Aya Nakamura is the most listened to French artist in the world. However, according to some, it is not she who should inaugurate the ceremony of the Olympic Games which will take place this year in Paris. Nakamura, of Malian origin but naturalized French, is 28 years old and is the most listened to French-speaking artist on Spotify. In recent days, a few rumors about his possible participation in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games were enough to trigger criticism and racist insults. The small reactionary group called The Natives (The Indigenous people) posted on social networks a photo of a banner hung on the banks of the Seine: “Nothing to do, Aya. Here, we are in Paris, not at the Bamako market.” The singer's response was not long in coming: “We can be racist but not deaf… That's what bothers you! I'm becoming the number one subject 1 of the debates, but what do I owe you? Nothing”.
Solidarity
After the rain of racist insults, there were also those who expressed solidarity with Nakamura. Starting with the organizing committee of the Olympic Games, which neither confirmed nor denied the rumor about the singer's possible participation in the opening ceremony: “We were very shocked by the racist attacks which targeted Aya Nakamura in recent days, and we guarantee our full support. to the most listened to French artist in the world.” On the same line, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Minister of Sports, wrote on social networks: “Dear Aya Nakamura, don't worry about the whole world. We are with you” .
The attack from the far right
Among those who have most criticized Nakamura is Reconquest, the far-right party allied with the Brothers of Italy in the European Parliament. “We want to represent multicultural France, the France which does not sing in French. Because we can like her or not, but this singer doesn't sing in French,” the party's vice-president, Marion Maréchal, tried to explain on television. Akamura has around 12 million listeners per month on Spotify. Figures that make her, by far, the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world. Her French often mixes with popular expressions from Mali and the language of the streets of the suburbs where she grew up, near the airport Charles De Gaulle in Paris.
Cover photo: EPA/Martial Trezzini | Aya Nakamura on stage at the Paléo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland (July 22, 2023)
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