Aya Nakamura was born in the former French colony of Mali, raised in France, and is widely regarded as the world’s most streamed female Francophone artist.
The 28-year-old Malian and French resident, and a multiple platinum-selling pop star was raised in the Parisian rural areas. It’s just under 100 days to Paris 2024, and Nakamura ends up at the focal point of France’s way of life wars.
Some members of France’s far-right have questioned whether the singer embodies French heritage, values, and identity in light of widespread rumors that she would sing an Edith Piaf song at the Games’ Opening Ceremony. Piaf plays a significant role in the musical and national identities of France.
“There’s no way Aya. This is Paris, not the market in Bamako,” said fringe and extreme far-right group Les Natifs (Natives) on X, formerly known as Twitter, in March, referring to Mali’s capital.
Nakamura has defended herself on Social media, saying on X: ” I’m becoming the most talked-about topic in debates about my state, but what do I really owe you all? Nothing.”
The artist has gotten support from Rachida Dati, France’s Minister of Culture, who stood up with regards to Nakamura, saying “be careful of the pretext of attacking someone out of pure racism.”
According to Paris 2024’s organizing committee they are exceptionally surprised about the comments:
“We were very shocked by the racist attacks against Aya Nakamura in recent days. We offer our full support to the most listened-to French artist in the world.”
Whether Nakamura will perform at the Olympics’ opening ceremony is as yet unverified, with the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee saying they “won’t be confirming or denying” any rumors or reports, to “leave room for surprises” on the day.
Marion Maréchal, a far-right politician who is also a member of the Reconquête party and the niece of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally party, stated on French television stations BMFTV and Europe 1 that Nakamura “does not sing in French,” referring to the mix of Parisian and African-derived slang that frequently appears in her lyrics.
In an interview, the French activist Rokhaya Diallo also stated,
“I think that the people who criticize her actually don’t accept that she embodies France. The slang she uses is used by young people and a lot of young French people use slang.”
Nakamura often uses a mix of verlan and African derived slang from languages such as Bambara, from her birth country Mali, in her music. Her number one hit song “Djadja,” contains the lyric “le monde est tit-pe” – the world is small – with word ‘tit-pe’ inverting the French word ‘petit.’
Verlan, a type of French slang named after the inversion of the French word ‘l’envers’ – meaning backwards – originates from the outskirts of Paris known as ‘la cité’ (the suburbs) that have had large immigrant population.
French President Emanuel Macron claimed that Nakamura “speaks to a good number of our compatriots” and that “these games and ceremonies should reflect us, and she contributes to French culture, to French music” at the Olympic Aquatics Centre’s opening earlier this month.
“I want to defend here these choices and defend the fact that there must be artistic freedom and that politics should not interfere,” added Macron.
In an interview with France Inter, Macron’s political rival Le Pen, known for her right-wing views, claimed that the President was seeking to “outrage” and “humiliate the French people” when asked whether she thinks Nakamura opening the games would be a good symbol.
When asked to further explain why this choice would be a humiliation, Le Pen responded “she does not sing in French, or a foreign language, she sings nonsense.”
Meanwhile, Vincent Martigny, a professor of political science at the University of Nice, stated that while some individuals hold more traditional views that he describes as racist in relation to the country’s colonial past, others hold views that are right to promote minorities and their role in French culture.
However, France’s social and cultural divides have grown in recent years.
Nakamura’s birth country of Mali is one of the many former French colonies. There are millions of French citizens, like Nakamura, who are either themselves immigrants or descendants of immigrants from nations formerly colonized by France.
In this day and age, France winds up entangled in an extremely open discussion over the acknowledgment and acceptance of its migrants as the nation keeps on revenging with its pilgrim history.
Professor Martigny believes that the nationalist party is “stronger than ever” and that nationalists in France are “more nationalist” and more open with their views today than they were in the past.
Activist Diallo also believes that France is struggling to see itself “as it is” and recognize non-White individuals as fully French.
“Despite her successes, despite her undeniable achievements, we still think that it’s not an honor for us to have such a woman represent us,” Diallo said, referring to Nakamura.
As Nakamura was targeted by fringe and extreme far-right groups as well as far-right politicians, in an interview with BMFTV and RMC, Macron said that “the reactions shocked me … there were truly racist reactions.”
However, Martigny says he sees Macron’s condemnation of the attacks as racist as an attempt to balance the scales after the passing of what the professor called a “very restrictive law on immigration” a few months ago.
Football At Paris 2024: A Complete List Of 58 Matches (32 Men’s And 26 Women’s)
In December, Macron passed a questionable bill calling for harder movement that was embraced by the extreme right, and dismissed by a lot of people in his own camp.
Lawmakers, for example, Le Pen hailed the regulation as an “philosophical triumph” while French Health Minister, Aurelien Rousseau surrendered in fight. It included numerous revisions fixing migration regulations, one of which directed children born to foreign parents on French soil would presently not become programmed French residents yet would need to apply for citizenship.
“He needs to make that forgotten in a certain way by showing that he has a sense of balance on these issues,” Martigny states.
By promoting Nakamura, Martigny believes that Macron’s ambitions may have been to “show a very optimistic face for France.”
“[There are] very strong cultural wars in France revolving around pop stars, and the type of pop stars that you can mobilize or the type of artists that you can mobilize when you want to unite the country.”
