#bientôt - DALIDA - A Short Highlight Of An Illustrious Career!

Thanks for letting me know @Zar-Unity :D I am trying to work out who the "V" person could be, I am thinking Veronique Sanson but I don't believe the timeframe of 90s onwards works for her... Maybe @soratami can help us :D

(P.S: I'll keep you in mind if I ever do an Helene Rolles rate considering how you enjoyed her music in PJOPS :-) )

I just checked @soratami French diva's rate and the V named artist was not in there, strange..I thought she was. I remember the song I heard was so gorgeous and she was singing about love while flying a airplane. Maybe someone will know it as I can't find it anywhere now. Oh and, I lied, I'd also very much love to dive further into the amazing France Gall's music discography! Sorry but I don't even remember Helene, maybe you could refresh my mind as to what song I said I liked?
 
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I just checked @soratami French diva's rate and the V named artist was not in there, strange..I thought she was. I remember the song I heard was so gorgeous and she was singing about love while flying a airplane. Maybe someone will know it as I can't find it anywhere now. Oh and, I lied, I'd also very much love to dive further into the amazing France Gall's music discography! Sorry but I don't even remember Helene, maybe you could refresh my mind as to what song I said I liked?
Sure! I always love giving some Spotlight to Helene :D



And also:



Also - France Gall love needs a paging of @Maki! :D
 
I'd also very much love to dive further into the amazing France Gall's music discography!
I can only say that you're in for a treat!
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I'm so flattered by the fact that someone wants to dive into her discography and thank you so much for that! I'm sure you will have plenty of amazing discoveries.

Maybe I should do a spotlight rate for France Gall in the future, but 30 to 40 songs would've been nothing considering what a fantastic discography she has!



For this rate, so far I've listened to about half of the song list @berserkboi, and I have free time these days, so my votes should be sent on time.
 
I can only say that you're in for a treat!
tenor.gif

I'm so flattered by the fact that someone wants to dive into her discography and thank you so much for that! I'm sure you will have plenty of amazing discoveries.

Maybe I should do a spotlight rate for France Gall in the future, but 30 to 40 songs would've been nothing considering what a fantastic discography she has!



For this rate, so far I've listened to about half of the song list @berserkboi, and I have free time these days, so my votes should be sent on time.
Her voice is amazing and so is her music! So many great songs! I'd be all for a France Gall rate!
 
He/Him
With 8 days remaining to vote, let's have

SPOTLIGHT SEPT

As seen (and heard on the playlist) in songs we are rating here like Avec Le Temps, Fini La Comedie or Je Suis Malade, Dalida was an artist who never shied away from sharing many of the most trying and painful aspects of her life in song. Evidently, this means there are a few more tracks that are emotionally heavy that are not part of the tracklist. Let's look at two of those!



First up is an album track that Dalida performed live a fair bit called Une Femme À Quarante Ans (A Woman At 40 Years Old) that showcases Dalida's past and her then current life. Lines like "Au soleil de mes 18 ans; Je voguais sur des bateaux ivres; Et les Rimbaud de mes tourments" are very Dalida when one looks at her romantic life in detail yet are still very relatable considering the eventual growth we experience with each failure. Instead of clamouring to that era however, the continuing lyric (while mentioning a few of the lows of her life) is hopeful and points out the satisfaction and contentment one feels at a later age - where we are generally more settled and appreciative of a simpler life: "Je ne regrette rien vraiment; Autour de moi la mer est calme; Les Rimbaud de mes 18 ant; N'osent pas m'appeler Madame". The beauty of this song for me is around the 'Fuck You' message this gave to her critics at the time. Many interviewers and news articles had very nasty things to say or imply around Dalida's age and how she was a 'has been' by the 1980s and was too old (something Dalida had first experienced as early as in the 60s with some nastier promoters and label executives with the rise of the Yé-Yé genre), so to have Dalida sing about her wiser years was the greatest version of The Best Revenge Is Living Well! We stan a Queen who takes the high road!



The second song is unfortunately a wrench to my heart (and many a fan's if I look at the response on YouTube)! As I mentioned in my opening post when I gave a little overview of Dalida's life, the events that lead Dalida to sing Il Venait D'Avoir Dix Huit Ans were also some of the darkest of her life. A botched abortion when she became pregnant during this relationship left her unable to ever have children. Being from a Catholic background where both abortion is considered a sin, and to bear children an expectation - the guilt and self-loathing that this ordeal would have created can barely be imagined. Lucas, a 1983 song from her Les P'tits Mots album (which houses the amazing Mourir Sur Scène we are rating) details the 'would be' life of Dalida as the mother of a little boy Lucas and the motherly love she would never experience in her lifetime. True to most of her more impactful songs, the heartache comes from the more everyday pleasures she details in lines like "Les grands magasins vont fermer / Il se fait tard il faut rentrer / Donne-moi la main pour traverser, Lucas" Disclaimer: I may once have had a cat named Lucas due to this song.

