{"id":34606,"date":"2022-03-08T05:30:31","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T04:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=34606"},"modified":"2022-03-06T16:02:21","modified_gmt":"2022-03-06T15:02:21","slug":"pop-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/pop-and-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop and Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Le printemps<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>spring<\/em><\/span>, a time of renewal and rebirth, is just about here (at least in the northern hemisphere!) This week we take a look at a number of updates from the world of politics and pop culture about new(ish) things coming this spring to France.<\/p>\n

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Springtime in Paris. Photo (C) Tim Hildreth<\/p><\/div>\n

Emmanuel Macron<\/h3>\n

The President of France has finally made it official, announcing sa candidature jeudi soir<\/a> dans une lettre aux Fran\u00e7ais<\/strong>2<\/a><\/sup>his candidacy in a letter to the French people<\/em><\/span> \u2026 not that anyone was particularly surprised.\u00a0In fact, one report referred to Macron\u2019s continued silence on his fate as un\u00a0secret de polichinelle<\/strong> \/ Polichinelle\u2019s secret<\/em>. As we\u2019ve discussed<\/a>, it is common for French Presidents to delay announcing that they\u2019re running for another term.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Polichinelle<\/a> was a character from Italian theater (like Colombine and Harlequin<\/a>) who was known for sharing the same secret, one by one, with everyone in the court, but swearing them all to secrecy such that everyone knew the secret, but no one knew that everyone else knew!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an expression that has come to mean an\u00a0open secret<\/em>, something that everyone knows but no one is talking about.<\/div>\n

In his announcement Macron shared his intention<\/a> to \u00ab[luter]\u00a0contre les in\u00e9galit\u00e9s, non pas tant en cherchant \u00e0 les corriger toujours trop tard qu\u2019en nous y attaquant \u00e0 la racine.\u00bb<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>fight against inequalities, not by as is often the case trying to correct them too late, but by attacking them at the root<\/em><\/span> and \u00abNous ferons en sorte que tous les enfants de France aient les m\u00eames chances\u00bb<\/strong>4<\/a><\/sup>We will ensure that all the children of France have the same opportunities<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Eurovision<\/h3>\n

Samedi dernier, douze (12) artistes se sont affront\u00e9s pour avoir le doit de repr\u00e9senter la France au prochain<\/strong><\/a>5<\/a><\/sup>This past Saturday, 12 artists battled for the right to represent France at the next<\/em><\/span> Eurovision Song Contest. Parmi d\u2019autres<\/strong>6<\/a><\/sup>Among them<\/em> (lit. Among others<\/em>)<\/span>, this year\u2019s competitors included Barbara Pravi – who came in second last year representing France, a singer accompanied by an electric harp, a singer whose singing career only just began thanks to a pandemic Instragram experience as well as one who is already established thanks to her participation in the French edition of The Voice Kids, and a group singing in their native Breton (from the Bretagne region we have visited so often). [Click the link above to read more and see video clips of all the performances.]<\/p>\n

At the end of the night \u2026 and the end of the votes \u2026 c\u2019est \u201c[l]e groupe breton Alvan\u00a0&\u00a0Ahez [qui] repr\u00e9sentera la France \u00e0 l\u2019Eurovision<\/a> [\u2026]\u00a0avec la composition \u00ab\u00a0Fulenn\u00a0\u00bb,\u201d<\/strong>7<\/a><\/sup>it\u2019s the Breton group Alvan & Alex [who] will represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest [\u2026] with the composition \u201cFulenn\u201d,<\/em><\/span> \u201c[S]ignifiant \u00ab\u00a0\u00e9tincelle\u00a0\u00bb et \u00ab\u00a0jeune fille\u00a0\u00bb, en breton[, la chanson est] inspir\u00e9e d’une l\u00e9gende bretonne\u201d<\/strong>8<\/a><\/sup>[M]eaning \u201cspark\u201d and \u201cyoung girl\u201d in Breton[, the song is] inspired by a Breton legend<\/em><\/span>. Check it out below!<\/p>\n