Mika in French Press - 2021

[Kumazzz]

14 hours ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

Hmmm. At the beginning they say he was wearing a black t-shirt and a white trousers and on the photos (let's say from Zoom 04/02/2021) he wears a shirt long sleeves in a bright colour. 

 

 

The photographer post to instagram

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CK8a_RLFnvf/

 

fredstucin

 

Il y a un an j’étais à #Athènes avec @lesdigitalistes, on pouvait voyager simplement. J’y étais pourtant encore il y a quelques jours pour boire l’#apéro avec @mikainstagram , certes c’était par #zoom.....quelle drôle d’époque. À lire dans @lemonde une itw émouvante par @schneidervan

 

IG stories

 

 

 

[Kumazzz]

On 2/6/2021 at 5:36 AM, Kumazzz said:

France 5 / Passage des Arts

 

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/p/CK6mJDBq1EQ/

 

passagedesarts

 

Mika
C’est un artiste à la voix hors-norme. Un chanteur né au Liban mais qui est un citoyen du monde.

C’est @mikainstagram, qui est l’invité de @clairechazal_officiel sur le plateau de « Passage des arts » ce vendredi.

« Passage des arts », du lundi au vendredi à 20.20 sur @france5 et en replay sur france•tv

#Mika #MikaInstagram #Chanteur #Concert #Liban #Beyrouth #PassageDesArts #France5

 

mikainstagram stories

YouTube

2021.02.05 #mikainstagram story Mika & Claire Chazal #PassagedesArts #MikaVersailles

 

REPLAY

 

FRANCE-TV

Passage des arts S3 : Émission du vendredi 5 février 2021

• diffusé le ven. 05.02.21 à 20h22
• disponible jusqu'au 07.03.21
• 24 min

https://www.france.tv/france-5/passage-des-arts/passage-des-arts-saison-3/2227029-emission-du-vendredi-5-fevrier-2021.html

 

 

France 5 / Passage des Arts

YouTube

• Mika - Passage des arts (France 5) - 05.02.2021
• Interview de Mika sur son concert à Versailles - Passage des Arts
• #MIKA ( Interview du concert à Versailles

 

 

I need the subtitles... @Subtitling Team

 

Thanks a million @Siri

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Kumazzz
updating

[Paoletta]

  @Kumazzz tout mon  coeur pour Mika.!!!

Edited February 7, 2021 by Paoletta

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

16 hours ago, mellody said:

And/or they both had a bit too much "apero".  

Ha ha ha! This one for sure  But we can't blame Mika for too much apero. We can blame the journalist  Don't drink at work!!!! 

[mellody]

42 minutes ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

Ha ha ha! This one for sure  But we can't blame Mika for too much apero. We can blame the journalist  Don't drink at work!!!! 

 

I think maybe the "first 10 days" was meant to be "first 10 weeks", then it'd all make more sense?

[Serendipity]

Thank you for the translation <3

I think that Mika is sharing with us this interview to let us know about her mother without having to tell us directly... too much pain in his heart, poor sweet boy ... 

[crazyaboutmika]

5 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

 

France 5 / Passage des Arts

 

I need the subtitles... @Subtitling Team

 

Thanks a million @Siri

 

We started working on both French interviews Eriko

[crazyaboutmika]

7 hours ago, dcdeb said:

 

 

Well, obviously, I feel like we ought to do something but I'm not sure what or when. I want to be respectful and give the family space. I'll ask around and will post when we figure out what we ought to do.

Thank you Deb  

[crazyaboutmika]

8 hours ago, silver said:

 

We knew that as The Magic Roundabout   and the thing on the spring we called Zebedee.  Instead of being dubbed or given subtitles, it had an entirely new story written by Eric Thompson which could be pretty surreal at times.  The dog was Dougal and I think the snail was Brian.  The rabbit was Dylan, and there was Mr McHenry the gardener and Ermintrude the cow as well.

 

Sorry -

 

EDIT:  and I entirley forgot Florence (?) the girl

We have the same childhood memories Sometimes pumpkin says Mikado is Pollux, sometimes he says he is the fraggle rock dog..

