🖤 💛 ❤️ The French love the Belgians

and welcome to this new podcast. If you don't know me, my name is Lydia and my goal is to help you practice French through culture. Today, we are going to talk about the Belgian. You know, these northern neighbors that the French like to taquine. For a long time, the French have told a little bad jokes about the Belgians. They said they were weird, a little stupid, a kind of relationship. I don't like it either. But time has changed. Today, the Belgian artists make us dream and we love them. Singers, actors, humorists, they are everywhere. So in this episode, we are going to discover which Belgian artists, very famous, have conquered the heart of the French audience. Come on, let's go. We start with a great name of the song. Jacques Brel. He was born in Bruxelles and he was a singer and poet. I am sure you know him. These songs are world-renowned and very emotional. They talk about love, sadness, life, his voice is strong and his style is unique. In France, we still admire him a lot and his song "Ne me quitte pas" is a real legend. You probably know him. Nawal Madani is a comedian, a comedian and also a director. She often talks about her Maghreb origin, about her family and about society. Her energy is contagious and her show "C'est moi la plus belge" has had a lot of success in France. She made a very good series about Netflix, which is called "Jusqu'ici tout va bien" and you can discover her beginnings in the film "C'est tout pour moi" that she has also made. By the way, I proposed on my YouTube channel a pronunciation session from an excerpt of her film. There are also other Belgian actors who are very well known in the middle of French cinema. You may know Benoît Pelvorde. He often plays in comedies but also in serious films. He is funny, a little crazy, sometimes very talented. He got to know each other with the film "C'est arrivé près de chez vous". Autoproduct documentary info made with avocados and fissiles. He plays a egocentric, narcissistic and a little crazy character who earns money by killing people. The originality and the freedom of tone of the film excite everyone. Tarantino even declared after having made Pulp Fiction that he would never have made his film if he had not seen "C'est arrivé près de chez vous". And then there is also Cécile de France who, like her name, does not indicate it is Belgian. She comes from Namur in Wallonia and plays in French and international films. She is elegant, natural and very appreciated by the public. She got to know Cédric Lapliche's film "L'auberge espagnole" which is a trilogy. And I talk about it in one of my videos where I explain an episode of the 10% series in which she played. Virginia Efira started as a TV animator then she became an actress. Today she is one of the most liked actresses in France. She plays in romantic comedies but also in dramas like "Revoir Paris", in which she interprets a victim of the attacks of Bataclan in Paris. For which she received César from the best actress. Her game is still very touching. In the middle of the BD, there is of course RG who created Tintin. But if you don't know him, you absolutely have to discover Philippe Geluc, a Belgian illustrator, especially known for his character Le Chat, who is a big gray cat, a little philosophical, often ironic and always very funny. With his simple but intelligent drawings, Geluc speaks of life, of politics, of news, with a lot of humor. In France, these BDs are very popular. He even exposed giant statues of cats on Champs-Élysées in Paris. A real success, Franco-Belgium. And to return to the song, there is a whole new generation in the name of France. Of course, you know Stromae, the singer of "Alors on Dance", "Papa Houtté" or "Encore formidable". He is very creative and original and his clips are always very artistic. He mixes pop, electro and deep texts. When he was young, he worked as a trainee in a Belgian radio until the day when he listened to one of his songs. But judging not enough to go to the box and not enough sad to be listened, the song was hard to be broadcast. To make it clear, he will learn to put a character in the scene. The great clip in which he is put in the scene in the streets of Bruxelles with hidden cameras will change his life. He will then do great American scenes like Madison Square Garden. And of course, there is Angel. She grew up in an artist's family and her father was very well known in Belgium in the 90s and her mother was a comedian and a humorist. Since her room, Angel discovers social networks and posts of videos in which she sings and has fun. She gets to know the Murphy Law, which she makes herself the clip with string boots. She also made tribute to her Christmas birthday in a song. And her song "Balance ton Quoi" speaks of the rights of women. She also sings with her brother, the rapper Romeo Elvis, and she represents a new generation of Belgian artists engaged and modern. To finish, I wanted to talk to you about Elena, a young artist very promising. She is a singer and musician and is starting to get to know each other in France, especially with her song "Mové garçon". Her style is sweet, modern, a little electro. Her song "Mové garçon cartonne" at the moment, and in this song she tells her toxic relationship with an old companion. She is a very close artist. Here you see Belgium, it is not only the fries, the chocolate or tintin, it is also a great cultural richness with talented artists who shine in France and all over the world. Tell me in the comments if you know some or maybe others that I have not mentioned in this podcast. I tell you very soon in a next podcast.