Victoires de la musique 2017 (with Calypso Rose)

Phew. That was a close one. It’s surely a sorry state of affairs for French popular music when a potential winner of its most prestigious annual music awards is an also-ran from the previous year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Thankfully though sense prevailed and on Friday, Amir (a product of the TV talent show “The Voice” in which he finished third) failed to secure best original song at Les Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of the Grammys.

Instead it was the 25- year-old Vianney, winner of Best Male Artist in 2016, who scooped the prize with “Je m’en vais”.

Vianney

http://www.france-today.com/2015/02/fridays-french-music-break-vianney-pas.html

Je m’en vais

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLYyCFuPCX8

Relief all round then as it proves there is some hope for the future of French popular music beyond talent show also rans who fail at Eurovision (hardly the arbiter of good musical taste), a belief further reinforced by the cleverly marketed (and undoubtedly talented) 25-year-old Jain picking up Best Female Artist.

Jain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Q_lhgGANc

Perhaps that was something of an orchestrated shoe-in as oddly enough someone had forgotten to include Canada’s global screamer Céline Dion in any category in spite of the commercial and critical success of her latest album “Encore un soir”. Love her or loathe her, the decision not to include her among the shortlist was…er…strange.

While Vianney and Jain (oh all right then AND Amir) were securing the future of French popular music for years to come (along with the excellent 20-year-old DJ Kungs - Valentin Brunel - Best electronic and dance album) some of the country’s Golden Oldies were marking their territory.

Unsurprisingly Renaud - who last year made a long-awaited comeback with the album (his first since 2009) “Toujours debout” - added to his career collection of gongs with Best Male Artist, although he missed out in the Best Album category to Benjamin Biolay’s “Palermo Hollywood” and after a decade apart, Louise Attaque marked their get together with Best rock album.

Calypso Rose (screenshot “Calypso Queen” official version)

As far as the most magical moment of the night…well apart from Imany calling for justice and equal treatment of different races during her gospel-inspired (and inspiring) performance of the superb “Silver lining (all clap your hands)" it had to be Trinidad and Tobago’s Calypso Rose (Linda McArtha Monica Sandy-Lewis) singing “Calypso Queen”.

An encore - the “stuffed suits” of the audience doing their thing and a declaration from the 76-year-old that she was now the ^Queen of France” after winning the Best World Music award was quite simply the highlight of the evening.

So here you are… this week’s Friday’s French music break - Calypso Rose with “Calypso Queen”.

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!