[miknikel]

8 hours ago, dcdeb said:

 

 

Well, obviously, I feel like we ought to do something but I'm not sure what or when. I want to be respectful and give the family space. I'll ask around and will post when we figure out what we ought to do.

I couldn't agree more, Deb. With respect and simplicity, it will be best

[Kumazzz]

TF 1

https://www.tf1.fr/tmc/la-playlist-des-annees-2000

 

La Playlist des années 2000

Mercredi 27 janvier à 21h15 sur TMC

 

I did not know this program at all, found a video from VK !

Here is a whole of TV show on 27 January 2021.

• VK https://vk.com/video88444335_456239858

The user Martychka Martychka sharing a lot of vids from French TV.

 

Mika performs RELAX in 2007 !

 

YouTube blocked in France.

• MEGA ( watch & download ) https://mega.nz/file/J400WSbY#dD5La7GiyPwCXK1d-Yi5qwz3f18BkSlhdU_NFR3tKrU
• YouTube

[dcdeb]

11 hours ago, carafon said:

 

Thank you

I asked you because if you're in touch with Mika's team you may better know what is the best

 

 

Yes, I understand. And I am in touch with them about this.

[Starlight]

17 hours ago, dcdeb said:

 

 

Well, obviously, I feel like we ought to do something but I'm not sure what or when. I want to be respectful and give the family space. I'll ask around and will post when we figure out what we ought to do.

Yeah I understand that. But I feel the same.

Whatever it will be, I'm in!

[Elena Mastro]

16 hours ago, dcdeb said:

 

Yes, I understand. And I am in touch with them about this.

Thank you so much, Deb.

I feel reassured by your words because you know the best way to proceed. I'm totally in for whatever MFC will decide to do.

 

By the way, reading these interviews and looking at the pictures of him in Athens really broke my heart, his eyes seem to be sad and teary. 

[Kumazzz]

Le Monde

7 Février 2021(No.23665)

• PDF file ( page 40 / 233 KB ) Le_Monde_2021_02_7_fr.downmagaz.com-40.pdf
• JPG file
• 

« On peut danser avec des larmes dans les yeux »

Vanessa Schneider

 

On 2/6/2021 at 6:55 AM, Kumazzz said:

 

Le Monde.fr

Un apéro avec Mika : « On peut danser avec des larmes dans les yeux »

Vanessa Schneider

 

Toutes les semaines « L’Epoque » paie son coup. Depuis Athènes, où il s’est installé auprès de son amoureux, le chanteur évoque le « nouveau chapitre » créatif qu’il veut ouvrir et sa mère, qui l’avait plongé enfant dans la musique et qui vient de mourir.

 

Mika, par Zoom, chez lui à Athènes, le 4 février 2021. FRÉDÉRIC STUCIN/PASCO POUR "LE MONDE"

 

On s’attendait à le voir surgir sur l’écran tel un zébulon, vêtu d’une de ces invraisemblables tenues patchwork acidulées qui ont fait sa marque de fabrique. On imaginait un intérieur pop, entre « L’Ile aux enfants » et Andy Warhol. On le pensait à Miami, où il possède une maison, en Toscane, où il se réfugie une partie de l’année, ou à Paris, puisqu’il vient d’enregistrer un show au château de Versailles, diffusé le 5 février sur France 5. On le trouve à Athènes, dans un immeuble déglingué des années 1970. Il apparaît dans un tee-shirt noir sur pantalon blanc et nous fait visiter avec son portable le studio où il écrit, un capharnaüm où s’entassent cartons à même le sol et piles de livres sur des étagères bon marché.

« C’est horrible ici, c’est tout pourri », s’amuse Mika. Le chanteur tient à nous raconter l’histoire de cet improbable endroit. L’année dernière, la pandémie a donné un coup d’arrêt à sa tournée mondiale. Après l’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande, les dates et les vols s’annulent les uns après les autres, la Chine puis la Corée, le Japon, l’Amérique latine enfin. Il rentre alors à Paris pour se rendre au chevet de sa mère malade, puis décide d’aller se confiner en Grèce, où vit son amoureux. « Les dix premiers jours de ce confinement ont été un désastre total, se souvient-il en avalant une gorgée de Campari. Depuis quinze ans, je voyage tout le temps, et là, on s’est retrouvés d’un coup ensemble 24 heures sur 24. C’était comme si j’envahissais son espace, et lui le mien. » Avant d’en venir aux mains avec son jules, il a sagement décidé de louer l’appartement du dessus pour y poser son bazar, son travail et sa nervosité.

