It is a little before 6 p.m., this Tuesday, November 26, 2024, in the Brest Arena room, which is emptying. Monopolized by a troop of excited Guilériens, Sophie Michel is almost inaccessible at the foot of the stage. We kiss her, we hug her: this 59-year-old Guilérien has just won the grand final of the Tréteaux chantants, 31st of its kind, by flying over this singing competition open to those over 50. A few hours earlier, she had appeared on stage like an angel, all in white.
A name of the father
Stoic, one arm in front, she sang “Piensa en mi” by Luz Casal, immortalized in Almodovar’s film “Stilettos”. Taken to the summits by the pianist Pat Péron, it was not, however, the Spanish “movida” that she was thinking of at that moment. “My father, Xavier Monéo, was Spanish. He died just twenty years ago, it’s a kind of tribute,” she says before tears well up. “He won the Tréteaux chantants twenty-two years ago. I never sang with him though, I started later, in my shower probably, like everyone else.” Around her, the wave of emotion from those close to her is perceptible like an autumn surf on a beach. Soft and deep.
Dirt of age
The coronation of Sophie Michel is not usurped, heard by philistine ears. It even seems logical, corroborated by an undivided vote of the jury which places this interpretation quite clearly ahead of that of Brestois Arnaud Ferrec (“Louise” by Gérard Berliner) and the former winner of Lesneven Gildas Chapelain (“Et bam” by Mentissa), also the public prize.
He only owes his place on the podium to the benefit of age, having finished tied with the other Brestoise of the day, Marine Dautier, his younger sister. Alas for her! However, she had taken great care, all in black and inhabiting the text with beautiful intensity, to take the opposite view of the choice of her song, “Decevoir”, by Linda Lemay.
Sheila triumphant but…
Grand champion of the competition in the company of all the City's entertainment department, the lively Fortuné Pellicano was delighted. “The level is rising, it’s no longer a radio hook but a singing competition,” he exclaimed. It is true that it seems a long time ago, the time when Piaf and Aznavour had a napkin ring on stage, every other performance. Approximately. By breaking down the sample proposed to the room, full to the hangers, of 4,200 people, the choices of the candidates are sometimes daring, unexpected.
What is less so and which sounds like a reassuring, ritual gentleness by the fireside, remains the voice of Yvon Étienne, “Fanny de Laninon” intoned all together and the star of the day. Sheila, 80 years old or almost, from “Three Kings”, from “Spacer” and a public triumph. “She moves well for her age, I pay to be the same. Too bad it’s playback,” jokes a spectator, joined by a candidate who notes “that she’s nicer on stage than behind the scenes. She didn't even say hello to us! “. At the Singing Trestles, saying something bad, a little, is also part of an immutable decorum.
