Introduction

• Participant(s): Alvan & Ahez
• Song: Fulenn
  
• Writer(s): Marine Lavigne
• Composer(s): Alexis Morvan Rosius
• Broadcaster: FT
  
• Social media:        
  
• Team review: 

Thrilled by last year’s second place by Barbara Pravi with “Voilá”, the French national final “Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez!” took place with great enthusiasm. This year there were four times more song submissions than last year with 3000 songs. But the quality and uniqueness from Barbara’s “Voilá” will not surpassed this year.

For France will be singing Alvan & Ahez, an interesting music combination of electro and Folk, representing the French region of Brittany with the song “Fulenn”, which means ‘spark’ or ‘beautiful girl’ will be sung in Breton. It’s not the first time France is sending a Breton song, in 1996 the group Dan Ar Braz et l'Héritage des Celtes sang “Diwanit Bugale” and made a 19th place.

Alvan’s real name is Alexis Morvan-Rosius comes from Rennes and is a multi-talented musician, well-known DJ who is specialized on electronic music and has been a supporting act for the house duo Ofenbach. In 2015 he met the three girls of the Ahez (Marine Lavigne, Sterenn Le Guillou and Sterenn Diridollou) to work together, who come from Carhaix. The name of the group is mystical Breton character, who could be both a goddess and a witch. The focus of the vocal group is to showcase the regional heritage, telling modern stories of ancient myths.

This is how Alvan’s music sounds like:

• “Sanzel” 
  
• “Chinatown” 

The song “Fulenn” is about a young woman, who takes the right, to live as she likes. The English lyrics from the Breton would look like this:

I dance with the devil, so what?
Heat and mud, heat, party and mud
The forest vibrates with the dancing spark
Its enchanting magic rises up to the tall trees
Ignoring the wild beasts I dance

The entire arrangement, melody and rhythm is kind of unique and not the typical song from France. In the 1990’s the French ESC songs we equally extraordinary and striking. With a good stage performance this song could do very well in Turin.

History

• Debut: 1956
• Participations: 65
• Victories: 5
• Top 10: 39

France belongs to the founding members of the Eurovision Song Contest from the first year 1956. This year in Turin it’s going to be the 65th time for France!

France has withdrawn in 1974 and 1982. Nevertheless there were five winning songs, seven second places and seven third places, unfortunately the biggest successes can be found in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. In the last 30 years France struggled with good placings, this is due to the increasing amount of participating countries, televoting and sometimes the bad choice for the right entry by the French broadcasters. Since 2016 Amir could achieve a 6th rank in Stockholm with “J’ai Cherché” and the years after a good rank in the middle could be made. And last year in Rotterdam, Barbara Pravi was very close to win, came 2nd with “Voilá” an epic song with a brilliant stage performance.

A Top10 position France could be reached 39 times within six decades, so approximate chance to get a good placement overall is about 60%.

France is famous for its chansons and ballads, but also French pop tunes have been presented lately like “Divine” by Sébastian Tellier (19th rank in 2008) and “Allez Olla Olé” by Jessy Matador (12th rank in 2010) which have been found in the international charts as well.

Even with big names like Patricia Kaas, Natasha St. Pierre or Patrick Fiori have represented France, even if they could not win. In 1977 Marie Myriam convinced the juries with “L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant”, this was the last big victory in Eurovision and super hit all over Europe, and that’s more than 40 years ago! As France belongs to the Big 5 countries, it has a fix place in the Grand Finals like Germany, UK, Spain and Italy.

Biggest successes

• 5x 1st place
  “Dors Mon Amour” | André Claveau (Hilversum 1958) 
  “Tom Pillibi” | Jacqueline Boyer (London 1960) 
  “Un Premier Amour” | Isabelle Aubret (Luxembourg 1962) 
  “Un Jour, Un Enfant” | Frida Boccara (Madrid 1969) 
  “L'oiseau Et L'enfant” | Marie Myriam (London 1977) 
  “Humanahum” | Jean Gabilou (Dublin 1981)

Video Nostalgia

• “Sans Toi” | Martine Clémenceau
  Rank 15, Luxembourg 1973
  
• “Humanahum” | Jean Gabilou
  Rank 3, Dublin 1982
  
• “Mama Corsica” | Patrick Fiori
  Rank 4, Millstreet 1993
  
  

First Rehearsal