Charles Aznavour at Quebec’s Summer Festival
Charles Aznavour is probably the most famous living French singer. Known throughout the French speaking countries, he is also popular in the US and Latin America. Charles Aznavour was one of the performers at this year's Quebec Summer Festival.
The Quebec Summer Festival is a yearly event that takes place in the first two weeks of July on various stages throughout the city. It's the kind of events where you can get (believe it or not) ninety nine concerts by artists known and less known for a mere thirty dollars. Undoubtedly, because of Quebec's 400th anniversary celebrations, the list of stars this year is much longer and of greater importance. As an example, let me just mention that on Friday July 11, the Festival will greet Wyclef, Jean one of the biggest names in show business today, and his friend Akon - and this for the same $30 mind you!
But let's go back to Charles Aznavour's performance. The man is 84 years old and he has a sixty years career behind him. Last Sunday, he captivated an audience of over 100.000 people, young and old, for a little more than one hour. At first we were worried because it seemed that his voice was not coming out as it should. The rhythm was slow, but very quickly, "Aznavour the Great" took over and ran us through his best know successes. At one point, acting as if he had forgotten the lyrics of a song, the public came to his rescue and from then on did not hesitate to sing along, and this surely made Asnavour feel good. He took off his jacket, danced and made jokes, acting more like a 48 year old.
Opening Asnavour's show was Lynda Lemay, a young artist from Quebec, whose poetry dealing with women issues is a good blend of dept and humour. A most enjoyable evening and more to come.