Surprenant et attachant

Autre atout, et non des moindres, de ce refuge : un petit balcon donnant sur le Parthénon. « Il faut toujours avoir une vue, dans la vie », commente-t-il. Une remarque qui nous semble pleine de bon sens, comme nombre des réflexions qu’il partagera ce soir-là, malignes et profondes, loin de l’image de l’histrion au rire électrique que l’on avait entraperçu dans une émission de télévision à large audience. Car, autant être honnête : Mika, le bondissant coach de « The Voice » entre 2014 et 2019, l’excentrique chanteur populaire, ne nous inspirait pas plus que ça. On le redoutait agaçant et ennuyant, on le découvre surprenant et attachant.

 

Son confinement grec de trois mois et demi, il raconte l’avoir mis à profit pour étudier la philosophie et les relations internationales, et pour apprendre l’arabe. Quatre heures de cours par Zoom en plus des devoirs imposés par ses profs à distance, de l’écriture de son sixième album et de la confection de petits plats. « Un soir, alors que je sortais quelque chose du four, j’ai entendu un morceau de musique qui m’a fait pleurer. C’était comme une décompression du cerveau, ça ne m’était pas arrivé depuis longtemps. C’est la première fois de ma vie que je me posais, je suis redevenu quelqu’un qui écoute de la musique et plus seulement un interprète. Cette pandémie m’a paradoxalement reconnecté avec le monde. Plus j’étais enfermé à la maison, plus j’étais curieux de l’extérieur. » Il garde de cette parenthèse un souvenir positif, même s’il a eu son lot d’angoisses. Sa tournée n’est pas amortie, laissant des équipes sur le carreau. Sa mère, atteinte d’un cancer du cerveau, attrape le Covid et se retrouve seule à l’hôpital, entre la vie et la mort. Mika ne peut pas l’avoir au téléphone pendant plusieurs jours, qu’il traverse avec un terrible sentiment d’impuissance. Sa mère provisoirement tirée d’affaire, il recommence à travailler.

 

« Ce concert, c’était une lettre d’amour à ma mère et à la musique qu’elle m’a assignée à faire. C’est la dernière performance qu’elle aura vue. »

 

Mika, de son vrai nom Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, en a vu d’autres. A 38 ans, il a déjà eu cent vies. Né à Beyrouth d’une mère libano-syrienne et d’un père américain, il quitte le Liban à l’âge de 1 an, chassé par la guerre civile. Après un détour par Chypre, la famille atterrit à Paris, dans le XVIe arrondissement. La vie y est agréable, jusqu’à ce que le père, banquier, se retrouve coincé au Koweït pendant la guerre du Golfe. Il reste huit mois à résidence dans l’ambassade américaine et rentre abîmé. Il a perdu son travail, la joie et les rires se font de plus en plus rares, les huissiers, eux, font des incursions de plus en plus fréquentes dans l’appartement familial. Lorsque Mika a 8 ans, ses parents décident de déménager en Angleterre. Là-bas, il est victime de harcèlement scolaire, détesté par des profs qui ne goûtent ni son look original (nœud papillon, chemise à pois, pantalon jaune citron ou rose framboise confectionnés par sa mère couturière) ni ses manières « de fille ». Il devient dyslexique au point de ne plus pouvoir écrire, à peine parler. Il quitte l’école, écœuré.

