#charlesaznavour — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Welcome back, friends! I chose our next spotlight randomly based on the time I opened my laptop this morning, number 907 in The List (submitted by arratoon) for 9:07 a.m. But then I learned that last week it would’ve been the 100th birthday of the artist behind that number, French-Armenian chanteur Charles Aznavour, so, perfect timing.

Even knowing that his career spanned over 70 years, reading the stats about Aznavour’s discography is shocking: 51 studio albums in French plus 41 studio albums in other languages, 23 live albums, and over 200 compilation albums, with more than 1200 songs recorded in total. And, though he’s called “France’s Frank Sinatra”, I’m pretty sure Ol’ Blue Eyes only wrote a couple of songs compared to Aznavour’s 1000+. Like, wow.

And when he wasn’t writing or recording music, the guy also had a Life. In World War II, Aznavour and his family helped hide and rescue Armenians, Jews, and other people persecuted by the Nazis. Aznavour was an activist and diplomat for the Armenian people, including being an official Ambassador of Armenia. He was a civil rights and LGBTQ rights supporter (“Comme ils disent” on his 1972 album Idiote je t’aime… broke the taboo that existed at the time around talking about homosexuality). And he was involved in acting in over 80 films/TV movies, you know, in his free time. In short, Aznavour wasn’t just a pretty voice.

For those of you who dig giant box sets (attn: platenworm!), in honour of Aznavour’s 100th birthday, a 100-CD box set was just released in May, including all his French and non-French studio and live recordings, along with some bonus content. But, if you’re just looking for a place to start, Désormais… is a great way to spend half an hour.

[Alt text for accompanying image: The album cover is a photograph of Aznavour, wearing a cream coloured hat and matching shirt, looking into the camera. The album name is in a font that matches Aznavour’s hat, in the top right corner.]

https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/06/01/charles-aznavour-desormais-1969-france/

#1001OtherAlbums #1960s #Armenian #chanson #CharlesAznavour #France #FrenchPop