Sunday May 22, under a bright sun, Salvatore Adamo, Hervé Vilard, Gilbert Montagné, Michel Blanc, Frédéric François and many friends of Annie Cordy met in Brussels. Even Dave, whose state of health had raised fears in January, made the trip from Paris. “I have lost my sense of smell and taste but I can absolutely go on stage and I dream of resuming my shows”, confides the singer of Davina in an impeccable voice. This party, I really wanted to because the last time we met for Annie, it was at her funeral near Cannes in September 2020 and inevitably it was a little sad. »
Although busy with the rereading of his first novel to be published by Fayard, Hervé Vilard also would not have missed this day for anything in the world. “Annie was our Shirley McLaine,” he said. When I started, she and Dalida were my bosses. Annie taught me the demands of the job, she was uncompromising, nothing was a hair’s breadth. She was an exquisite woman, a fairy, who, when she entered a room, transformed the world with the wave of a magic wand. For this great tribute to this immense singer-actress and magazine leader who died at the age of 92 on September 4, 2020, the only thing missing was Sheila.
To start the day, the merry troop led by Michèle Lebon Cooreman, known as “Mimi”, niece of Annie Cordy, inaugurated the Leopold II tunnel now renamed Annie Cordy. During the Covid, the people of Brussels had massively voted by referendum to dedicate the road work to the interpreter of It will go better tomorrow, rather than to the former king, figure of Belgian colonialism. In a nod to the queen of the Music Hall, the ribbon this time was a giant pink boa. “The mayors and elected government officials had prepared a box full of scissors,” says Mimi. We lined up the full width of the pedestrianized tunnel and everyone left with a piece of pink boa. Annie would have loved it. »
Then, to the sound of his songs including Tata Yoyo and Jeanne la Tarzane, the guests and spectators strolled through this tunnel, the longest in Belgium (2.5 kilometers). The opportunity to discover the frescoes of young Brussels women drawn by the artist Charlotte Baudry and lit with pastel lights. In the afternoon, the tribute continued with a big concert in Elisabeth Park. “More than 4,500 spectators were installed on the lawns, relates Mimi. With the perspective of the Koekelberg basilica behind the stage, it was magnificent”. The party started with a video by director Cyrille Gallais, to whom we owe the very sensitive and intimate documentary Annie broadcast at the end of 2020 on France 3. Then each artist chose a song from Annie Cordy’s repertoire. Despite his international tour, Salvatore Adamo had taken the time to adapt Hello the sun is shining from Bridge on the River Kwai by modifying the lyrics and the rhythm.
Belgian comedians Vincent Taloche and Virginie Hocq had chosen Le petit coup de chance, also a way of paying homage to Bourvil, of whom Taloche is a big fan. “We dance and we don’t sing very well but from up there, you will forgive us” launched the duo. David Alexis, the Prince of Musical Comedy (Priscilla Mad in the Desert, Gulliver’s Journey) took over Laughter. “Me, I sang Fleur de Papillon, a childhood song composed in 1950 by Jean Constantin, the one to whom we also owe My feather thing and My manege to me”, says Hervé Vilard. Gilbert Montagné chose La machine à café, a song he had written for Annie Cordy’s latest album. Leaping onto the stage, Dave continued with his legendary humor: “It’s not time for coffee but for Chaud Cacao.”
Giant sombreros on their heads, the merry troupe found themselves on stage for a joyful finale, singing with the standing audience “rikiki your little kiwis, the babas of my baobabs…”. Then all those acrobats stepped back to watch on video, Annie Cordy singing The Artist: “Who said I was sad, Ladies and gentlemen, It was not serious, A little bravo for the artist!” “.
“It was great, a day full of emotions between laughter and tears,” says Mimi. In a few months, they will all return to Brussels. As a tunnel, as symbolic as it is, is not as glamorous as an avenue or a boulevard, it is understood “that a square on the surface with a statue will be inaugurated in a few months in Brussels”, reveals Mimi.
VIDEO – Improvised final backstage
