A traditional song shortly after his speech… Emmanuel Macron was filmed Monday evening singing in the middle of the street in the company of passers-by, a surprising scene as the French head of state tries to get out of the crisis linked to the pension reform , which dented its popularity.
The video was released by an organization which, according to the daily Liberation, would have links with the extreme right, but the French president did not know the identity of the other singers, according to his entourage.
The scene seems surreal to the point that many Internet users imagine a montage or a “deepfake”.
Monday evening, shortly after his first speech after the promulgation of the highly contested pension reform, Emmanuel Macron sings “Le Refuge”, by Edmond Duplan, a traditional song from the Pyrenees region, in the middle of the street, not far from Montparnasse tower.
“After his speech, the President of the Republic took a moment with his wife. They were stopped by a group of young people singing (…) He then joined them for a Pyrenean song that he likes and knows”, reacted Tuesday the entourage of the head of state, requested by AFP.
“He could not know at that time the background of each person with whom he spoke,” insisted the same source.
A first video showing the scene was posted shortly after midnight on the “Project Canto” Facebook page, the storefront of an eponymous singing organization and app, with the caption: “There’s only the Mafia and Project Canto to blackmail a head of state”.
The association defines itself on its site as a defender of heritage, saving popular songs in digital format.
However, an investigation by the daily Liberation published in 2022 singled out the association, claiming that it had been founded and led by far-right activists, and that the application listed, among other things, nationalist songs or songs associated with the Third Reich. .
“Political singing is part of the history of singing, it is under this heading that it is listed. Some are related to the far right, others to the far left (…) our choice is simply to list all the popular songs”, then replied the association to Liberation.
In another video seeming to show the beginning of the scene, relayed Tuesday by a journalist from Current values, we see the head of state apostrophized. “Do you want to come sing with us?” asks one of the people.
The scene cuts, then we see Emmanuel Macron asking “how do you know that song?”, before someone suggests singing “Le Refuge”.
“Come on, give me a verse from the Refuge”, replies the president, who had already sung it during a trip to the Hautes-Pyrénées in 2022.
04/18/2023 19:18:51 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
