Perth opera company drops Bizet's "Carmen" for "smoking reasons"

Name an opera - a French one.

The chances are it'll be Georges Bizet's "Carmen" - famous among opera aficianados and those not so "in the know" if you like.

It's staged regularly worldwide and in fact - get this - is, according to Operabase, a company to which over 700 opera houses report their performances, only second (for the 2014-15 season) behind  Giuseppe Verdi's "La traviata".

It'll be performed at some of the most prestigious venues during the current season, including New York's Metropolitan opera, Dresden's Semperoper, La Scala in Milan,  and Prague, Hamburg, Madrid, Budapest, Saint Peterburg, London, Berlin...and so the list goes on.

Anna Caterina Antonacci (screenshot from "Carmen" at the Royal Opera House in London, 2013)

But, although it was also scheduled to be performed in Perth, Western Australia, the powers that be have decided to "cancel" it for the next two years.

And for, what on the face of it...and even when delving a little deeper...seems to be the most extraordinary - and not to say, ridiculous - of reasons.

Smoking!

The opera, which debuted in 1875 is partially set in and around a tobacco factory in the Spanish city of Seville with portrayals of smoking in the setting, action, libretto and text...at least during the first act.

And that's apparently reason enough for the West Australia Opera Company to drop it from its schedules.

You see, from March 2015, the (state-owned) company has a two-year A$400,000 (around €270,000) partnership deal with the Western Australian government health agency  - Healthway.

West Australian Opera general manager Carolyn Chard said the company had voluntarily made the change to its schedule to accommodate Healthway's policies, describing it as "not difficult".

"We care about the health and wellbeing of our staff, stage performers and all the opera lovers throughout Western Australia," said Chard, adding that the decision had been a "voluntary" one to fit in with Heathway's policies.

Healthway chairwoman, Rosanna Capolingua, praised the decision, although she stressed that no pressure had been put on the opera company to drop "Carmen".

“The portrayal of smoking on stage, in film and on TV normalises smoking and presents it as being attractive, which could dissuade smokers from quitting and encourage young people to take it up.” she said.

What a lot of tosh - at least when it comes to an opera that has been so consistently performed down the decades.

Whatever.

Here's a clip of the most famous aria, "Habanera" from "Carmen", performed in 2013 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and featuring Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci in the title role.

Yes, she was blonde.

No, she didn't light up.

Friday's French music break - Étienne Daho, "En surface"

Friday's French music break this week is from a singer who first broke on to the music scene back in 1981.

It's "En surface", the most recent single from Étienne Daho and taken from his 2013 album "Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée"

Étienne Daho (screenshot from official video of "En surface".

As you can tell, Daho has been around a while and has built up a firm and loyal fan base and has become (in the words of the promotional blurb) "one of the most influential personalities to have emerged on the French scene in the last 30 years"

Part of the problem (for those not quite so enamoured of his music) is that Daho seems to have been "singing"  (inverted commas entirely intentional as he has a "voice" that surely only the French could "love") variations of the same song since the 1980s.

And in fact, he appears to be well and truly stuck in that era, offering up little that is sparklingly different, not to mention tuneful and instead relying on a tried and tested recipe of electro-pop "synth-driven and rock-surf influenced" (his English language Wikipedia entry, so you know it must be right). music which has, admittedly, served him well over the decades.

Very well in fact with every album turning gold or platinum and a slew of successful singles.

Granted "the familiarity factor" could probably be said to be true for many artists who've proven their longevity, but in the process, Daho just sounds too moody and bored when he sings. Don't you think?

"En surface" is one of those songs that you hear and wish would be over quickly because the melody and the "low whispery voice" have a combined soporific effect (for some) which will simply send you off to the Land of Nod.

All right. That's not exactly fair - just an opinion.

There are plenty around who have enjoyed, and continue to do so, Daho's music. And the album from which this track was taken, received some pretty good reviews when it was released.

Writing in Le Journal du dimanche, critic Éric Mandel described "Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée" as an "ambitious and elegant album" and one that was "sumptuous with songs that stood out for their emotional power."

Oh well.

And then there are the diehard fans, some of whose comments on the "En surface" video on YouTube are equally gushing

"Magnifique chanson , magnifique clip, magnifique chanteur, magnifique voix !" for example. Really, you shouldn't need to run that throught Google translate.

Or

"Une très belle chanson."

And

"Ma chanson préférée de l'album.....octobre est encore loin  pour revivre la magie de ses concerts."

Ah October...and the "Diskönoir" tour which will, over the next few months, see Daho take the show on the road around France (with three dates at Olympia in Paris) Belgium and Luxembourg, plus a date in London on October 23.

Ready? Judge for yourselves.

Actually it's not so bad after a dozen or so hearings....

Paul McCarthy's giant "sex toy" inflatable Tree sculpture deflates in Paris

What's the difference between a work of art and an anal sex toy?

Well, according to some, only size - at least when it comes to the most recent work from American artist, Paul McCarthy.

"Tree" a temporary (very much so, as it turned out) 24-metre high inflatable green sculpture "adorned" the swanky Place Vendôme area of Paris last Thursday - but not for very long.

Paul McCarthy's "Tree" (screenshot AFP video report)

Even as it was being erected (no pun intended) "Tree" brought with it controversy as a passerby, clearly offended by its intended "ambiguity", slapped McCarthy in the face, saying that the 69-year-old artist's creation was "un-French" and "had no place on the square".

Organisers of La Foire internationale d’art contemporain (International Contemporary Art Fair , FIAC) set to run from October 23-26 and of which "Tree" was intended to be a part, leapt to McCarthy's defence.

"It's heartbreaking that an artist should be attacked in this manner," Jennifer Flay, the artistic director of FIAC told Le Monde.

"Of course this work is controversial, it plays on the ambiguity between a Christmas tree and sex toy: this is neither a surprise nor a secret," she continued.

"But there is no offence to the public, and enough ambiguity to not upset children. It has also received all the necessary approvals : from the préfecture of police of the city of Paris, the ministry of culture and the comité Vendôme, which represents the business owners on the square."

"What is art meant to be if not to disturb, ask questions and reveal society's flaws?"

Righty-ho. That's justification enough then.

Opponents though were having none of it.

And on the night of Friday to Saturday, a group of protesters cut through the cords holding the artwork in place.

FIAC decided to deflate it to prevent any damage being done, saying that McCarthy requesting them not to reinflate it because, "he was worried about potential trouble if the work was put back up."

"Instead of a profound reflection about objects as a mode of expression with multiple meanings, we have witnessed violent reactions," said the artist who had also admitted earlier that the idea "started with a joke".

"Originally, I thought that a butt plug had a shape similar to the sculptures of Romanian artist Constantin Brâncusi," he said.

"Afterwards, I realised that it looked like a Christmas tree. But it is an abstract work . People can be offended if they want to think of it as a plug, but for me it is more of an abstraction.”

For those of a more um...more timid temperent or delicate disposition among you who've no idea what an anal plug looks like, try typing those words into you search engine and then click on image.

You'll quickly get the picture...and what all the fuss was about.