Tuesday 9 July 2013

Saez at Solidays: Fils de France


Great to see some video online of Saez playing at the Solidays festival recently.

I just don't ever tire of the song Fils de France. Angry and intelligent, written in response to the FN's apparent success of getting Jean Marie le Pen int othe second round of the presidential election ballot in 2002. The song was written and recorded the day after the first round of the election in a matter of hours.

It's lost none of its urgency, and is a reminder that France should always be a place with tolerance and justice at its heart.

The performance was at the Solidays festival, held at the Longchamps racecourse just outside Paris, which marks its 15th anniversary this year. The festival is more than just a music even, and is intended as an event focussing on the fight against aids. This year saw adound 58,000 people involved in a 'die-in' calling on the president to increase France's support of the fight against aids.

The festival presented around 150 artists, with an audience of around 170,000 people, and this year the likes of Daivd Guetta, -M- and Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye were also on the bill.

Saez is the kind of artist whose work will be recognised as amongst the finest that France has produced, his songs ranging from the personal to the political, unafraid to tackle the difficult issues in approachable ways.

His most recent album Miami - his eighth was released in France in March, the cover art sparking controversy with planned ads on the Paris Metro being banned before it was released.

He's currently in the midst of an extensive tour until the end of August.


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