Mika in Belgian Radio Station RTBF "Les Petits Papiers" 7 July 2019

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

Today the 7th of July we could listen a very interesting interview (in French) for the belgian radio station RTBF.

The program title is "Les Petits Papiers" (small pieces of paper).

Mika draws pieces of paper with different words. Then he talks about what the word means to him and he tells some stories from his life.

 

Very interesting because this is not an interview about his new album. I've learned a lot of new things about Mika.

 

https://www.rtbf.be/auvio/detail_les-petits-papiers-mika?id=2518206&jwsource=fb&fbclid=IwAR2r0XuRt2-rwRVZ6RKvo4wZsJDox_6TeNaRHfRUCCzN4I6FPionpWVNrgs

 

Mika was talking about words:

 

Popular

Superstition

Barbara - la copine de ma mere - A ECOUTER POUR RIRE!!!!

Melody"- sur creation - sur un bracelet fait pas sa soeur,e que Mika porte sur sa main (From the Moon the Earth is Heaven)- sur Beauregard, qui s'habille comme Mika quand il etait petit 

Treats ("Saucisses" "Gourmandise") - actually he did not want to talk about sausages so he drew a word "Treats"(Gourmandise)

 

 

I am not able to translate word to word now, so juste some intersting parts.

 

POPULAR

This word used to be considered as very negative. They say that music POP is accessible. But shoult it mean that it should be easy? No! For me this word is more than a status. Music POP it's a different language that classical music or jazz.... It leave an open door for people. Yu can't say that music POP is trash. Just look at the music from 80' and 90'.

This word "popular"  touches me a lot because I defend it.

Mika's father was anty-snob he hated an idea that some people, artistes can be above other people. This idea of prejudice was stranger for him. He was traveling a lot when he was a child and he is not scared by a new place by a different culture. He arrives with his suitcase and he feels himself home everywhere. His mom is the same. People create snobbery before knowing something.

Mika's brother and sisters are like the parents. The curiosity is bigger than fear. Maybe it will end up badly or it maybe the best thing ever. It makes you feeling happy because you are flexible and you bent with the wind. You don't break. In the past Mika thought that it was normal. But now he understands that it's a big gift he received from his parents.

 

SUPERSTITION

 

Mika is supersticious. And he feels energies. When he talks with someone he is able to "read" more that they are saying. He feels energy of a place. Every thing has its own memory, every place has its memory. Objects in a room have a collective memory of people passing by. And he can feel it. There is an idea that everything we have we do not own. And it doesn't mean that Mika is communist :-)

Mika had a friend selling things at a flea market. And he was selling them at very high prices. Sometimes Mika was buying something from him. Mika was sure that the item had higher value and he asked his friend why he wanted from him only 900 EUR instead of 3'000-4'000 EUR. And his friend said that he gives prices according to what the items represented TO HIM. Like this he respected the soul/spirit of the item. He said: "surround yourself by beautie and emotion. Because nothing belongs to you. We borrow things for some years and then they go to another owner. The price you pay it's just a way to stay close to this thing for next 30-40 years".

Comming back to superstition you can't mix it with a mystical thing.

Superstition is connected with obsession and control. 

 

A question: Is this superstiotion that you always clean your shoes befor going on stage?

When you dance on stage shoes are very important. And it's abominable if you soles are dirty.

In private life Mika does not wear nice shoes - generally old "converses". But on stage clothes, shoes have to be perfect! His nails as well should be clean evenif  in life there is soil, mud, painting on them. As his grandma was doing before going to church, Mika is doing the same to go on stage. Actually it's not a superstition, it's a rite. 

He can superstition that he likes having 3 same things. Entering a hospital room he has to enter with his right leg. But it's just a control. 

People would like to control everything but the best things happen when do not expect them.

 

BARBARA

It can be Barbara Walters, Barbra Streisand, on Barbara - his mom's friend. She is very rich. She used to be buddist and now she is Jewish. She changed religion.

She is from a big american family and when she was buddist she was a sponsor of Dalai Lama. When Mika was 11-12 yo she took him and his mom to a huge arene to listen to Dalai Lama during a conference. The meeting took 3 days. Mika was in a second row in front od Dalai Lama. He fell asleep and all of sudden he wakes up seeing Dalai Lama laughing and pointing his finger on Mika.

Poor Mika became red. He did not know it was a dream or it was happening in real. And for more there was Annie Lennox in a chair next to Mika. She was looking at him too and she wasn't happy.

Mika was joking that it was the first time the whole venue was keeping their eyes on him.

And then there is Barbara - a french singer that Mika likes a lot. Mika has a collection of her albums and radio performances. 

 

 

MELODY

Melody it's a noise, sound. Language is a style. 

