The world has lost a truly great man today.
Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian was born in Paris to a family who had fled genocide in Turkish Armenia. Talented even as a young child, by the age of 15 he was singing in the nightclubs of Montparnasse - yet the French critics dismissed him as too short and too ugly. Just a few years ago, Charles Aznavour's comment on that (after a nine-decade career, during which he wrote some 1,400 songs, sold more than 100m records, and was lauded as "the French Sinatra"] was: “All the critics are dead; I am still alive!”
A contemporary of the "bohemians" of Paris such as Edith Piaf, he was indeed still performing to sell-out venues before thousands of adoring fans at the age of 92. As I wrote in my tribute to the great man on the occasion of his 90th: "...at only 5' 3", luxuriously-eyebrowed and a bit craggy, Monsieur Charles Aznavour was always an unlikely sex symbol. Yet, in a similar vein to other confusing objects of female passion such as Demis Roussos and Barry White, M Aznavour's chants d'amour made him an internationally-adored superstar."
Adored, he certainly was. And, in our eyes, and in those of millions of others across the globe, he still is. His legacy is in the art of the chanson, sung by an expert in the genre - and in his fearlessness in daring to tackle taboo subjects such as homosexuality, depression, loneliness, sex and intimate relationships in an era when such matters were never even talked about in public, let alone sung from the world's stages.
His songs have formed the staple of many a gay man's coming-out - and, as Marc Almond (one of M Aznavour's greatest admirers) said by way of an introduction to this masterpiece he so famously covered: "[This is] a song for those who dare to be different"...
Even Dame Shirley Bassey was in awe of the man - on this, a song that never fails to bring a tear to my eye:
Yesterday when I was young
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame
D'accord.
RIP, Charles Aznavour (22nd May 1924 – 1st October 2018)
Someone at work today said that France was in a state of mourning as one of it's famous singers had died, but he didn't know who it was (heard a snippet of news on the radio). Now I know.
ReplyDeleteI'm not very familiar with M. Azvanour or his work, but "What Makes A Man (A Man)" makes me feel.
RIP M. Aznavour
He was a great creator of feelings. As for his song catalogue, many of those in English formed a big part of the repertoire of one Liza Minnelli - including And I In My Chair, You've Let Yourself Go and Quiet Love, among others. He also wrote Dance in the Old Fashioned Way and, of course, She... Jx
DeleteAnother great loss
ReplyDeleteTrès triste. Jx
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