Aznavour leaves on high note

[Azat]

By BBC News Online's Rebecca Thomas

 

 

It is the end of an era for legendary French singer Charles Aznavour as he bids farewell to his touring days.

 

But far from missing his worldwide travels, Aznavour, 75, is in buoyant mood.

 

"I am happy, very happy - it is about time I had a rest," he booms from his 5ft 3inch frame.

 

Despite his protestations of fatigue, Aznavour seems to have boundless reserves of energy.

 

His final tour date on Tuesday in Divonne, in the east of France, comes at the end of eight months of continuous concerts across France.

 

Aznavour has a simple response when asked about the secret of his stamina.

 

"My methods are easy - I always make sure I have a good meal before a concert," he explains.

 

"I never go anywhere without my Michelin and Gault Millaud restaurant guides.

 

"So when I get to my hotel room I feel great and start playing on my piano straight away in readiness to go on stage."

 

 

>Family <

 

On this last tour, Aznavour has played some of his best-loved songs - all written and composed by him.

 

Among the first to spring to mind are She, In The Old Fashioned Way and What Makes A Man.

 

Many of us could hum at least one Aznavour hit but he bans anyone singing along during his shows.

 

"Oh no, definitely not - I will not allow it," he exclaims. "My songs have to be listened to - everything is in the words.

 

"I have only one song where the audience can join in, Le Deux Guitares - but, then, they can only clap."

 

Aznavour the performer is clearly a hard task master. But it has not stopped him being welcomed all over the globe.

 

"I have seen my audiences go up and up over the years and I now feel part of a big family," Aznavour says warmly.

 

"It is of course true in France but I also feel totally at home in Belgium, Switzerland, America and the UK.

 

"But my fondest memories are of Russia, Spain and South America. The people there find my peculiar voice very much to their taste, even though they don't understand a word I am saying," he laughs.

 

 

>Stubborn<

 

Words are, however, the very rhyme and reason for Aznavour becoming a songwriter in his teens.

 

He was both enthused and infuriated by the poetic traditions of the French chanson - as practised by the likes of Maurice Chevalier.

 

Aznavour found their lyrics beautiful but essentially vacuous and removed from reality and wanted to change the tide.

 

"I watched a lot of films and loved going to art galleries where everything I saw spoke about real life but all these songs were make believe and just seemed to be taking the Mickey."

 

Aznavour's lyrics drew on his own experiences of growing up in deprivation as the son of poor Armenian immigrants in Paris.

 

He also went beyond these confines to venture into territories unexplored in songs, such as homosexual love.

 

Aznavour is open about the hostility to his songs and to his unconventional appearance and "strange" voice.

 

"People did not understand me and I looked and sounded strange too."

 

He struggled for almost 20 years for his big break, sometimes even being booed off stage.

 

But Aznavour says he was never one for quitting: "I am stubborn and a great optimist. The more people try to stop me, the more I push to carry on.

 

"It runs in my family, even when we were starving, we laughed and sang."

 

Aznavour has sold more than 100 million records since becoming "acceptable" in the late 50s.

 

It is quite an accomplishment considering Aznavour has had no musical training.

 

"I am the world's best, worst piano player," he chortles.

 

His self-motivation is evident in other areas of his life. He has acted in more than 60 films.

 

And, having dropped out of school aged 10, he taught himself to read and speak several languages.

 

He now gets through around 100 books a year and works to help the people of Armenia.

 

He is planning a trip to Toronto with his wife, after which he will begin work on a new film.

 

"I love the movies," he enthuses. "I will work on a film for anything from one hour to three months - as long as it is "beau" I am happy."

[Azat]

Aznavour bids adieu

 

After more than six decades of entertaining, Charles Aznavour - France's favourite crooner - is hanging up his touring boots.

The diminutive singer, now 75, will say adieu to his multitude of fans at his last major concert in Divonne, eastern France, on Tuesday.

 

It comes at the end of a gruelling farewell tour of live dates taking in 13 French cities.

 

Thomas Schmitt, production manager of Aznavour's concert in Mulhouse, north east France, says many of the 2,500 audience members found the evening emotional.

 

"Aznavour sang for around two hours and at the end he spent time thanking the fans for all their support over the years.

 

"Many were reduced to tears - it was very sad."

 

Aznavour has performed many of his nostalgia-soaked odes such as She, The Old Fashioned Way and Yesterday to rapturous applause.

 

But his final reception is a small indication of the impact Aznavour's composing and songwriting talents have had in France and around the world.

 

To a great extent Aznavour can be credited for dragging the French "chanson" out of the clouds of triviality.

 

By injecting irony, melancholy and earthy "taboo" subject matters, Aznavour brought an enduring and revolutionary realism to mainstream French musical culture.

 

Aznavour's sound also travelled. His songs have been translated into numerous languages and have charted all over the world.

