FRANCE: French singer Sebastien Tellier 's English sung song stirs up Eurovision row

Record ID: 763364

  • Title: FRANCE: French singer Sebastien Tellier 's English sung song stirs up Eurovision row
  • Date: 9th May 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) SEBASTIEN TELLIER SAYING : "I would love to be a cunning strategist and know how to anticipate this kind of things. If I had known in advance, I would think : "here we are, I will participate in the Eurovision contest but in fact I will choose an English song, everybody will speak about it, I will be invited during television news bulletins", it would have been super, it would have been clever to think about it in advance but it was not the case and it is not even my fault (referring to France 3 asking him to sing in English)." PICTURE OF SEBASTIEN TELLIER
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAEUIJVKS5PR1ITPIL8D86D5S9K
  • Story Text: French singer Sebastien Tellier who covetes the Eurovision Song title in Belgrad next May, is at the origin of a huge controversy since his song "Divine" will be performed in English with only a few words in French at the end.
    For the first time ever, France has decided to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song "Divine" from Sebastien Tellier, performed in English with a few words in French at the very end.
    Wearing sunglasses and orange trousers with black and white shoes, Tellier arrived at the news conference at La Cigale Theatre in Paris after his rehearsal.
    Asked about the controversy over his song in English, Tellier said that growing up in France gives him the opportunity still to express his French vision no matter if the song is in English or in French. However, he added that the controversy was a good publicity.
    "Being French, I grew up as a French, a French who grew up in France, so let's say that my values, my world view is very French so even if I explain my world view to others in English, it still remains a French vision.
    So for me, the fact that the song is in English is a very small detail, and the fact that there's a lot of controversy about it is a little bit out of proportion. But at the same time, it's very useful for me so I'm delighted that we have this kind of problem, faux pas," he said.
    He stressed that he did not plan the publicity.
    "I would love to be a cunning strategist and know how to anticipate this kind of things. If I had known in advance, I would think, 'Here we are, I will participate in the Eurovision Contest but in fact I will choose an English song, everybody will speak about it, I will be invited during television news bulletins', it would have been super, it would have been clever to think about it in advance but it was not the case and it is not even my fault (referring to France 3 asking him to sing in English)," he said.
    Tellier's song "Divine" is part of his third and last album "Sexuality".
    Before stepping in the year's Eurovision Song Contest, Tellier was unknown from a large majority of French people. However, elsewhere, he is considered as a trendy electro-pop music singer.
    One UMP (Union for a Popular Movement - right party) deputy Francois-Michel Gonnot, who said he had nothing against Tellier, is totally opposed to a song in English.
    "There are 200 million people worldwide, apart from the French people, who speak our language. I think that it's the least we could do to present a song in French. You know, there are many people, Canadians, Vietnameses, Africans who tell us simple things. If you, French, cannot defend the French language, who do you think will do it for you? Nobody! ," he told Reuters Television.
    He then added that France will never probably win the Eurovision Song Contest because the country is one of the main Eurovision donors.
    "Then, if we do not win the Eurovision contest it is apparently for another reason. It is, most probably, because in the past we've never found the best artists, I don't know, but it is also because we are one of the main Eurovision donors. We, together with some countries like Spain or the United Kingdom, can't win the Eurovision contest because we support it too much financially and we could be accused of favouritism," he said.
    The grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest will be held on May 24 in Belgrade.
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