It is the traditional rendezvous of French-speaking musical awards. This Friday, February 10, 2023, on France 2, the 38e Victoires de la Musique was once again the occasion for a great show, broadcast live from the Seine Musicale, in the Paris region. But there was little suspense, let’s face it… Given a big favourite, Stromaé left with two prizes, topped on the post by the rapper Orelsan who left him with three statuettes: original song, best concert and audiovisual creation. Honorary President of this new edition, Calogero opened the festivities by singing his hit Je jeu de la musique, soon joined, by a succession of paintings, by many artists such as Clara Luciani, Takiola, Grand Corps Malade in trio with Ben Mazué and Gaël Faye, Juliette Armanet, Big Flo & Oli, Izia, M, etc. All the fine flower of the French-speaking scene was well and truly reunited! To punctuate the evening hosted by the former Miss France Laury Thilleman, certain “memory” sequences pleasantly linked the artists of yesterday and today. On the occasion of the presentation of a Victory of Honor to Serge Lama, on the eve of his 80th birthday, the moment was particularly moving. The interpreter of I am sick has, in a way, bid farewell to the stage and to his audience, who are seriously handicapped today: “This may be the last time tonight that I see an audience cheering me on. I stop the costs, my body can no longer follow. I do not want to sing seated, I refuse this possibility”. And the emotion of continuing with “magnétos” presenting Henri Salvador, Alain Bashung, Renaud… and Charles Aznavour.
“I will sing however, even if it means tearing my glottis”
The latter, who disappeared on 1er October 2018, received in 2010, like Serge Lama, a Victoire de la Musique d’honneur. A moment of consecration for one of the emblematic artists of French song, to whom, however, some did not predict much of a future. And that, Charles Aznavour, did not fail to remind him, grabbing his trophy: “JI wanted to thank those who said that I was small and ugly!”. Small in size, but so huge in talent! And it is thanks to this that the interpreter of Bohemian, The Mom or even of Take me succeeded in climbing “to the top of the bill”. Complex from his beginnings, in 1933, the friend of Edith Piaf was at the time mocked for his physique but also for his voice, considered nasal. But he knew how to turn these “flaws” into a strength that will make him known throughout the world. In his memoirs published in 1970, “Aznavour by Aznavour”, he wrote: “What are my disabilities? My voice, my size, my gestures, my lack of culture and education, my frankness, my lack of personality. My voice ? Impossible to change it. The teachers I consulted are categorical: they advised me not to sing. I will sing however, even if it means tearing my glottis”confided the man determined to succeed in fully living his passions above all, before the toxic “what will we say about it”.
See also: Charles Aznavour: relive the presentation of his star on the Walk of Fame!
VF