At the age of 8, the singer had fled with her family from Soviet Bulgaria. The images of these Slavs, forced to leave their homes or even their country, revive memories in her. Something to dedicate a record to them.
“When I saw the images of these Ukrainian people under the bombs, fleeing, it was a shock. Inevitably, this revived in me many images and intense feelings from my childhood,” says Sylvie Vartan, 77. With her parents and her brother Eddie, Sylvie Vartan, then 8 years old, fled Bulgaria in 1952 under Soviet occupation.
“This Slavic people and neighbor of Bulgaria speaks to me. We have the same DNA”, continues the one who celebrated her 60-year career last year. Even if the situation was very different because we were not fleeing a war but a brutal dictatorship, I understand the feelings of the Ukrainian people, ”adds the singer.
To support him, Sylvie Vartan has brought together five recordings in a special CD which will be released on May 27 and whose proceeds will be donated to Unicef for the benefit of Ukraine. « La Maritza », « Odessa », « Nicolas », « The Blue of the Black Sea » and « Imagine » by John Lennon: these five emblematic titles, she chose them because they evoke exile, resilience and freedom.
The song « Odessa », performed for the first time in 1998 by the singer, was specially re-recorded on April 12 in Paris, while the port of the Black Sea, founded by a French aristocrat at the dawn of the 19th century, is under the bombs. « It’s a strange mixture of relief to flee horror, fear of the unknown and sadness to leave behind your country, your family, your friends, your home without certainty of return », says the singer again.