Mika when he listens to Cesarea Evora - even he doesn't understands Portuguese he understands a song. Melody is a soul of the music.

Mika was attracted by melody when he was very young. It was something that could change the way you feel (he had boxes of tapes with music sorted by emotion).

What was the first song h liked? He does not remember but maybe something that his parents were listening to: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan or Joan Baez. For him Joan Baez was a boss.

Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell on second place and Bob Dyland on the third.

 

When Mika was young and had a problem with communication with others he was writing songs for them. Now he almost does not do it anymore as writing songs is his profession. When you are musician people are judging it in a different way. 

On the other hand he does it for himself while writing a song: to become a person from a song. " I want to be a guy from the song. I don't want to be myself".

 

FRIENDS

 

Friends from conservatory... one who became a world famous classical singer, some who gave up because they wanted be on stage but when they couldn't they didn't want to stay in a shadow...

it was very hard for them... some play in orchestras..some are not here anymore... 

You have to be in a conservatory to understand it. You enter a palace of art, then you are thrown out to the world and you have to fight.

Mika called this palace of art "a palace of tears" because everyday you could see someone crying. It was a permanent frustration... a permanent feeling of not being good enough.

 

Mika understood very early - as he started to sing at age of 8 - that you have to fight all the time. Not to fight to be popular or to have a success, but just to survive.

Mika left school before having his diploma - with his professional experience he did need any diploma, any title.

 

Mika and his brother and sisters had to be creative at home. Because even if you have nothing you can create something. We are surrounded  by things which can be inspiring.

On an empty stage you create a show, you can create a video... you have to keep your eyes open and look around you.

 

At home they couldn't buy gifts with money - it was "dirty". They had to create something. The same with clothes. His mom was sewing the clothes. Mika and his brother and sisters were choosing the fabrics. Mika even when he was 5 yo, he already was choosing fabrics. And he had this strange idea that his bow-tie should be done from the same fabric that his trousers. 

 

Do you want to know something special? Mika's nephew Beauregard (5 yo) without knowing anything does exactly the same! He wears every day a bow-tie... even going to play football he puts on his polo "LaCoste" and a bow-tie! And when he sees trousers in a shop he insists to have a bow-tie from the same fabric! And he is only 5!!! Is it in the ADN of Penniman family????

 

When Mika told him not to do it because others will take is a very strane, Beauregard doesn't understand it.

And Mika when he was 5 did have this problem either. He assumed his choice. Even if children were laughing at him.

When you are a child you don't understand a problem of discriminaton. Good, because you don't want to hide and to pretend you are someone else.

It becomes more complicated with age, when you are more conscious. But he has no regrets.

 

Question: and now? You still create things as gifts?

 

Mika: "You can't see it but I am wearing bracelets made by my sister. And inside there is a short message. She told me to read it when I loose my pespective. It sais: "From The Moon the Earth is Heaven". Because often we think we are living in hell. And this shirt was made by another sister".

 

Next word is SAUSSAGES - no it was a joke: the word was "TRUST" (confiance in French). Mika didn't want to talk about this subject and he took another piece of paper.

 

TREATS (Gourmandise in French) 

In Mika's family there is many diabetics. Mika is not (for the moment - he jokes). It's an awful disease. You realise it when you are ill and diabetes makes the healing very complicated.

And on the other side there is sugar.  For Mika "gourmandise" is sugar. Sugar in Penniman family is very important. Mika's grandma always had sweets in her hand bag. Mika loved to open it and smell the flavor of them. Mixed with parfums fragrance... 

Sugar is present in hard moments of Mika's family. Grandma of Mika's mom was dying in a hospital and she was begging Mrs Penniman to bring her a coffee and she added: "You know what to do with". Mika's mom brought a cup of coffee with 6 cubes of sugar. She was 95.

And then Mika tell another story: "Recently I lost someone. Her name was Bella, Isabella. She was a nanny of my brother Fortune and my little sister Zuleika. But most of time she was not working for my family. She was adopted by my family. She had been living with us during 15 years. You can even see her in my videos. One day she was not feeling good. I took her to a hospital and our family from all over the world came to say goodbye to her. At certain moment she stopped reacting to anything. She didn't want to answer. Someone brough ice cream and put a little on her lips. And this lady of 94 opens her mouth and swallows ice cream. And all she sais is: "mmmmmmmmm". I said to myself: we are coming back to sugar".

 

Question: And what would you like to eat as your last meal?

 

Mika: "Spaghetti with tomato sauce". 

 

Question: Gourmandise - for you it concers as well life? Are you hungry of life, hungry of stage?

 

Mika: "While talking about superstition we were talking about control. I told you as well that during the whole life you have to be creative. The same with life: you have to feel it, to take pleasure of the moment. When something manifests just in front of you, you have to take it. And to say: It's good, it's beautiful. Like this interview which came unexpected today". 