 

Many other artists have covered Aznavour songs, the most recent being Elvis Costello with She in the hit movie Notting Hill.

 

And at the end of 2000, readers of Time magazine voted Aznavour Entertainer of the Century.

 

It's not a bad accomplishment for a man who - at 5ft 3ins and with an "exotic" voice - battled to overcome the difficulties of not meeting the showbusiness ideal.

 

"My shortcomings are my voice, my height, my gestures, my lack of culture and education and my lack of personality," wrote Aznavour aged 26, brooding over his then stop/start career.

 

But Aznavour did not despair and continued to write about life on the street, the true irritations of love and homosexuality.

 

 

>Chansonnier<

 

Much of Aznavour's inspiration came from the hardship he witnessed as a child.

 

He was born Varenagh Aznavourian in Paris in May, 1924. His parents were Armenian immigrants who had fled to France after the Turkish massacre.

 

They lived in a succession of dingy apartments in the city's immigrant neighbourhoods. Though his parents opened a restaurant, they were originally performing artists.

 

It was not long before their son was stagestruck himself, attending an acting school for children.

 

But, after hearing Maurice Chevalier sing the tuneful trifle, Donnez Moi La Main Mamz'elle Et Ne Dites Rien, he announced that he too wanted to be a "chansonnier".

 

He dropped out of school and hopped from town to town playing in bars and cabarets. Even at this early stage, Aznavour - who is completely self-taught on the piano - was writing and composing songs.

 

Most of these were sung by big name stars like Chevalier, after they picked up on the originality of Aznavour's lyrics.

 

"My fundamental reason for writing songs was based on my conviction that the French chanson had insipid lyrics," Aznavour said.

 

"I wanted to do something new, more truthful and far more to the point."

 

His first major success was the drunken lament J'ai Bu, sung by Charles Ulmer. But his biggest fan was the legendary Edith Piaf - who took Aznavour under her wing.

 

It was also Piaf who encouraged Aznavour to go out and perform his own songs.

 

But for a long time his attempts were met with derision - Aznavour just did not look or sound like a star.

 

"All singers have to pay their due," he explained. "Of my 25-year career, 17 were complete washouts. But they made me all the more determined to succeed."

 

 

>Sell-out<

 

By 1957, Aznavour was topping the bill in major venues in France and was its number one singing star. A few years later he had also conquered many other countries, including the US.

 

Aznavour always took the trouble to sing his songs in the country's native language. To visit the UK, however, he felt he had also to speak the language fluently - which he achieved by 1967.

 

Concerts at the Albert Hall were a sell-out and in 1973 his song Dance In The Old Fashioned Way was in the charts for 15 weeks.

 

She, in 1974, reached number one and earned him a platinum disc. Aznavour became the symbol of a new romanticism, drawing emotions from real life and people.

 

Songs such as You've Let Yourself Go prompted famed French film director Jean Cocteau to comment: "Before Charles Aznavour, despair was unpopular."

 

Aznavour was also to work with Cocteau in his work as an actor. He has made more than 60 films and his latest Ararat, directed by Atom Egoyan, is out next year.

 

Though Aznavour is retiring from touring, he says he will probably continue to do the odd concert in France.

 

And despite being rich, famous and happily married, Aznavour continues to expand his portfolio of credentials.

 

Last year, his musical Lautrec opened on the West End stage. And for the past 30 years, he has worked to help the Armenian people, particularly with the charity Unesco.

 

"I intend to work until I am 90 and die at 100," he has said.

[dragon]

Aznavour is my favourite! I trhought he is famous enough to be heard all around the world, but, unfortunately, In NZ no one knows about him...not even that...While i was flying to LA, a canadian woman was sitting beside me in the plane. I told her I'm armenian. No idea (shocking!). I tried to explain my armenian identity reminding her about Aznavour. One more shock! She never heard his name!

 

Dragon

[1Ruzanna9]

Barev dzez sireli Hyer. !!!!!!Well since the subject is Aznavour, I have to say that I like him too. Although I haven't heard much of his music, but I can defenetly say that he is a worthy musician and besides, if he can sing in French I have nothing else to say. He has been a pride for Armenians. Thanks.

 

[ April 15, 2001: Message edited by: 1Ruzanna9 ]

[Azat]

Dragon,

I too am a huge fan of Aznavour. I have over a hundred CDs and LPs. And I have been fortunate to see him in concert 6 times, including in the Carnegie Hall in New York. My dream was to someday see him in concert in Paris, but I never had the opportunity.

 

It is unfortunate that majority of people in the US do not know him. Plus it have been 20-30 years since he reached his peak popularity and it is understandable that people would not remember him much now.

 

And we face the same situation here when we tell people about Armenia. Not as much in LA, but when I use to work in New Jersey and Mississippi, hardly anyone knew.

Azat