 

Sa mère ne lui laisse pas le choix : il chante et tâte déjà du piano, il fera de la musique et réussira. « Je devais travailler la musique quatre heures par jour, je pleurais, je détestais ce que ma mère était en train de faire avec moi. Plus tard, j’ai compris le message qu’elle voulait me faire passer : puisque tu t’es senti dévalorisé par le système scolaire, tu vas retrouver confiance en toi en travaillant. » Il intègre le conservatoire, se dote d’une formation classique. A 10 ans, il est déjà chanteur professionnel. Parallèlement, il écrit ses chansons et compose des mélodies pop, fabrique des maquettes artisanales qu’il présente aux maisons de production. Il ne compte plus les portes qu’on lui claque au nez, jusqu’au succès : en 2007, son premier album, Life in Cartoon Motion, s’écoule à 5,5 millions d’exemplaires dans le monde dont 1,4 en France. Il enchaîne les tubes, remplit les stades et aligne les disques (cinq au total).

 
Se réinventer

 

De ce parcours baroque, Mika conserve un appétit de vie protéiforme, une culture foisonnante, une originalité assumée. Il parle couramment anglais, français, italien, espagnol. Il écrit, joue, compose, produit, fait de la télévision, lance une émission de télévision en Italie où il est une vedette, écrit pour le Corriere della Sera. En attendant la reprise des concerts, il essaye de se réinventer : « Je dois ouvrir un nouveau chapitre de ma créativité pour cette deuxième partie de carrière qui m’attend. Si on ne se réinvente pas, quand on est musicien, on est mort. »

 

Pour Versailles, il a conçu un récital piano-voix accompagné d’un orchestre baroque, de grands noms de la musique classique et d’un chœur gospel. « J’ai voulu montrer que je suis le produit du clash entre ces deux univers, classique et pop. » Toute sa famille était là pour l’occasion, ses quatre frères et sœurs, dont la plupart travaillent avec lui, et cette mère qui a tant compté, accompagnée d’une aide-soignante. « Pendant deux heures, elle ne m’a pas quitté des yeux, je me suis dit que je faisais tout ça pour elle. Ce concert, c’était une lettre d’amour à ma mère et à la musique qu’elle m’a assignée à faire. C’est la dernière performance qu’elle aura vue. » Là d’un coup, le verre de Campari disparaît de l’écran, la voix se fait hésitante, le regard semble chercher des points d’appui sur les murs. Il finit par lâcher : « Elle est morte il y a quinze jours. » C’est la première fois qu’il en parle à quelqu’un qu’il ne connaît pas. L’apéro prend soudain une teinte tragique. S’instaure un silence gêné qu’il rompt joliment : « Je vais continuer pour elle. On peut danser avec des larmes dans les yeux. »

 

A drink with Mika: "We can dance with tears in our eyes"
Vanessa schneider

 

Every week "The Epoch" pays its price. From Athens, where he has settled with his lover, the singer talks about the creative "new chapter" he wants to open, and his mother, who had immersed him in music as a child and who has just died.

 

Mika, by Zoom, at his home in Athens, February 4, 2021. FRÉDÉRIC STUCIN / PASCO FOR "THE WORLD"

 

You'd expect him to appear on the screen like a zebulon, wearing one of those incredible tangy patchwork outfits that have made his trademark. We imagined a pop interior, between "Children's Island" and Andy Warhol. We thought so in Miami, where he owns a house, in Tuscany, where he takes refuge part of the year, or in Paris, since he has just recorded a show at the Palace of Versailles, broadcast on February 5 on France. 5. We find him in Athens, in a dilapidated building from the 1970s. He appears in a black T-shirt on white pants and shows us with his cellphone the studio where he writes, a mess where boxes are piled up on the floor, and piles of books on inexpensive shelves.

 

"It's horrible here, it's all rotten," laughs Mika. The singer wants to tell us the story of this unlikely place. Last year, the pandemic brought his world tour to a halt. After Australia and New Zealand, dates and flights cancel one after the other, China then Korea, Japan, and Latin America finally. He then returns to Paris to visit his sick mother's bedside, then decides to confine himself to Greece, where his lover lives.

 

"The first ten days of this confinement were a total disaster," he recalls, taking a sip of Campari. For fifteen years, I've been traveling all the time, and then we suddenly got together 24 hours a day. It was like I was invading his space, and he was invading mine. Before coming to blows with his boyfriend, he wisely decided to rent the apartment upstairs for his mess, his work and his nervousness.

