A sister from Olympus French Star Patricia Kaas Sings in Kyiv
Exactly ten years have passed since her triumphant tour of the USSR. With what did this skinny French girl, defenseless and sad-eyed, with her enigmatic smile and teenage manners, who so charmed us then?
Well, of course with her voice, her singing manner, which miraculously combined the French chanson with the rhythm of American blues. But Patricia had something else, which won your heart instantaneously and made you even not idolize, but worship her. Music lovers fascinated by Patricia, did not know the moving details of her life story (a provincial girl, half German, the seventh child in a poor miner’s family) but cannot help feeling some - it has nearly slipped “class” from my tongue, but primarily - spiritual affinity. She was like a forlorn nestling in the pouring rain, a puppy caught in a storm, or a tender child lost in an indifferent metropolis. There was some extraordinary strength in her weakness, some indestructibility of hope, and the faith of an outcast in love. How all this coincided with our state of mind and feelings! However, there was something else. This flexible, delicate creature wonderfully combined spicy sensitivity with tender romanticism, making one want both to possess her and to write her madrigals. She was both out of reach like a star, and close like the girl next door, elite (rumors were widely circulating about the patronage of Gerard Depardieu himself) and gentle, like your own sweetheart, neighbor, or schoolmate.
Thinking of what she was then, one can’t but recall the old parable about a dispute between the Wind and the Sun: they were arguing who would make the traveler take off his cloak. The Wind wildly fell upon the man, but he only muffled himself tighter in the cloak. The Sun caressed the traveler with its shine, and he took off his cloak. Similarly, when Patricia appeared, the chains that had for many years restrained our hearts seemed to break. Older people saw her like a daughter, and the younger like a sweetheart, sister, or friend. “I understood that they love me just for myself,” said Patricia excitedly to the reporters after her tour in the USSR. And added: “The Russian audience has a great heart.” Indeed, it was an inebriation, both for men and women.
Last Thursday, a 32-year old French woman appeared on the stage of Ukraine Palace. She still sings blues, but her smile is much more self-confident. No worse than that of any lonely girl walking along Kreshchatyk on Sunday.
Photo:
The temptation of virtue, Patricia
