French singer target of racism in Olympics row thanks fans at awards
The French pop star Aya Nakamura, who found herself at the centre of a racist row after rumours she was going to sing at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, has thanked fans for their support after winning three big prizes at France’s Les Flammes awards for rap, R&B and pop.
“I’m very honoured because being a black artist and coming from the banlieue is very difficult,” Nakamura said at the ceremony, which she opened with a medley of her songs. She dedicated her awards – female artist of the year, pop album of the year and international star of the year – “to all black women”.
When French media reported in February that Emmanuel Macron, the president, supported the singer performing at the Olympics, many rightwing politicians, including Marine Le Pen and the senate leader, Gérard Larcher, criticised her and her music. A small extremist group calling itself the Natives hung a banner by the River Seine reading: “There’s no way Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market”. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into alleged racist abuse against the singer.
Thursday’s awards ceremony, for non-mainstream music, broadcast live on TV for the first time, was political in tone. The comedian Waly Dia’s opening speech lamented the racist row over Nakamura, who is the most listened to French singer in the world, and criticised the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, for courting the French rap media, saying he was glad she was not present for the awards.
The rapper Médine performed his song Gaza Soccer Beach, dedicating it to the Palestinian people. A screen covering all sides of the stage showed the names and ages of children killed in Gaza in the Israeli bombardments following the Hamas attack. “There is not enough space on the walls for the names of 35,000 victims,” he said.
“Our hearts are Palestinian our hearts are Congolese, our hearts are human,” said Nordine Ganso, the ceremony’s host, referencing conflict across the world.
The British rapper Dave won the duet of the year award for Meridian with the French rapper Tiakola.