France

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 Patricia Kaas is representing France in the 2009 Eurovision song contest. According to Patricia's [|Wikipedia] she was encouraged to sing by her mother since she was eight years old. She began singing at events such as her brother's wedding, but didn't find true popularity until she won a French pop music contest. Kaas has made a worldwide reputation for herself as one of the most successful French-speaking singers. Since the release of her debut album, "Mademoiselle chante le blues", in 1988 she has sold over 16 million records worldwide (video of [|Mademoiselle chante le blues] ). A high point in her career was in 1993 after the release of her third and most successful album, "Je te dis vous". This album sold over 3 million copies in 47 countries and reached number one in the French album charts. Kass' music gives an updated style to the French chanson tradition by adding a mixture of pop, jazz, and blues fundaments. She has a very cabaret, throaty, smokey voice that's thick with emotion. The youngster of seven she was born on 5 December, 1966 in France's Lorraine area. Her father was a French miner and her mother was German. She has always had a strong interest in improving relations between France and Germany because of her Franco-German heritage. Her mother always encouraged her as a child to pursue singing, and at the early age of 13 she signed her first contract with Saarbrucken Club Rumpelkammer. She has come a long way since then, releasing over 12 albums and winning numerous internationally renowned music awards.


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The song that Patricia Kaas will be singing for the competition is called "Et S'il Fallait Le Faire" which roughly translates to 'and if it had to be done.' According to the [|Eurovision official website] the song was composed by a man named Fred Blondin and the Lyrics were written by Anse Lazio. The song is a dreary existential jazz love song centered around Patricia's voice and a piano. There is also a very soft almost sad violin that comes through the music at the quiet parts. At the most intense parts of the song the piano and violin combine to form a very hard-hitting sound that backs up Patricia's voice very nicely. There is no back-up singing in this song so it is very nice when the other instruments pick up and make some nice harmonies with her voice. The drums do a nice job of moving the song along and giving it some back-bone while remaining in the background and not competing with Kaas' vocals. At the end of the song, once Kaas has finished singing, the drums get a little louder as to highlight the finale, but on the whole they have a soft, pattering feel to them with a sound that makes you feel like you are sitting in a jazz lounge somewhere. Over all this song is very easy to listen to, but isn't the most joyful sounding of songs. Kaas' international recognition as a singer gives France something that is more accessible to the public. This makes the song a good contender for the Eurovision contest.

In Stuart Heritage's article on the [|Hecklerspray] website "Et S'il Fallait Le Fair" gets a terrible review. Stuart starts out by talking about how exciting last years performance from France was. Sebastian Tellier came on stage last year in a golf cart, then proceeded to sing "some imposibly cool cutting-edge electro" and finnished off his last verse by sucking in helium while he sang. This, according to Stuart, was a nice change from the "drearily existential piano jazz ballads" that France usually has in the Eurovision contest. Stuart then says that "Et S'il Fallait Le Fair" is the most drearily existential piano jazz ballad he has ever heard and that it is a huge step down from France's entry last year. He finnishes off the article by implying that Patricia can not possibly win the contest. In contradiction to this article on Heclerspray the song has 4 out of 5 stars on Youtube. One fan of Patricia's left a comment about how her smokey voice is the perfect compliment to the smooth jazz piano. The reviews on this song are, as always with music, very mixed.

//__**Narrative of Entry:**__//

On January 30th France Télévisions announced that Patricia Kaas would be representing France in the 2009 Eurovision song contest. Talk of Kaas' participation in this years Eurovision started early in January after the publication of an article in the Belgian newspaper La Meuse. Wanting the news to be a surprise Kaas' management denied the rumors, but later let the public know that she was making preparations with France Télévisions regarding her participation in Eurovision. On the first of February Kaas exposed that "Et s'il fallait le faire", her first single from her knew album Kabaret, would be her ballad for the 2009 Eurovision song contest.


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In the Eurovision, France has entered the contest fifty-two times since their debut in the very first contest in 1956. France is one of seven other countries to appear in the very first Eurovison. France has only missed two contests, once in 1974 and 1982. In 1974, France withdrew because the President of France, Georges Pompidoun died in the week of the contest. Then in 1981, France declined to enter the 1982 contest because of what, Pierre Bouteiller, the head of entertainment, said “The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs were where annoyance set in.”

France is one of the most successful countries, winning the contest five times and coming in second four times and coming in third seven times. France has never come in last place, but has come in second to last a couple of times. In 1958 Andre Claveau performed the song “Dors, mon amour.” In 1990 france came in second when Joelle Ursull performed Serge Gainsbourgs wong White and black blue, the song came in second. In 1991, Amina was close to win with the song “C'est le dernier qui a parle” she finished with the same points as Sweden. France lost because, France had fewer 10 point scores. Because of this, new rules were put in place, and france would have won the competition. France had gotten more points from different countries than Sweden.

In the recent years, France has had some very disappointing finishes. Since 1998, France has pretty much been in the bottom 10 countries. Yet in 2001, Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier came in fourth for France with the song “Je n'ai que mon ame.” After that performance, France has had a new look on the Eurovision. In 2009 French superstar Patricia Kaas will represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. Kass is one of the most successful French speaking singers in the world and she has sold over 16 million records worldwide.