March 10 and 11, 2014

A GREAT LADY AT THE PARIS CHÂTELET

- The essential -

Night has come and the crowd gathers in front of the theatre entrances. Around 7 pm., the doors open and everybody goes to their seat, without forgetting to buy the program which contains many unpublished photos. This is the first time I enter into this famous hall.

                               

Shortly after 8 pm., the lights turn off, the curtain opens and the projection of the videorama recalling Nana's exceptionnal career begins. The four musicians take their seat in order to play the introduction. Immediately after, Nana arrives on stage accompanied by Philippe and the audience gives her a standing ovation. The concert begins with the superb Greek song "Aspri mera".

Nana thanks the public. She is moved to perform for the first time in this magnificent theatre where she often came to listen to other singers. The she offers us "Pauvre Rutebeuf", filled with sensibility, probably in memory of all her departed friends: Nikos Gatsos, Manos Hadjidakis, Jean-Claude Brialy, etc. "Que sont mes amis devenus que j'avais de si près tenus et tant aimés?…Ce sont amis que vent emporte et il ventait devant ma porte, les emporta…". (What became of my friends who I had held so close and loved so much?…Friends are what the wind brings me and the wind was blowing in my doorstep and took them away...) Nana sings that she can do nothing against Life, Love, Death. The song "La vie, l'amour, la mort", as always, is received with the same enthusiasm. Bravos ring out.

                               

She talks about her career: «Mr. Hazan made me come from Greece. I had the chance to meet great composers like Michel Legrand, Alain Goraguer and Claude Lemesle. These two wrote me several songs like this beautiful Love story: "L'histoire de nous".» "Toutes les légendes se ressemblent, nous ressemblent. Mais la plus belle, la plus tendre, c'est nous. Elle va se perdre dans la nuit des temps. On n'en fera pas un conte pour petits et grands. Dans l'histoire du monde, elle comptera pour rien du tout, l'histoire de nous, de nous, de nous…" (All the legends are alike, are like us. But the most beautiful, the most tender, it's ours. It will get lost in the mists of time. That won't become a fairy tail for young and old. In the world history, it will count for nothing at all, the story of us, of us, of us...)

Nana takes time to introduce her musicians: «They are wonderful. I don't know what I would do without them. There is Yannick with his guitar, Pili with his bass, Philippe with all his instruments and Luciano, the leader of this small group.»

For this anniversary evening, she extracts the famous song "L'amour en héritage" from her musical background. We cannot help thinking about the Love she has received from her public during all these years. "J'ai reçu l'amour en héritage…, bien au-delà du temps, bien par-dessus les océans…C'est un beau cadeau l'amour en héritage". (I have received Love as an heritance..., beyond time, above the oceans...Love is a beautiful gift as an heritance.) The public expresses its satisfaction with cheers and continuing applause.

She recalls her musical influences. Great singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Marlene Dietrich, Maria Callas and Édith Piaf inspired her. Thereafter, it was Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Gilbert Bécaud, Charles Aznavour and Barbara. Time went by and she has listened to younger singers: «Most recently, I decided to sing, in my own way, with great respect, one of Amy Winehouse's songs "Love is a losing game". It's a pity that she left so fast. She could give us many more beautiful things.» A superb choice that allows her to express herself in this musical register with the complicity of Philippe on saxophone!

Nana continues with "Adieu Angelina" by Bob Dylan, one of her classics. In fact, it is the first song that André Chapelle proposed to her when he became her artistic director. From the first words, the public recognizes it and her daughter Lénou comes discreetly on stage. In duet, they sing it more intensively than usual, which gives an impression of fight song, fight for Peace.

After presenting her, Nana leaves her alone so she gets acquinted with the public. For about ten minutes, here we are in the Musical Universe of Lénou. She sings with sensitivity my favorite song from her first CD, "Je me souviens de vous". "Happy Girl" follows in a more modern and rhythmic register. Then she recalls her pleasure to be there and her privilege of having two parents musicians who made her discover different types of music without frontiers. As third song, she offers a magnificent interpretation, full of delicacy, of "Alfonsina y el mar" in tribute to Mercedes Sosa. Luciano's musical accompaniment at the piano is sublime! This song is inspired by the Argentinian poetess Alfonsina Storni Martignoni (1892-1938). Stricken by a generalized cancer, she committed suicide by drowning herself in the sea.  

