Farewell to the singer Charles Aznavour (1924-2018) by Nachum Schwarzenberg

Charles Aznavour passed away.
News like this gives me a stomach ache, the kind that comes as a surprise.
For me, he is the greatest of French singers.
His music has been playing in our living room for as long as I can remember.
My late father, who was born France – Paris infused this wonderful culture deep into my veins and it is an inseparable part of me.

Yesterday, French television broadcasts paid homage to the artist who touched all of France.
As someone who advocated equality for all, the street shed tears and respected him regardless of religion, race, or gender.
Nana Moshkaneri paid tribute to him in the studio, with whom she sang a wonderful duet:

President Roland, Macron, cultural figures, television, and an entire nation paid tribute to him. I watched until midnight.
More than once I wipe away a tear and more than once I remember the places where his poems met me.
As he said in his famous poem La Boheme - all the lilac flowers have withered.

And he, he continues to spin around on stage like he used to dance.

The brain knows how to transmit pixels full of memory.

The story of Charles Aznavour

Aznavour was born to an Armenian immigrant couple and began performing at the age of 9.
She discovered Aznavour. Edith PiafThe same Piaf who discovered Yves Montand and gave them both a stage in small clubs like the Poly Berger, the Moulin Rouge, and even the mythical Olympia, teaching and accompanying them even after their breakup.

Most of his songs were about love. His unique voice was a home and a source of attraction beyond France, and he soon began to be famous in the U.S. Many of his songs were translated and adapted into foreign languages. The song "She" is one of the best-known in the English language.

Aznavour didn't just sing on stage.

He speaks his poems, illustrates them. With his eyes, with his body, with the small mimics that convey a message in the most precise way that the stage can receive and transmit. He wrote the famous La Boheme when he describes the days of a painter who returns to the district. Montmartre And he remembered the days that are no longer there. He always appeared in the song with a handkerchief, simulating wiping his hands of paint while singing.

Charles Aznavour sings in sign language

In another poem, he described his beloved as deaf. She cannot hear the words of love he whispers to her, so he learned sign language.
In the song, it is accompanied by precise hand gestures of sign language. mon emouvant amour – My moving love is the title of the song.
And the accuracy was a candle to my feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ftmFrSqDY

Armenian roots

More than once he would cling to his Armenian, slightly gypsy roots and perform songs that became an asset – such as the well-known "Two Guitars" performed by Avi Toledano in the Hebrew translation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24X730KABU

And here is the Hebrew version:

That's what they call me.

Aznavour created from his inner truth – not to please or please, but from the recognition that the words of his songs have meaning and text that is just as important as the melody. In another famous song of his, he reveals what the dual life of a homosexual looks like who earns a living by day from odd jobs and at night performs in a Paris club. A song whose content was not at all acceptable at the time but became a hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba3Pk36ie0Y

Collaborations with other singers

His songs and work spanned decades, but his voice never changed. His vitality was also maintained on stage, as he often stuck to his original performances because the audience was not ready for a change in what was considered classic songs in his performance. He often collaborated with composers and singers from home and abroad in joint duets that became hits, including:

Julio Iglesias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKI0b5X1_Y

Patrick Bruel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vramMq5DOfM

Elton John

The last of the chansonniers

Aznavour was a giant. He maintained his modesty despite being an international star.
At the age of 93, he was interviewed and said that he calls himself the Shimon Peres of French poetry.
When asked if he doesn't mind that the younger generation is making new arrangements of his songs, he replied that he is flattered to the skies and proud of them for their creativity.
Over the years, he has been nicknamed the French Frank Sinatra, a giant man and singer despite his small stature.

One of his signature songs, Emmenez Moi, certainly conveys the tremendous presence he had on stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqouQ1o1mUo&list=PLmVGeSVa7UP_O2dvni_lFYsteGKBI2Zhr

One of his most successful performances was documented and recorded live in 2004 at the famous Palais de Congres – here is the link to the full performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZLRrNFZN50&t=1276s

In 2011, he received the prestigious Scopus Prize, awarded by the Society of Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Aznavour continued to perform well into his advanced years. He performed in Israel in 2013 at the Yad Eliyahu Sports Hall in Tel Aviv. In March 2014, he performed for the second time at Yad Eliyahu, and the day before, he held a bar mitzvah ceremony for his Jewish grandson at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

In October 2017, he returned to perform at the Menorah Mivtachim Hall. On October 1, 2018, he passed away at the age of 94. Aznavour was scheduled to perform again in Israel in June 2019, as part of a world tour that was supposed to celebrate his 95th birthday.

Aznavour in Hebrew

Several of his songs have been translated or given Hebrew versions. One of the most notable is “Au printemps tu reviendras,” which was translated by Avi Koren under the title “B’avib at Tashobi Ḥezrā” (In Spring You Will Return) and performed by the Nahal Ensemble with soloists Ofira Gloska and Lior Amiran, and later by the Nahal Ensemble.

Also, his song “She” was translated by Ehud Manor and performed by Matti Caspi on his album “At Ha’Asha Sheli” in 2005.

In addition, the song “Comme ils disent” (the original French story about a closeted gay man who performs at night as a drag queen) was performed as the finale in the drag show “Holy Wigs” under the name “What is a Man for You” and later in the mini-series “Always the Same Dream.”

The song was also performed under the name "What Will You Say," by Itay Tiran in 2002 at the evening "Under the Sky of Paris" at the Beit Zvi Acting School.

In 1978, Avi Toledano performed in the show "La Bohème" a selection of Aznavour's poems in Hebrew versions written by various composers such as Dudu Topaz, Ehud Manor, Naomi Shemer, Dan Almagor and others.

Aznavour – a singer, composer, and chansonnier, whose mark will remain as long as the planet continues to turn.
It's hard to talk about him in the past tense.
I could write many more pages here, as the knowledge and familiarity is profound.
And I have included some masterpieces that will delight your ears for many years to come.
I loved him and he will always be a part of me.

Of blessed memory.