Their story is like a fairy tale. In 2019, Nicolas and Katell, the parents of Nora and Isaac, posted a short video on Facebook where we see their son playing the trumpet and their daughter singing “Veinte años”a Cuban song that dates from 1935, when she was only nine years old and did not speak Spanish. In a few weeks, the video goes viral in Latin America, and accumulates eight million views. Four years later, we find them at home, in their house in the Quimper district of Kerfeunten, between two rehearsals and homework. On the shelves of the warm living room, there are statuettes, a pair of wooden maracas, a street sign “la calle de Manuela malañaña”… so many souvenirs from their 2023 tour. For more three months, they played in 9 South American countries. And last spring they performed this time in the United States and Australia. However, Nora, who is now in 4th grade in Quimper, keeps her feet on the ground: “I love going to my college, seeing my friends, enjoying the vibe. And I also love, during the holidays for example, going to a place we’ve never been to or going back to Latin America and seeing different atmospheres. I love both and I’m living my best life!”
Acclaimed as stars from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile, Nora and Isaac become “simple” middle school and high school students once again once they return to Quimper. For two years, they followed distance learning courses to be able to tour Latin America. Their father, who accompanies them on guitar on stage, left his job as a postman. And their mother took a sabbatical to accompany her children during their concerts across the Atlantic. At no time did the couple think in terms of “career plan”, “success”. The success of this video, initially intended for family and friends, left them speechless. Today Katell, like the rest of the family, takes this success as an unforgettable family adventure, which will last as long as it lasts. And above all she is very happy that it is far away, she explains with a smile, “that means we can have a bit of a double life! We can both experience this success and go home and live a normal life. We are normal people.“
Both Nora and Isaac dream of continuing to sing and play music, their passions. The young man, in first grade, decided to resume distance learning, to have more time to devote to music. More reserved than his little sister, he confides that opening for Manu Chao is “completely crazy”. With his father Nicolas on guitar and Nora on vocals, they will live one more dream by performing this Saturday, September 28 in Penmarc’h in southern Finistère before this artist whom all three adore. “An artist who, despite success, remained free, notes Nicolas, very generous on stage and who chooses small rooms when he could fill large rooms. As the young people say, sums up the father*, it’s crazy. It’s going to be crazy”,* concludes Nora, before going to rehearse with the family “Clandestino“, one of Manu Chao’s hits, which she hopes to perhaps perform with the singer on the Cap Caval stage.
Delphine Gotchaux
