Cécile and Kévin form the Andriamad duo.

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Andriamad

  • Eight solo artists, three duets and a trio are in the running for

    Eurovision France, it's up to you!

    , the French selection for Eurovision which will be broadcast on January 30 on France 2.

  • The duo Andriamad, formed by Cécile and Kévin, is in contention with the song

    Alléluia

    .

  • "Our song represents the sharing and the multicultural side of the contest," Kevin advises

    20 Minutes

    .

This year, twelve songs can hope to represent France at Eurovision Song Contest in May.

But there will only be one elected.

They will be decided on the evening of January 30, on France 2, within the framework of

Eurovision France, you decide!

presented by Stéphane Bern and Laurence Boccolini.

Until then,

20 Minutes invites

you to discover every day the artists who, solo, duo or trio, are involved in the competition.

Kick-off this Monday with Andriamad, a duo composed of Kévin, 32 years old and Cécile 27 years old - the name of the group refers to the surname of the latter's grandmother.

The title of their song,

Alléluia

, can cross borders without necessarily going through the translation box.

What is the story of your duo?

Kévin:

Four years ago, I was looking for a singer to form a duo.

A mutual friend put us in touch with Cécile and me.

We saw each other in the studio, to meet and try something together.

I was coming back from Cape Verde and she was getting ready to leave for Seoul (South Korea)…


Cécile:

We had three weeks left before we went our separate ways.

We then kept in touch for six months.

We started to write our texts, to exchange them.

When I got home we started to really talk about music.

Quite quickly, we went on stage, we did our first concert at Bar Gallia in Pantin.

We loved the exchange with the public, we wanted to continue.


Kévin:

Our common point is that our parents listened to world music.

We were rocked by that.

My father was a pianist and my mother a singer.


Cécile:

I grew up in Reunion, so I listened to a lot of Reunionese music, those swaying sounds, with the kayamb, the percussion.

We met on the music, in quotes, "tropical", and we like to mix them with electronics.

How do you think “Hallelujah” would be a good song for Eurovision?

Kévin:

We wrote this song between the first and the second confinement because we missed travel.

In our musical DNA, we talk a lot about other cultures, about tolerance… We really wrote the song for Eurovision, telling ourselves that it was a beautiful message to convey, in line with our universe.

Alleluia

speaks of positive curiosity, of discovering others, of learning about other cultures, of coming back enriched by others.

Hallelujah, for us, is a word that has the strength to bring people together, which is essential in this very complicated time when we are afraid of each other with what is going on.

It also represents the sharing and the multicultural side of the competition.

What will your performance look like in “Eurovision France”?

Are you going to propose a re-orchestration of the song?

Kévin: 

We are in the process of thinking about the scenography.

We would like to stay in the universe of our song with the theme of the gaze, the eye that we draw on the hand.

When it comes to music, when we work in the studio, we are very instinctive when it comes to arrangements and we like to trust the first drafts.

As it worked for the selection, we don't want to alter the title.

Cécile: 

This version works well.

We know that we have to work on the choreography, the lighting, the costumes, but in terms of pure and hard music, we want to upgrade our vocal power and our accuracy, but we are quite happy with the orchestration.

Are you surprised at the reactions to your song, even beyond French borders?

Cécile:

We were quite pleasantly surprised to receive emails or messages on social networks from foreign audiences.

I didn't expect it so much, it's euphoric.

Kévin:

The community of Eurovision fans is very benevolent, very into the game. We receive videos in which people react to our title live, it's quite funny.

If I say "Eurovision", which image or which artist spontaneously comes to mind?

Cécile: 

The one who won two years ago.

Every time I forget his name but I love him.

Netta, there you go.

It is true that before participating in

Eurovision France

, Eurovision was not very familiar to me, I did not really watch the competition.

When I got interested, I came across this artist and I loved her music.

I still listen to it often now.

Kévin:

Me, it's an image: the multicultural side.

It's interesting this idea of ​​an international competition for original songs.

I couldn't quite place Eurovision in terms of quality and, watching the videos, I saw that there are both qualitative and second-degree things.

Apart from your participation in "Eurovision France", what are your projects?

Kévin:

We have already written an EP which is ready to be released.

We want to play on stage as soon as the theaters reopen.

We have a big concert that we want to share with other artists, with a lot of featured songs that we want to play live.

Television

Candidates, jury, votes… What you need to know about the "Eurovision France" selection

Culture

One of these twelve songs will represent France at Eurovision 2021

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