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.

More than just a tale of "Camel sits on grandmother"

Or even "crushes woman".

When a child's life is thought to be in danger some people don't think twice about trying to protect them no matter what the consequences might be.

Such was the case of a woman in France last weekend who saved her grandson from possibly being crushed by a camel belonging to a visiting circus.

Although the report that appeared in the regional newspaper, Le Dauphiné libéré, might have at first sight raised a smile in that it read along the lines of "Camel sits on grandmother", the injuries the woman sustained were far from being a laughing matter.

And perhaps it's a story that more accurately serves to show the prevailing instinct there is within all of us to protect the most vulnerable.

The incident happened in the Alpine French town of Thyez, which was playing host to a visiting circus.

And as is often the case here in France, when not performing, the animals were kept in an area where families could come during the day and see them up close.

That was exactly the treat the child's grandparents had in mind when they took him along to see the animals, among them a camel who they thought was correctly tethered and presented no danger.

"The three of us were walking along hand in hand about 15-20 metres away from the animals," the woman's husband told Le Dauphiné libéré.

"We thought that was a reasonable distance," he continued

But as things turned out they were mistaken.

Because the rope acting as a tether was longer than they had thought.

The little boy tripped just as the camel approached them and the woman, fearing that her grandson could end up being crushed, put herself between the advancing animal and the toddler to protect him.

That was when the camel stumbled and ended up sitting on the woman, who was still shielding her grandchild.

"She screamed at me to tell me that the child was underneath her and I just had enough time to pull him out," her husband said.

While the child survived the incident without a scratch, his grandmother wasn't so lucky and was taken to hospital with broken bones, fractured ribs and a dislocated hip.

A lucky escape for the grandchild and a painful end for the woman, but not a reason to lodge a formal complaint against the circus as far as her husband was concerned.

"It would only harm the reputation of all circuses," he said.

"That's not what I want and it would only mean that they would stop coming to towns such as ours and the children wouldn't be able to see the animals," he continued.

"But the animals certainly need to be kept on a shorter tether and temporary enclosures built so that there's no danger of them charging or breaking loose."

French town seeks elephant ban from beach

Yes you read correctly. The mayor of a French town wants to slap a ban on elephants tramping along its beach.

On the northwestern coast of France in the department of Manche there's a small town called Granville - population around 13,000.

It dates back to the 12th century and is of course steeped in history, much of it military and religious, plus it has plenty of sites worth more than a cursory visit.

There's also a harbour and a beach, which all-in-all makes it a pretty good holiday destination for many especially as the country is in the midst of a heatwave.

The ideal place to combine culture with a suntan and grab some relief from temperatures in the mid-30s.

A visiting circus is about to throw open its doors, which of course under normal circumstances wouldn't hit the national headlines.

That is if it were not for the mayor of the town attempting to take a decision that quite frankly meets most of the criteria necessary for filling column inches and making the airwaves during what is traditionally the season for silly news.

You see Daniel Caruhel wants to ban elephants from walking on the town's Hérel beach.

Perhaps not a common problem in this particular part of the world but one which, when the circus is in town, presents a potential health hazard as far as the mayor is concerned.

And it's nothing to do with the size of the beasts - well no directly at least. More the dimensions of what they leave behind.

Caruhel doesn't seem to have anything against the pachyderms per se, it's just that past experience has apparently forced him to take steps.

"There's no doubt that it's pleasant having elephants around but their presence is a disaster for the quality of the bathing water," he says.

"Last year two circuses came to town and set up shop opposite the beach and their (the elephants') deposits led us to having to close the beach twice."

Ahem.

There is a serious side to the story of course, as Granville is situated in a part of the channel separating France from Britain, which has regularly been affected by pollution and especially illegal fuel discharges into the sea.

But as yet elephants haven't really featured high on the list of polluters and as Stéphane Gistau, one of the directors of the Amar circus points out, the town is unlikely to be knee deep in elephant dung during its two-day stay.

"The sea has suffered from the effects of pollution for years, and now the authorities want to ban our animals from the beach just for leaving behind a few droppings," he says.

"It's a shame as it gives people the chance to see the animals up close for nothing, but now they'll have to pay the two euros to come and visit them at the circus."