Corneille, Aya Nakamura, and Trinix: Avec Classe

Music by artists such as Corneille, Aya Nakamura, and Trinix is not the type of music I listen to very often. “Avec Classe” is a 2024 single. It is modern pop/R&B music with an Afrobeat influence, and it is pleasant for a modern pop song, but the trap beats and lack of sonic and rhythmic variety is not indicative of the music I normally enjoy. However, I decided to search out some music by Aya Nakamura after reading an article about the racist attacks she has been receiving after it was announced she was being considered to perform at the 2024 Olympics in France. Nakamura is from Mali and is a descendent of griots (West African storytellers/poets), although she does identify as a griot. She writes her own lyrics using a French slang known as argot mixed with other languages such as English and Spanish. In short, she is a young French immigrant woman from Africa who represents millions of similar French immigrants. Her family immigrated to France when she was a child, and she became a French citizen in 2021. In her short (7-year) career, she has become the most popular French-speaking female artist in the world today. As far as I can tell, she hasn’t charted in non-French speaking nations, but she has sold millions of records and streamed over a billion songs on both Spotify and YouTube. Simply being popular doesn’t mean you should be treated as a political/social icon, but Nakamura appears to handling the constant attacks she receives from the French far right as well as can be expected. It has not been determined if she will perform an Edith Piaf song at the Olympics, but I hope she does. The world deserves to hear her perform. Fuck fascism.

To learn more about Aya Nakamura, check out her Wikipedia page.

If you don’t know what fascism is, read this Wikipedia article about fascism and neo-fascism, reflect on how you think about the people in your country and the world, and consider whether you may want to change some of your views.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

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