It’s official. Aya Nakamura will perform well at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on July 26. The decision comes from the top of the state. The initiative originated from Emmanuel Macron, who did not want to back down in the face of sometimes fierce criticism from the right and the far right.
However, always a proponent of the “at the same time” approach, the President decided not to go ahead with the performance of Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” and to pair the young French-Malian artist (28 years old) with an interpreter from another generation: Michel Sardou (77 years old).
An unimaginable communication coup approved by Tony Estanguet: “We will reconcile two parts of France that many thought were permanently at odds,” enthuses the president of the organizing committee (Cojo). That’s also the magic of the Games.
According to a source close to the situation, the idea of this incredible duo did not come directly from the Head of State, but from his influential wife. “An advisor to Brigitte Macron had initially mentioned an association between Médine and Patrick Sébastien, but the First Lady dismissed this idea,” whispers a regular at the Elysée.
Once the concept was proposed, it was necessary to approach Aya Nakamura and Michel Sardou, who already knew each other somewhat, having crossed paths backstage at Bercy during a concert by the metal band Slipknot in January 2020. The two stars quickly agreed. “If it annoys Juliette Armanet, it’s worth postponing my retirement for a few months,” even said the septuagenarian while crushing a cigarette.
Aya and Michel together on a blue-white-red barge with the Eiffel Tower as a witness, she in a bustier dress by Chantal Thomass, he in a Jean-Paul Gaultier sailor shirt… The scene promises to imprint the retinas of hundreds of thousands of spectators and the 2.5 billion viewers expected in front of their screens.
David Guetta also involved
But what will two artists with such different repertoires sing? While the program for this historic concert is not yet finalized, the famous DJ David Guetta has proposed remixes combining some of the greatest hits of the two artists:
– Les lacs de Nakamura
– Le temps des colonies? Y a pas moyen
– Djadja
– Femmes des années 2020
– Je vais t’aimer jolie nana
The duo could also take on other great classics, such as the intriguing “Pas de pookie woogie.”
“It will be a very special moment of national communion, blending urban music and the songs that farmers in our territories like to listen to by the fireside once they have unhitched their oxen and cleaned their hooves,” confides Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Sports and the Olympics, who is likely eager to review her classics in the family living room. But she has time, it’s only April 1st.