 

Surprising and endearing

 

Another advantage, and not the least, of this refuge: a small balcony overlooking the Parthenon. “You always have to have a view in life,” he comments. A remark that seems to us full of common sense, like many of the reflections he will share that evening, malignant and profound, far from the image of the performer with the electric laughter that we had glimpsed in a television program to a large audience. Because, to be honest: Mika, the leaping coach of "The Voice" between 2014 and 2019, the eccentric popular singer, did not inspire us more than that. We dreaded it being annoying and boring, we discover it surprising and endearing.

His three and a half month Greek confinement, he says he used it to study philosophy and international relations, and to learn Arabic. Four hours of lessons by Zoom in addition to the homework imposed by his remote teachers, the writing of his sixth album and the preparation of small dishes. “One night when I was taking something out of the oven, I heard a piece of music that made me cry. It was like a decompression of the brain, it hadn't happened to me for a long time. This is the first time in my life that I have asked myself, I have become someone who listens to music and no longer just a performer. This pandemic has paradoxically reconnected me with the world. The more I was locked in the house, the more I was curious about the outside. He remembers this parenthesis positively, even though he had his share of anguish. His tour does not pay off, leaving teams behind. His mother, who has brain cancer, catches the Covid and finds herself alone in the hospital, between life and death. Mika cannot speak to her on the phone for several days, which he goes through with a terrible sense of helplessness. With his mother temporarily out of the woods, he returns to work.

 

“This concert was a love letter to my mother and the music she assigned me to do. This is the last performance she will have seen. "

Mika, real name Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, has seen others. At 38, he has already had a hundred lives. Born in Beirut to a Lebanese-Syrian mother and an American father, he left Lebanon at the age of 1, driven out by the civil war. After a detour through Cyprus, the family landed in Paris, in the 16th arrondissement. Life was good there, until the father, a banker, found himself stranded in Kuwait during the Gulf War. He spent eight months in residence in the American embassy and returned damaged. He has lost his job, joy and laughter are increasingly rare, bailiffs are making more and more frequent forays into the family apartment. When Mika is 8 years old, her parents decide to move to England. There, he is the victim of school harassment, hated by teachers who do not taste either his original look (bow tie, polka dot shirt, lemon yellow or raspberry pink pants made by his mother seamstress) or his "girlish" manners. He becomes dyslexic to the point of not being able to write anymore, barely speaking. He leaves school, disgusted.

 

His mother leaves him no choice: he is already singing and playing the piano, he will make music and succeed. “I had to work on music four hours a day, I cried, I hated what my mother was doing with me. Later, I understood the message she wanted to send me: since you felt devalued by the school system, you will regain your self-confidence while working. "He entered the conservatory, received a classical training. At 10, he is already a professional singer. At the same time, he writes his songs and composes pop melodies, makes handcrafted models which he presents to production houses. He no longer counted the doors that were slammed in his face, until success: in 2007, his first album, Life in Cartoon Motion, sold 5.5 million copies worldwide, including 1.4 in France. He connects the tubes, fills the stadiums and aligns the discs (five in total).

 
To reinvent oneself

 

From this baroque journey, Mika retains a protean appetite for life, an abundant culture, an assumed originality. He is fluent in English, French, Italian, Spanish. He writes, plays, composes, produces, makes television, launches a television show in Italy where he is a star, writing for the Corriere della Sera. While waiting for the resumption of concerts, he tries to reinvent himself: "I have to open a new chapter of my creativity for this second part of my career that awaits me. If you don't reinvent yourself, when you're a musician, you're dead. "

 

For Versailles, he designed a piano-voice recital accompanied by a baroque orchestra, big names in classical music and a gospel choir. "I wanted to show that I am the product of the clash between these two universes, classical and pop. His whole family was there for the occasion, his four siblings, most of whom work with him, and this very important mother, along with a caregiver. "For two hours, she never took her eyes off me, I told myself that I was doing all this for her. This concert was a love letter to my mother and the music she assigned me to do. This is the last performance she will have seen. "There all of a sudden, Campari's glass disappears from the screen, the voice falters, the gaze seems to seek points of support on the walls. He finally blurted out: “She died a fortnight ago. "This is the first time he's told someone he doesn't know. The aperitif suddenly takes on a tragic hue. An awkward silence falls, which he breaks nicely: "I'll continue for her." You can dance with tears in your eyes. "

 

 

Thanks a million for posting a whole article @bdamico

 

 

[Kumazzz]

The LIST is updated !