 

 

END

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Anna Ko Kolkowska

[mellody]

"Mika is supersticious. And he feels energies. When he talks with someone he is able to "read" more that they are saying. He feels energy of a place. Every thing has its own memory, every place has its memory."

 

Yeah, I'm not surprised about this, he seems to have a 7th sense for people wanting to complain to him / ask him questions he doesn't want to answer (yet). You can be pretty sure that if you want to do any of this, you won't get a chance to talk to him (after a show). Anyway that's my experience.

 

The energies of places thing is also not new - I remember he complained about the venue in Wiesbaden in 2010, because it had formerly been a slaughterhouse and he said it smelt like blood and he felt sick by it. The energy at the gig there was great though, so whatever. To me it's a bit hocuspocus, I believe him that he can "read" people - you get sensitive for possible trouble if you get bullied for years. But about the places, I think it's more superstition. Probably Germany has some sort of "bad energy" to him, that'd explain a few things.  

[Kumazzz]

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[carafon]

16 hours ago, mellody said:

 

 

The energies of places thing is also not new - I remember he complained about the venue in Wiesbaden in 2010, because it had formerly been a slaughterhouse and he said it smelt like blood and he felt sick by it. The energy at the gig there was great though, so whatever. To me it's a bit hocuspocus, I believe him that he can "read" people - you get sensitive for possible trouble if you get bullied for years. But about the places, I think it's more superstition. Probably Germany has some sort of "bad energy" to him, that'd explain a few things.  

 

Maybe something against sausages ????? 

Could also explain why he didn't feel like talking about it 

 

BTW it was a nice interview ,thank you Anna for sharing

 

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

2 hours ago, carafon said:

 

Maybe something against sausages ????? 

Could also explain why he didn't feel like talking about it 

 

BTW it was a nice interview ,thank you Anna for sharing

 

 

I don't know, he was joking 

Well, I finished my translation.

It was really an interview so different as to what we used to hear last days.

And Mika's voice so soft and delicate. I think he liked the format as well.

 

Anyway it was possible to post it here thanks to girls from Facebook group. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Anna Ko Kolkowska

[Kumazzz]

RTBF.be updated their page.

 

Dans les Petits papiers de Mika

les-petits-papiers-de-mika

 

Régine Dubois

Publié à 13h12

 

 

En attendant la sortie de son album « My name is Michael Holbrook » prévu début octobre, le chanteur Mika est passé par le studio des Petits papiers. Une interview à laquelle il ne s’attendait pas comme il le confiera lui-même en fin d’émission et qui lui a permis de profiter de l’instant. Retour sur quelques mots abordés ce dimanche.

 

SUPERSTITION

En partant du mot superstition, la conversation s’est naturellement orientée sur l’importance qu’on accorde aux objets et sur l’âme dont ils sont porteurs. Mika évoque cet ami, vendeur aux puces, qui ajuste le prix des choses en fonction de l’importance qu’elles ont à ses yeux, une pratique qui l’a fait réfléchir et penser la propriété autrement : "  J’ai cette idée que tout ce qu’on a ne nous appartient pas. C’est pas que je sois communiste ou extrême dans ma politique mais j’ai vraiment le sentiment que les choses ne nous appartiennent pas (…) Je suis en train de louer cet objet pour en être proche pendant x temps, ensuite ce sera le temps de quelqu’un d’autre. "

 

BARBARA

Si Mika a évoqué son admiration pour la chanteuse Barbara, il nous a aussi parlé de Barbara, l’amie de sa mère qui, lorsqu’il avait une dizaine d’années, l’a emmené écouter le Dalaï Lama dans un stade. Un moment particulier qui a donné lieu a une anecdote plutôt drôle et à un regard plein de reproche de sa voisine de siège… Annie Lennox.

 

COPAINS

Mika a évoqué ses copains de conservatoire, ceux qui ont réussi et les autres pour qui, ça a été plus difficile. De fil en aiguille, il a parlé de sa mère qui a enseigné à ses enfants l’importance de la création " Elle nous a appris à créer très jeunes car, même si on a rien, en créant on peut toujours s’en sortir. Face aux moments difficiles, il faut se servir de ce qu’on a autour de nous (…) On n’avait pas le droit d’acheter quelque chose pour faire un cadeau à ma mère, on devait le fabriquer. "
Une tradition familiale toujours présente puisqu’au moment de l’interview, le chanteur portait un bracelet à message réalisé par sa sœur et une chemise confectionnée à la main par une autre de ses sœurs.

