It is the Breton group Alvan & Ahez which will represent France at Eurovision next May! They were selected on Saturday evening by the public and a jury of professionals during the show Eurovision France, you decide! broadcast on France 2.
The Breton quartet, made up of three singers and an electro musician, won over the public and the jury with their song Fulenn (meaning spark and young girl in Breton) inspired by a Breton legend. He succeeds Barbara Pravi, who offered second place to France last year with her song Here is. A ranking that the country had not known since 1991.
In Brittany, there were many reactions on Sunday after the success of the group, which has the particularity of singing in Breton. “Long live Brittany, long live our regional languages!“, reacted on twitter the socialist president of the region Loïg Chesnais-Girard. “Thank you for honoring our language so much.“, enthused on Twitter the network of Diwan schools, which practices immersion in Breton from kindergarten and says to itself “very proud of Marine and Sterenn, former students of Diwan Kemper College (Quimper in French, editor’s note)”.
It will not be the first time that the Breton will be present at Eurovision. In 1996, Dan ar Braz & L’Héritage des Celtes represented France with diwanit bugale (That children are born in French) and had arrived 19th. This success also comes 50 years after the legendary concert at the Olympia on February 28, 1972 by Alan Stivell, often considered the starting point of the Breton cultural awakening and who had internationalized Breton music, specifies AFP.
The final of the Eurovision Song Contest, marked this year by the exclusion of Russia due to the war in Ukraine, will take place on May 14 in Turin and will be presented by Laura Pausini and Mika. Italy will host the 66th edition of this competition after the controversial victory of Italian rockers Maneskin last year in Rotterdam. This will be the third Italian edition of Eurovision, after Naples in 1965 and Rome in 1991.
I’Eurovision is one of the most watched shows in the world with more than 200 million viewers. The last and 5th victory of France in the musical competition dates back to 1977. It was Marie Myriam who won the prestigious trophy with her hit The Bird and the Child.
On the audience side, Eurovision France, you decide! came in third place in the evening’s ratings. 1.47 million viewers were present to follow the triumph of Alvan & Ahez.