 

If there are any other particular points, please point them out. Thank you.

 

https://www.mikafanclub.com/topic/35188-mika-in-french-press-2021/

 

[krysady]

On 2/6/2021 at 12:40 AM, lormare73 said:

His mum must be passed away around the 20 th of january. The period in which he was silent.

And here they say she died last December: https://showbizz.net/stars/mika-est-en-deuil

[lormare73]

10 minutes ago, krysady said:

And here they say she died last December: https://showbizz.net/stars/mika-est-en-deuil

 

All the Italian newspapers report December too, quoting only the Parisien article. I think nobody read the Le monde article. @dcdeb confirmed that it happened mid january and obviously we trust her, not the tabloids. 😉

[Prisca]

9 hours ago, lormare73 said:

All the Italian newspapers report December too, quoting only the Parisien article. I think nobody read the Le monde article. @dcdeb confirmed that it happened mid january and obviously we trust her, not the tabloids. 😉

I guess many journalists misinterpret the fact that Mika said that his mother passed away shortly after the Versailles concert and think that it happened in December. However, "shortly after" can easily be mid January this year, if you consider the whole life, some weeks after the concert is a really short time. And I agree with you, when Deb says it was mid January, then it was mid January.

 

 

[Paoletta]

On 2/8/2021 at 9:56 PM, Prisca said:

I guess many journalists misinterpret the fact that Mika said that his mother passed away shortly after the Versailles concert and think that it happened in December. However, "shortly after" can easily be mid January this year, if you consider the whole life, some weeks after the concert is a really short time. And I agree with you, when Deb says it was mid January, then it was mid January.

 

 

@Prisca yes totally agree... maybe when he disappear on social i think...

[mellody]

From Mika's stories, interview available from Monday:

 

1 hour ago, Mikasister said:

Another Mika story

 

 

 

[Kumazzz]

Télé 7 Jours

• 20 Mars 2021

• PDF file ( page 1,  6, 10, 11, 12 / 851 KB ) T_l__7_Jours_-_20_Mars_2021_MIKA.pdf

 

Translation by @crazyaboutmika

 

Mika: the great return of the master of magic

 

The colors of Mika:

 The singer Mika asked nine design artists to create artworks to give colors back to Paris  in order to decorate the Morris columns who are nowadays deprived of their posters to advertise shows because of the pandemic. And he also designed one.

Q: Tell us about this beautiful idea, Mika gives back its colors to Paris.

M: For personal reasons I spend Christmas and January month in Paris. After this complicated year, in adverse family situation, when I was in a car in Paris streets, with gloomy weather, going to my parents' apartment, I would see all the posters promoting movies that never came out, exhibitions that didn't take place, theater plays that had been cancelled...So I told myself: What if we reclaim those spaces with artwork precisely?" I wanted to use those free spaces on the Morris columns and the billboards to show drawings and tell stories.... so I asked artists to create artworks. I thought we would get 30 or 40 spaces, but now we got a total of 2500 alternatively. So Paris streets are becoming the biggest ephemeral art gallery in the world! I wanted to give an opportunity of expressing themselves to artists, thanks to their intimate stories, and to give back colors to the town, to the public spaces. And that it would be accessible to everyone.

Q: You also designed a poster. Tell us its story.

M: I wanted to recreate an athmosphere reminiscent of the Belle Epoque with this enchanting fantasy. With references to dance culture and to classical music. So you can see men who are dancing in the middle of a city. It's kind of like a tribal dance to demand spring.

Q: You share your life between Paris, London, Italy, the United States...Where do you feel home?

M: Everywhere I am free to express myself, to create and to love who I want to love.

 

Q: How do you live in the pandemic context?