                               

Nana is back on stage. With Lénou, she takes us to a street of dreams. "Odos oniron" is still a lyrical flight, a musical whirlwind that makes the public explode with joy. Acclaimed, Lénou leaves temporarily the stage. "Je chante avec toi liberté", full of solemnity, thrills our souls. Luciano, with his arrangements, softened the original musical accompaniment. This song, universal, translated in several languages, is one of Nana's signature songs. The audience gives her an ovation in all the countries where she sings it. Tonight, the Châtelet resounds with bravos and shouts of joy.

Then Nana talks about her first friends in Greece. There was Manos Hadjidakis, Nikos Gatsos, including Melina Mercouri who introduced the music of her country through her role in the film "Never on Sunday". Polydoros Vogatzis, a young Greek actor, recites the French lyrics of one of her songs. Nana and Lénou accompany him by humming. Then they sing a few verses in Greek with him. It's a moment of sublime emotion. The tribute continues with "Ta pedia tou Pirea". The first night, Polydoros is invited to sing the song while it is not planned. The second night, he is prepared and even dances a few steps of sirtaki.

                      

Lénou and Polydoros return behind the scenes and Nana sits next to Luciano's keyboard. She recalls the circumstances that made her discover the movies thanks to her dad projectionist: «On the small stage of the cinema, I dreamed and I sang. The movie that made me a major impact, at that time, was "The Wizard of Oz" because the little girl took the road to see if there was Love, Hope.» Later, she met great musicians such as Quincy Jones, Harry Belafonte and Michel Legrand with whom she recorded songs from the movies. Nana offers us a superb anthology of these songs.

                      

"Plaisir d'amour", the most beautiful Love song in the world, according to Nana, allows her to show that her voice found back its high notes. The end is particularly nice as in Merignac, where Luciano has been surprised by the unexpected extension of the song. The public is enthusiastic. Nana, Lénou and the musicians come to bow in apron. The applause lasts. The public wants "une autre, une autre.» (another one, another one) So in duet, Nana and Lénou lead us on Latin American rhythms. The atmosphere is festive. Many people congregate near the stage and the others are standing up.

The celebration continues with "Roses blanches de Corfou", her passport song of which she recently celebrated the 50 years of existence. Then she invites the audience to sing it. The jubilation continues with "Milisse mou" that the spectators accompany clapping frantically their hands. The ovation that follows is huge. This is the last bow of the whole team. Then everyone disappears under the bravos.

The public doesn't want to leave at that and continues to applaud for minutes. Nana returns under the acclamations. She is radiant with happiness and enjoys this return after her false farewell in Athens on 23 and 24 July 2008. Like a Queen, she offers us, A Capella, without microphone, the gem of the gems, "Hartino to fengaraki". "The moon is made of paper and the shore is fake. But, if you would believe in me everything could become reality." Tonight, we lived like in a dream. But everything was reality.

                               

As Nana mentions it, her attachment to the City of Lights began 54 years ago: «It was the beginning of everything. It is from here that I left for Germany, the United States, England, all over Europe and the world.» The public's enthusiasm for these two memorable evenings at the Théâtre du Châtelet confirms it: one more time, Paris has been won.

After the concert, several dozens persons wait for Nana at the stage door. Accompanied by André, she quickly rushes into the limousine. As it moves slowly with the rear window down, we can wave Nana and André by reaching out their hand. The second night, at the same place, the television is filming a sequence with many admirers singing "Happy birthday". This report will be presented in October on France 2. This time, Nana, Lénou and André leave the theatre walking to a nearby restaurant.

                               

These concerts were also an opportunity to meet the loyal fans of Nana coming from everywhere (France, England, Germany, Holland, Austria, Greece, United States, Switzerland, Poland etc). I don't mention their names, but they will recognize themselves. I hope to see them again in the coming months, in Athens on July 14 and in Hamburg on October 13 for Nana's 80th birthday.