I will say to many of you, Dalida has a discography that is very much worth exploring in all the 694 songs she has recorded and these beautiful @CorgiCorgiCorgi , @ohnostalgia & @unnameable - esque PJOPS potentials - there will certainly be painful existential relatability for everyone to discover.. PS: Keep sending tracks this beautiful you three!​
 
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We officially have another Bambina Du Pirée in @Ana Raquel finalising her votes for us! Yippeeee!! :D Also, since it is about a week til the voting deadline, expect the spotlights to come a little thick and fast in the next Few days! Without further ado let's get on to

SPOTLIGHT HUIT

In the spirit of covering something very different each time we highlight her career - instead of looking at particular songs, this update takes us to the world of advertising and we are looking at Dalida's endorsements! That's right! Before the era of your Kim Kardashians and Rihannas having product lines - celebrities were advertising products as far back as the 50s on Television! The below video highlights some of the more prominent advertising features our wonderful telegenic lady was involved in (captions are available if you can read French)!



First up from this is an advert Dalida did for the mattress Perma-Flex in Italy that had such strong feedback, it caused a spike and a contract renewal for our star who let's remember initially wanted to make it as an actress and is selling it like gangbusters... The tracks used were some of her great successes of the era Mes Frères, Les Gîtans - tunes!



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BRB - Certified Dalida stans @Sprockrooster and myself are off to spend our Life Savings on mattresses!

One more great discovery for me was this advert that apparently caused a huge spike in Watches sales at a time where our parents weren't yet wearing watches so commonly and stars of the era including Dalida made such items Hot Property - leading to the luxury cultural phenomenon they eventually became!

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The very best one is saved for last however! The BEST advert ever, with Dalida serving D I V A that according to the 'Stars De Pub' video inspired the Linda Evans looks from Dynasty (and lead to Dalida scoring the front cover of a fashion magazine!!) is here:



- @soratami found giving a higher score to one of his favourites!!
- @WowWowWowWow found handing Academy Awards for every category!!
- @iheartpoptarts found sewing Dalida outfits!!
- @əʊæ found changing her score for GiGi to a 10000000!!!

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I am quaking!!
 
Once again, lovely recurrent spotlights @berserkboi, I really appreciate them.
I seems to enjoy Dalida's 'serious' songs the most. "Une Femme À Quarante Ans" and "Lucas" are both beautiful, especially the former.

In addition to that, I would like to start my 'mini spotlights' of the accidental discoveries which occured along the way.
First up, there is a 60's song "Eux" which is actually the first Dalida song I stumbled across while listening to the songs we're rating:

It immediately appealed to me, the melody is lovely and there's a shade of melancholy which is just beautiful.
And just as I'm writing this, I realized that this gorgeous ballad was also sung by Dalida in Spanish:

It's just as effective as the French version, but this one has more of a sensual delivery.

There are still three (and possibly more) discoveries, and I'll post them, too.
 
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@Maki - thanks for the feedback about the SPOTLIGHTS - it is so much fun to still discover so much about Dalida despite being a huge fan for over 25 years! Glad you are enjoying reading them too! :D

Eux is another magnificent song, in a repertoire filled with many gorgeous moments. It's really all about her amazing delivery, isn't it? :)

I am really looking forward to your next SPOTLIGHTS too as I get the feeling you will indeed be showcasing different songs from what I had in mind, which is fantastic! The beauty of her discography is indeed how much our taste changes with time when listening to her songs - and like you nowadays I have a bigger appreciation for her more serious songs and lyrics, despite growing up loving the straight forward Petit Gonzales (which would now struggle not to be my lowest score if it were part of the song-list ddd)

I really look forward to your next one!
 
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Time for

SPOTLIGHT NEUF

We covered Dalida's short term Rock-N-Roll not too long ago, now it's time to cover my favourite 'short term' era out of her whole discography - her Arabic phase! Around the late 70s period, when Dalida was becoming a lot more self-reflective and had proven she could do bops and ballads with equal conviction and aplomb - she returned to her roots and brought the Arabian sounds of her heritage to French music! This resulted of course in the amazing Salma Ya Salama we are rating (credited as the first Raï worldwide hit due to its impressive chart performances across many parts of the world, more on that #bientôt) which was released within her longer Disco period. (paging PJSC appreciators @KamikazeHeart @londonrain @Filippa @Carel @Sprockrooster)

The absolute beauty of this was seeing our Queen showing a bit of control in her Art, and focusing on her exotic heritage so overtly had the potential to alienate many fans - but the gamble was well worth it. You'll also notice the French Charts started progressively supporting more exotic musicians and songs from the 80s onwards - Dalida was a harbinger of sorts. Getting a flair for that sound also saw Dalida adapt a few more traditional Arabic fables and stories in song and the result is glorious! The below link showcases some of the best exotic songs that were on offer from the late 70s til the mid 80s.



Time Stamps:
01. Helwa Ya Baladi
00:00
02. Ahsan Nass 03:36
03. Salma Ya Salama 10:01
04. Lebnan 13:14
05. Aghani, Aghani 17:01
06. Gamil El Soura 24:32

None of these are below a 9.5/10 for me. The only one that seems to have any sort of chart impact is Helwa Ya Baladi with a #20 peak in Turkey in 1979. The song is an homage to Egypt and the lyric reflects the nationalistic pride felt by many Egyptians since the Egyptian Revolution in 1952. Stunning (and an 11 contender if here), here is a video of the track with English translations included.



This amazing era is still highly regarded by Dalida's fans and inspires lots and lots of recent covers if you go on a little YouTube expedition. This section of her Discography also really demonstrates how much Dalida gave us, and how much she still had to give 20 years into her career - longevity well earned!​
 

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