The buzz was building outside the theater where the awards were held

Web posted on:
Monday, March 01, 1999 3:33:10 PM EST

From Marie-Helene Verney
CNN WorldBeat Correspondent

(CNN) -- It's described as the biggest night on the French music calendar. Les Victoires de la musique -- literally, the triumphs of music -- aim to reward French artists for their success in their musical field while raising the profile of the French music industry abroad.

Held in late February in Olympia, France, the star of this year's awards was Alain Bashung. The singer-composer has been a French pop staple for two decades now. He won three awards this year for best male artist, best album, and best video.

But Les Victoires is not just about rewarding established artists.

"You will have some very well-known artists who sell a lot of records and were very popular, but also I feel the aim of the Victoires, it's also to put the light on new talents," says Laurence Le Ny, president of Les Victoires.

Khaled

From light to pop to techno, five very different acts were competing this year for the best newcomer awards. In the end it was Faudel, a 20-year-old of North African origin, who won the prize.

Rai superstar Khaled, who made the Algerian funk style of music popular in France, was delighted.

"I've been working hard for 30 years to try to get people to listen to my music, and the problem here is that people don't care," says Khaled. "And I'm very, very happy, because I have managed to push the door open, and the ones who have managed to get through that door after me are getting nominated. Even better, he got a prize. That's fabulous."

Sofari Moonda's first album was voted best techno record of the year.

The other newcomer to be crowned with a Victoire was Manau, a group that performs "Le Tribu De Dana," a mixture of Celtic music and rap sounds.

And another big hit of the evening was the musical comedy "Notre Dame de Paris," which will be hitting Broadway later this year: It won the prize for best song and best musical production.

di Bango

The evening was a celebration of the diverse sounds and trends that make up French music today. For Manu di Bango, a man who almost single-handedly made Paris a hub of world music back in the early days, that was truly a victory.

"Every country has this type of awards so it's interesting to have all the landscape of music in this coutnry," says Bango. "It's necessary to go from the singer to the rap, to techno stuff, because that's the reality. So this is really Victoires de la Musique."