In guitar-vocals, the French and Quebec singers offer two evenings devoted to the interpreter ofone more night.
No, it’s not second degree: the French singers Pomme and Quebecer Safia Nolin revisit Céline Dion in guitar-vocals, at festivals, to give “a different scope” to a directory obscured by the megastar label. It’s one of the most intriguing creations of the French Printemps de Bourges festival, which kicked off on Tuesday 19 April. On paper, nothing seems further away than the purified folk pop universe of the two accomplices and that of the interpreter of the flagship song of the soundtrack of titanic .
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Apple, crowned in France for its latest album Loopholesadmits it bluntly to AFP: if at the start it was “impressed by his technique” vocal, she was not “too touched” by the songs of the one she saw as “a war machine”cut to fill the rooms in Las Vegas. “I was in a somewhat haughty relationship, as often in France with her.” But, “by spending time in Quebec”which became his second country, “inquiring about her”Apple ended up “listen to his songs in another way” and let yourself be won over “emotion” of certain titles.
“The creation of Pomme and Safia Nolin, by stripping the songs in guitar-vocals, going to the heart of the note, all done with great respect, will highlight a very intimate repertoire”greets Boris Vedel, director of Printemps de Bourges. “In France, we often have the image of Celine Dion mocked by satirical programs, which made fun of her relationship with her husband-manager René, but we must not forget that she touches people and that behind the productions at the American, very orchestrated, there are beautiful melodies”, he develops.
“My first idol”
At the mere mention of the name of Céline Dion, Safia Nolin, a figure of the Quebec independent scene, is inexhaustible. “She’s my first idol, at the age of 5-6, it’s the reason I make music and she remains the most important to meshe tells AFP, in video from her country. I am Quebecer, she represents us, in your family it would be the little girl who does a feat that no one is capable of.
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This tattooed woman with a shaved head, who doesn’t have her tongue in her pocket when it comes to denouncing homophobia or grossophobia, loses all her means when she meets Celine Dion. “Once, it’s in the dressing room with my sister and my sister-in-law, she remembers. No kidding, my brain goes to shit and I start talking like a two-year-old with a super high-pitched voice (laughs). I didn’t know what to say to him, I saw myself doing wrong “hey I sang at the Trois Baudets”, as she does Las Vegas.”
The film Aline at the antipodes of what we want to do, in the film we have the impression that she has lived everything in spite of herself and the negative things are accentuated, for us, it’s the opposite.
Apple
While the two artists were doing their research for this show created at the Printemps de Bourges, the film Aline , by Valérie Lemercier, inspired by Celine Dion, was released. They didn’t like it. “The film is at the antipodes of what we want to do, in the film we have the impression that she has lived everything in spite of herself and the negative things are accentuated. We are the opposite”explains Apple, also in video from Quebec. “Through the songs she performed, we show that she has accomplished a lot on her own, she works three times harder than all the other artists I know”, she adds. Same tone at Safia Nolin. “The film gives the impression that Celine did not have quite the control, but she is very demanding, by dissecting the archives on her you see her strength of character, her understanding, very quickly, of the pressure when you become a star so young”.
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“We want people to listen to their music with a different scope”says Apple. “We are a bit of a channel, a kind of projector so that people are touched by her and her music”concludes Safia Nolin.
» Of love or friendship, creation tribute to the repertoire of Céline Dion, Pomme and Safia Nolin, Thursday April 21 and Friday April 22, 7 p.m. Hall of Duke Jean, Bourges. Complete.