Charles Aznavour - A Life Force

CHARLES AZNAVOUR
En Liberte
City Centre, NYC

Reviewed by: Sandi "D"
April 2009

Charles Aznavour is an international legend and a life force. The most famous French singer that has ever lived, he invented the French chanson and maintains an international cult following rivaled only by the late Charlie Chaplin In 1998 he was voted ‘Entertainer of the Century’ by CNN and users of Time Online worldwide, edging out Elvis and Bob Dylan. In the throes of his global Farewell Tour which began in 2006, he was treated to thunderous applause and cheers by an enthusiastic audience that filled almost the entire City Center theater.

Born in Paris, the son of Armenian immigrant parents, his career began as a child. He is now 84 years young and this short man with the gravely low notes and profoundly clear and reaching tenor upper range, can still mesmerize over a thousand people easily. Backed by a 10 piece band and 2 back up singers, he announced he would be singing only in French, to which many audience members applauded. His patter and song set-ups, however, were in English. This reviewer was a bit disappointed having studied Spanish back in school and having little knowledge of the French language. However, it was evident that language could never be a barrier as the deep emotional soul of this man is ever present. “Je T’Aime ’possessed an urgency and “Je Voyage” talked about the fading of time and the past.

Aznavour sings mostly of love. Noting there are many Egyptian love songs, but not many songs about the kinds of love making that exist, he gave very specific examples that led into an erotic middle-eastern musical beat “Une Vie D’Amour. “ The only missing element here was the belly dancer.

Dubbed ‘The Frank Sinatra of France’, Aznavour has written over 800 songs and recorded more than 1000 in French, English, German and Spanish. He has been in the international limelight as an actor, composer, arranger, writer and public activist.
Telling short tales preceding many of his songs, the 1 hour 45 minutes he was on stage flew by as he moved efficiently from one song to another.

An especially poetic moment occurred in “Non, Je N’Ai Rien Oublie” as he spoke of the memories of lost youth. His most popular song in America “Yesterday When I Was Young” produced many oohs and ahhs as it flowed into the sounds of “Dance In The Old Fashioned Way” as Aznavour danced effortlessly across the stage wrapping his arms around himself as if he were holding the woman of his dreams.

Charles Aznavour has and always will be a charmer. The theme now is more specific – it is ‘the autumn of my years.’