French singer’s criticism of ‘rightwing’ hit song causes political stir – The Guardian

French politicians have interrupted their holidays to wade into a national debate – described in one newspaper headline as “absurd” – after a singer criticised the massively popular 1980s hit Les Lacs du Connemara (Lakes of Connemara).

The political song and dance started when Juliette Armanet, whose last album sold 200,000 copies, was asked by the Belgian pop broadcaster Tipik what three songs would make her leave a party.

Armanet, 39, replied that it was “three times” Les Lacs du Connemara, a 1981 release by Michel Sardou that remains a staple of French village fetes, weddings and student parties.

“It’s a song that deeply disgusts me. It’s the … sectarian side, the music is odious. It’s rightwing, nothing’s good about it,” she said.

More than a week after her remark on 5 August, the shock waves are still reverberating around France, where political news is otherwise quiet.

Éric Ciotti, the head of the centre-right Les Républicans, said: “Michel Sardou is quite simply France; the idol of many generations, a singer with a strong character who admits it. That’s hard to swallow for the self-righteous!”

Gilbert Collard, a former member of the National Rally and now an MEP for Reconquête, the party founded by the far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, said: “Juliette Armanet, the voiceless one, declares her aversion to Sardou’s Lakes of Connemara,” and suggested a word to describe her could be found in the song title, referring to conne (idiot).

The Green party MP Aurélien Taché said he was “totally in tune” with Armanet. “I come from the working classes, as do my parents, and we’ve never liked Sardou. So I’ve had enough of this fable. On the other hand, I really like Juliette Armanet and I love freedom of expression even more,” Taché said.

Les Lacs du Connemara is not even Sardou’s most controversial record. His 1967 hit Les Ricains was interpreted as a tribute to American imperialism, the 1973 release Les Villes de Solitude led to accusations of misogyny, violence against women and sexism, and the 1976 song Je suis pour was seen as an apologia for the death penalty. A year later Sardou was accused of idealising colonialism and racism with Le Temps des Colonies, and in 1984 he released Les Deux Écoles in support of private schools.

In an interview with Paris Match in 2020, Sardou said: “I’m accused of being reactionary because I open my mouth and say what I think. But when they say ‘Sardou is rightwing’, the subtext is often extreme right, and that I have never been.”

He added: “I trapped myself by often writing my lyrics in the first person. People thought I was singing what I was thinking.”

Les Lacs du Connemara, which includes a smattering of Irish family names – Connor, O’Connolly, Flaherty – and references to the Catholic church along with a mention of Oliver Cromwell, vaunts the beauty of a place Sardou had reportedly not visited when the record was released. Legend has it that Sardou and his songwriter Pierre Delanoë wanted a song with a Celtic sound, hence the inclusion of bagpipes, and intended it to be about Scotland until they found a travel brochure about Ireland.

The song runs to just over 6 minutes, during which we learn that Maureen and Sean, both Catholics, get married in Limerick (which is not in Connemara) and have a party with enough to drink for three days and two nights.

The song is popular across generations of French and often played during the graduation ceremony at the elite Paris business school HEC.

In 2019, Le Parisien tried to explain its popularity, concluding: “In short, it’s a must if you’re one of the brave souls at a wedding at the stroke of 4am. And if you just can’t stand it, follow the advice of Michel Sardou himself … the singer explained that he took advantage of the long musical loop at the end of the song to slip away from his concerts. And run off to his hotel while his fans sang their hearts out over the famous lakes of Connemara.”