Aznavour and I
My name is Avi Cohen and I have been an ardent fan of Charles Aznavour for as long as I can remember. My wife and I saw his first performance in Israel back in 1976 at the legendary “Beit Ha’am” hall in Kiryat Haim, my childhood neighborhood. At the time, we were still a young couple with not a penny in our pockets, but what can we not do for the spirit and soul…
About 4 years ago we were at his concert again, this time in the great city of Tel Aviv. This time, Aznavour opened his performance with a personal monologue. His songs, he said, are translated into all the languages of the world and he, unfortunately, is generally not satisfied with the translations because they are not always faithful to the original and in his eyes, the essence of the song is examined first and foremost by the quality of the lyrics and content, while the melody, no matter how beautiful, comes mainly to convey, beautify, complete and assimilate the content of the lyrics.
He said that this subject bothered him so much that, at the beginning of his career, he came across a song of his that was translated into English and he didn't like the translation. He sat down and translated the song into English himself, and of course this version was also a great success...
As someone whose native language is French and whose voice and songs were played in my parents' house when I was a child, when my late mother sang "Chensonim" as best she could, and out of my great love for Aznavour, I thought to myself that the artist was putting up a challenge and decided to try translating a song or two for my own enjoyment. What guided me was meticulousness and faithfulness to the original as much as the language and the melody allowed, word for word, line for line.
For about 3 years, I translated, in a Sisyphean labor but with supreme pleasure, over 30 of the artist's poems, and what began as a curiosity later became my existence, an endless investment in translation and rhyming, while searching for and providing a creative response to his special and charming texts.
But I wasn't satisfied with that and later, I didn't leave a single entry in the network under the name "Aznabour" (in any language) that wasn't checked, read, or watched by me, just to extract from it the piquant anecdotes and the "stories behind his songs"...
As I delved deeper into the content and his fascinating life story, I discovered myself, the average Israeli, what a difficult path he had taken, what were the conditions of his beginnings, and where he ultimately arrived thanks to his belief in himself and his inspiring determination.
Aznavour, the beginning of his journey…
And indeed, he reached the pinnacle of fame, despite all the difficulties that were placed before him at the beginning of his professional career. Difficulties that stemmed from unsympathetic criticism, to say the least, and from a hostile and racist media that saw him as a foreigner…
What didn't they say about him, what didn't they write about him? That he is short, that his voice is rough, that in appearance he embodies the image of the anti-star, that he is too ugly to sing love songs, and worse than that, you wouldn't believe, that due to all these "limitations", he is actually "disabled", disabled from birth and therefore has no place on stage, especially since he is the son of a family of Armenian immigrants in Paris in the 50s.
But he, thanks to his stubbornness, determination, self-belief, stage presence, and of course, thanks to the songs and lyrics that captivated everyone who was exposed to them, eventually became the king of French chansons.
And as he once said, in a moment of moving personal confession:
“It's not me who has changed, it's you, the audience and the media, who have changed.
Me, my height, my voice, my chansons, nothing has changed in them,
So like today…
Aznavour's determination - "I saw myself"
Aznavour wrote and sang about 1400 songs, but I will only dwell here on one song whose words are worth gold. The song that was the most important milestone in his long career. The song that divided his career in two, up to and from the song and beyond, because after it, his career took off and his immortal songs became ironclad assets in France and the whole world. He finally gained recognition, sympathy and love from the audience as an artist, as a creator and a stage presence, and this is still happening, over the heads of the harassing media and over the heads of the writers of venomous reviews.
It happens one cold evening on December 12, 1960. Aznavour appears at the Alhambra in Paris. After performing several songs to an indifferent, chilly and cold audience, he pulls out his last card and sings the song: “I saw myself “Je m'voyais déjà”.
This is a song that tells the story of a failed artist, who dreams of success and although he suffers repeated bitter disappointments, his faith in himself does not wane and he continues to dream of success and imagines himself already in it. Here, Aznavour consciously or unconsciously creates a “victory image” of consciousness, the words he uses:
“…I saw my name at the top of the headline
Large and prominent dozens of times more than a multitude of stars,
I saw myself leading at the top.