 

GOURMANDISE

Le mot gourmandise a très vite renvoyé Mika à son enfance et à sa grand-mère. " Elle avait toujours des chewing gum et des bonbons dans son sac à main. J’ouvrais pour en respirer l’odeur, c’est ça l’odeur du bonheur ". Mika terminera aussi en parlant de sa gourmandise pour la vie et de l’importance de vivre les choses dans l’instant présent.

 

 

Google translator

Spoiler

 

While waiting for the release of his album "My name is Michael Holbrook" scheduled for early October, the singer Mika has gone through the studio of Les Petits papiers. An interview that he did not expect as he will confide himself at the end of the show and that allowed him to enjoy the moment. Back on a few words discussed this Sunday.

 

SUPERSTITION

Starting from the word superstition, the conversation naturally focused on the importance that is given to objects and the soul they carry. Mika refers to this friend, a flea marketer, who adjusts the price of things according to the importance they have in his eyes, a practice that made him think and think the property differently: "I have this idea that all that we do not belong to us is not that I am communist or extreme in my policy but I really feel that things do not belong to us (...) I am in the process of renting this object for to be close to it for x time, then it will be someone else's time. "

 

BARBARA

While Mika spoke of his admiration for singer Barbara, he also told us about Barbara, her mother's friend who, when he was about ten, took him to listen to the Dalai Lama at a stadium. A particular moment that gave rise to a rather funny anecdote and to a reproachful look from its seat neighbor ... Annie Lennox.

 

FRIENDS

Mika talked about his conservatory buddies, those who succeeded and the others for whom, it was more difficult. He talked about his mother who taught her children the importance of creation "She taught us how to create at a very young age because, even if you have nothing, by creating you can always get by. Faced with difficult times, we must use what we have around us (...) We did not have the right to buy something to make a gift to my mother, we had to make it. "
A family tradition always present since at the time of the interview, the singer wore a message bracelet made by his sister and a shirt made by hand by another of his sisters.

 

TREATS

The word gluttony quickly sent Mika back to his childhood and grandmother. "She always had chewing gum and sweets in her purse, I opened it to smell it, that's the smell of happiness." Mika will also finish by talking about her greed for life and the importance of living things in the moment.

 

 

 

[Marie-christine Suire]

Thank so much 

[Kumazzz]

I guess this photo has taken on a day of interview.

 

 

 

IG story

https://www.instagram.com/stories/cap48_rtbf/

 

 

[Kumazzz]

On 7/8/2019 at 4:03 AM, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

When Mika was 11-12 yo she took him and his mom to a huge arene to listen to Dalai Lama during a conference. The meeting took 3 days. Mika was in a second row in front od Dalai Lama. He fell asleep and all of sudden he wakes up seeing Dalai Lama laughing and pointing his finger on Mika.

Poor Mika became red. He did not know it was a dream or it was happening in real. And for more there was Annie Lennox in a chair next to Mika. She was looking at him too and she wasn't happy.

Mika was joking that it was the first time the whole venue was keeping their eyes on him.

 

I think Mika misunderstood....

 

In 2009, at the Telegraph interview

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/6223882/Mika-interview-for-The-Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much.html

When he was fifteen years old, a friend of Mika’s mother took him to see the Dalai Lama. “She thought I might find it illuminating at this impressionable age,” the pop star recalls, “but I was completely uninterested, except for one thing, Annie Lennox was there, sitting in the third row. And I went up to her and said, ’Annie, hello, my name is Mika. I know this is a holy Buddhist thing but I really want to make it!” She looked at me, almost upset, and then she went, ’Listen boy, if you have to make it, you won’t have a choice. You’ll have that burning.’ Then she turned around and walked away. I thought, ’well, that’s a load of use, it’s the worst piece of advice I’ve ever heard!’ But now I get it. She was right. I don’t have a choice.”

 

 

 

 

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

43 minutes ago, Kumazzz said:

 

I think Mika misunderstood....

 

In 2009, at the Telegraph interview

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/6223882/Mika-interview-for-The-Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much.html

When he was fifteen years old, a friend of Mika’s mother took him to see the Dalai Lama. “She thought I might find it illuminating at this impressionable age,” the pop star recalls, “but I was completely uninterested, except for one thing, Annie Lennox was there, sitting in the third row. And I went up to her and said, ’Annie, hello, my name is Mika. I know this is a holy Buddhist thing but I really want to make it!” She looked at me, almost upset, and then she went, ’Listen boy, if you have to make it, you won’t have a choice. You’ll have that burning.’ Then she turned around and walked away. I thought, ’well, that’s a load of use, it’s the worst piece of advice I’ve ever heard!’ But now I get it. She was right. I don’t have a choice.”

 

 

 

 

Hahaha. Mika has always different versions of the same story. You will never know what happened in real 😁😁😁😁😁

[crazyaboutmika]

I loved that interview