Aya Nakamura performs “Djadja” and “Pookie” in front of the French Academy

Her presence was certain. And she had been criticized by a section of the right and the extreme right who had expressed their indignation, attacked by hateful messages on social networks. But Aya Nakamura did perform at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The most listened to French singer internationally performed some of her greatest hits on Friday, July 26, during the fourth act of this ceremony, entitled “Egalité”, as well as two songs by Charles Aznavour. The star appeared after the torchbearer lit a fuse that opened the door to the Institut de France, headquarters of the French Academy.

She then joined the 60 musicians of the Republican Guard on the Pont des Arts, which links the Louvre to the Académie française, to first perform two classics of French song, For me formidable And Bohemian by Charles Aznavour, before singing Djadja And Pookiethe two hits that made his name. This staging, imagined by Thomas Jolly and his team, wanted to symbolize the link between the so-called arts “academic”centralized in the Louvre, and the arts “modern”in order to create “a bridge between generations, musical registers and languages”details the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.