I sign my picture for every fan who pushes towards me…”
Je m'voyais déjà en haut de l'affiche…”
En dix fois plus gros que n'importe qui mon nom s'étaleit
Je m'voyais déjà adulé et riche
"...Signant mes photos aux admirers qui se bousculaient
These words are in terms of a thought that creates reality, in terms of a wish that fulfills itself, and this is a song that he wrote over 60 (!) years ago. Now think for a moment, what courage Aznavour had, what determination, what self-belief to say on stage in front of the audience, at the most critical moment in his career, I did mine:
“…I did try everything, to come out in the light
I sang love, I made jokes, I imagined records
If I have failed in everything, if I am sunk in a pit
It's not my fault, it's the audience that didn't understand anything..."
I tried everything yet pour sortir du nombre…”
J'ai chanté l'amour, j'ai fait du comique et d'la fantaisie
Si tout a raté pour moi, si je suis dans l'ombre
"Ce n'est pas ma faut' mais cell' du public qui n'a rien compris
But make no mistake, he is of course not attacking the audience, he is merely stating a painful fact. Nor is he attacking the media and the reviewers who mercilessly abuse him, to whom he merely says:
“…I never got a chance
Others succeeded with a weak voice and a lot of money.
Maybe I'm done, or my time is ahead...
But one day I will show them my talent!…”
On ne m'a jamais accordé ma chance…”
D'autres ont réussi avec peu de voix et beaucoup d'argent
Moi j'étais trop pur ou trop en avance
"Mais un jour viendra je leur montrrai que j'ai du talent
And now this day, this evening, has finally arrived, and it has arrived thanks to his determination, the determination that captured the hearts of the audience, this determination to mark a peak, the highest, the farthest, and strive for it no matter what...
Aznavour, due to his family's financial difficulties, only completed 10 years of schooling, but this song deserves to be taught in schools. Schools for the excellent, for the champions, for the winners... And indeed, Aznavour was ahead of his time, what a huge, fascinating and inspiring man!
And as for the reviewers whom he will not forget, he will settle accounts with them only many, many years later, when, from the height of his age and with irony, he will say about them, pointing to the ground and what is beneath it:
But look where all of them are today!… And where am I… And the one who understands will understand…
This determination of Aznavour, as reflected at every point in his career, can serve as a source of inspiration for each and every one of us when faced with a difficulty or challenge. It doesn't matter if he is a singer or an actor, if he is a high-tech person or a cleaning worker, if he is a man or a woman...
My vision
As you understand, my “startup” deals with translating Aznavour’s poems into Hebrew, and as someone who has delved into and researched and been exposed to his poetry, personality, and family that saved Jews in the Holocaust, I have a burning desire to cherish, share, and assimilate Aznavour’s legacy in Israel.
In terms of the number of translated poems and the selection of stories and content, I have already reached a "critical mass" that allows, according to my vision, the staging of a musical in Hebrew poetry (!) about Aznavour, his poetry, and his fascinating and inspiring life story.
And when this show is performed, and the audience is exposed to the original lyrics and content(!) of his songs, then the songs will take on new value and meaning, and together with the wonderful melodies, they will become classics and quality hits in Hebrew as well.
And finally
The story I told here about the song “I Saw Myself” is of course not the whole story. There is a human drama in this story that is moving to tears, of the moments of “transformation,” from the indifference and coldness that the audience radiated at the beginning of the show to the moment when the audience was captivated by the charm of the words and the charm of the determination that Aznavour radiated in his song…
You can see and experience this moving story (the whole thing) and many other equally moving stories in my lecture: “Charles Aznavour - The Songs and the Stories Behind the Songs,” accompanied by a presentation, videos, and poetry in personal delivery.
I give the lecture to groups and home circles across the country and of course also to associations (on a voluntary basis), in recognition of their blessed activity. Full disclosure: I am not a singer, nor am I a singer, but I sing Aznavour…
Contact: Avi Cohen 0523365112
Email: avico22@bezeqint.net