M: At the beginning it was very confusing, like for everyone. It came as such a shock... Since World War to, we had not had such a suspended moment. The lock-down allowed us to realize all this I think. To reflect about our feelings, about our lives.

 

Q: You also helped others: I love Beirut concert which you organized after the explosion on August 4th 2020 which was a technical achievement and which raised a million euros...

M: It was at the same time crazy and complicated. During the lockdown I saw many artists singing in their house. But I didn't want this because I believe my work is a team work, with dozens of people working to make a show. So I cooked while singing and dancing, while drinking poor wine at my partner's in Athens. When there were the explosions in Beirut, I had the feeling responding with music had to be done, but while telling a story. The economical, political and social situation is problematic in Lebanon. So I wanted to provoke emotion. I organized this concert with artists in seven countries. And each time with dedicated teams because it was impossible to travel. And finally: 250 people got involved! I even surprized myself by doing things I would have never dared to do before like calling the Italian minister of culture to ask to be able to use the colisseum in Rome for Laura Pausini to sing! This cause gave me enough courage and craziness to do it.

 

Q: In between the pandemic, Beirut events and the loss of your mother, 2020 was a difficult year for you. And, still, you have energy, enthousiasm and an unfailing smile. Is it strengh or modesty?

M: Oh...both meet, sometimes. I can metabolize pain as much as joy. Each time life hurts you, when someone leaves you or passes away, a chapter is closed and another one is open. I don't want to be crushed by life, by stress, by sadness. And I know it's easy to be. I want to answer to death  as much as to life with the same ferocity.

Q: What a beautiful symbol, for you, this concert given in Opéra Royal of Versailles...

 

M: I wanted to do something different. It was not an option to do something trivial. We created special arrangements for the audience watching on their TV. And opera for me is a story in itself. I can still see myself when I was eight years old, on the Royal Opera stage in London. It was a revelation! This is when I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was infected with the virus - not the covid one! - that Cocteau called  " the red and gold illness". It never leaved me and there is no vaccine for this particular illness.

 

Q: When you think about this child and of you today, what is your best achievement?

 

M: (After a long silence) That is hard to say, I never do any review and I never think about those things. Maybe the fact that, over this last year, I have been able to answer quickly without being paralyzed by fright or the potential opinion of the others. This year was rich in terms of creativity: Beirut and Versailles concerts, the posters in Paris...my artistic palette has been very broad. And it made me want to explore new terrictories.

 

Q: Do you have other musical projects?

M: Yes, I am making a new album right now.

Q: You also met again with your mates of The Voice for the 10th season shooting which will be on TV after the summer holidays...

M: What a pleasure to listen to Zazie's jokes again and be with her and Florent and Jenifer! And Patrick Fiori whom I didn't know but we matched together right away. The shooting conditions were strange due to the situation, but we did it with candor, with a light heart, each of us with their own perspectives on music.

Q: The Voice in France, XFactor in Italy, Star Académie in Québec...transmission [of knownledge] is important for you?

M: Yes, but the truth is that I'm having fun, and it is better to have fun with people from different horizons. This work can lead to isolation. As for me, I don't want to be alone. And TV is a wonderful creating space, a huge source of artistic inspiration. It's only a matter of not being snob and not being narrow minded...But we'll talk about this again

 

 Mika's happiness

My wish for 2021:
"Drink a beer with my friends in a pub"

 

The first thing I will do when covid is over:
Drink 10 beers with my friends in a pub."

 

The song that gives me hope:
"Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba"

 

An activity that calms you down:
"Since the beginning of the pandemic,  I walk a lot"

 

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Edited March 16, 2021 by Kumazzz
adding the translation

[Starlight]

12 minutes ago, Kumazzz said:

Télé 7 Jours

• 20 Mars 2021

• PDF file ( page 1,10, 11, 12 / 1.4 MB ) T_l_7_Jours_20_Mars_2021..pdf 1.41 MB · 0 downloads

page 1

 

page 10+11

 

page 12

 

 

I wish I could get it somehow.

[crazyaboutmika]

15 hours ago, Starlight said:

I wish I could get it somehow.

Message me your address again. I'll send it to you.

[crazyaboutmika]

I'm translating it into English @Kumazzz