Eurovision 2023 Preview: 🇫🇷 France

We have officially entered the week in which I head to Liverpool. It’s coming so fast! Today, we head to the land of baguettes, haute couture and the current champions of Junior Eurovision. It’s France!

History

France was one of the seven countries to take part in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. This year marks their 65th appearance in the contest. They have won the contest on five occasions; in 1958 with “Dors mon amour” by André Claveau, in 1960 with “Tom Pillibi” by Jacqueline Boyer, in 1962 with “Un premier amour” by Isabelle Aubret, in 1969 with “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Boccara as part of a four-way tie and finally in 1975 with “L’oiseau et l’enfant” by Marie Myriam. In the 21st century, France has had less success. They have only finished in the top ten five times since 2000, most recently in 2021. At the 2022 contest, Alvan & Ahez finished twenty-fourth with “Fulenn”.

Selection

The French broadcaster, France Télévisions, originally announced that they would use the third edition of Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez! to select their 2023 entrant. However, this was cancelled for an internal selection. La Zarra was selected to represent France in Liverpool.

Artist

Fatima Zahra Hafdi, better known as La Zarra, was born on August 25 1987 in Montreal in Canada to parents of Moroccan descent. During her childhood, she lived between Montreal and Longueil, a city on the other side of the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal, before eventually settling in Montreal. Before becoming a singer, she worked as a hairdresser/

In 2016, La Zarra released her debut single “Printemps blanc” (White spring), a collaboration with the French rapper Niro. In 2021, she increased her fame with the release of “Tu t’en iras” (You will go away). The single received heavy airplay on French radio and was certified platinum. Later that year, she was nominated for Francophone Revelation of the Year at the NRJ Awards. She ended the year with the release of her debut album “Traîtrise” (Treachery).

The song that La Zarra will perform in Liverpool is called “Évidemment” (Obviously). It was written by Ahmed Saghir, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond and La Zarra herself. La Zarra and Ahmed also composed the song.

Song Review

If Édith Piaf had a disco phase, it would sound like La Zarra.

This song serves confidence with a certain chic. Every note that La Zarra sings and every move she makes in the performance has a purpose. It is captivating to watch and listen to. I would usually complain about a song being too polished but this has a certain finesse to it that you know that even if you take the lyrics away, this song is French.

With the Rugby World Cup, Junior Eurovision and the Summer Olympics all happening in France in the next year and a half, France has a lot going on. However, France would like to add Eurovision 2024 to that list. This definitely has the potential to content for the win, or at the very least finish in the top 10.

The One That Got Away

If La Zarra can say yes to Eurovision, then that should open doors for other well-known names in France to take the leap. In that case, I nominate Yseult.

Yseult Onguenet first rose to fame as the runner-up of the tenth season of Nouvelle Star in 2013. After a disappointing debut album, Yseult moved more towards writing and production and even was a model for an ASOS campaign. It wasn’t until the release of her single “Corps” (Body) in 2020 when Yseult achieved musical success again. The song was a commercial and critical success and earned her the “Female Debut of the Year” at the Victoires de la Musique 2021.

Yesult has already dipped into the Eurovision world. She was a songwriter in the 2019 selection and a judge in the 2022 selection (where she famously disagreed with one of her fellow judges). She clearly is curious about the contest, so maybe she should aim for the Eurovision stage itself soon.

Bonne chance à la France!

Is La Zarra obviously going to win or lose? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for another Eurovision preview!

(Sources: eurovision.tv, France Télévisions, YouTube)

Eurovision 2022 Preview: 🇫🇷 France

For our penultimate preview, we hop over the border from where we were yesterday to the land of baguettes, haute couture and the current holders of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It’s France!

History

France was one of the seven countries to take part in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. This year marks their 64th appearance in the contest. They have won the contest on five occasions; in 1958 with “Dors mon amour” by André Claveau, in 1960 with “Tom Pillibi” by Jacqueline Boyer, in 1962 with “Un premier amour” by Isabelle Aubret, in 1969 with “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Boccara as part of a four-way tie and finally in 1975 with “L’oiseau et l’enfant” by Marie Myriam. At the 2021 contest, Barbara Pravi finished second in the final with “Voilà”, giving France their best result since 1991, when Amina lost a tiebreak for first place.

Selection

The French broadcaster, France Télévisions, used the second edition of Eurovision France: C’est vous qui décidez! (Eurovision France: It’s you who decide!) to select their 2022 entry. A total of twelve songs competed against each other over three rounds of voting. In the first round, the public chose six songs to advance to the final. In the second round, the professional in-studio jury chose one of the songs that did not advance from the first round to advance to the final. In the third and final round, the jury (50%) and public voting (50%) chose the winner. After winning both votes in the third round, Alvan & Ahez were awarded the French ticket to Turin.

Artist

Alexis Morvan-Rosius, better known as Alvan, was born on March 17 1993 in Lorient (An Oriant) in Brittany in northwestern France. He started making music in 2011, while he worked in the health industry. Four years later, he quit his job to fully dedicate himself to music.

Alvan released his first single “Dame de cœur” (Woman of heart) in 2016 and continued to release more original singles and remixes. Also in 2016, he won the BPM Contest, a contest for unsigned artists, which earned him a record deal. Since then, he has participated in festivals such Trans Musicales in Lorient and has opened for artists such as Ofenbach and Petit Biscuit. His debut studio album “Magma” will be released on May 13.

Ahez is a vocal group from Carhaix (Karaez) in Brittany and is formed of Marine Lavigne, Sterenn Diridollou and Sterenn Le Guillou. The name of the group comes from Ker Ahez, a popular etymology for the Breton name of their home town, and Ahes, a magician and princess present in several Breton myths.

All three members met while studying at a Diwan high school (a Breton-medium school) where they practised the Breton traditional singing style kan ha diskan. They started performing at festoù-noz (Breton dance festivals) in 2018 and took part in the 2018 edition of the Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient with the band Eben. In the summer of 2021, they met Alvan in a bar in Rennes and began their collaboration.

The song that Alvan & Ahez will perform in Turin is called “Fulenn” (Spark). It was written by Marine Lavigne and composed by Alvan. This will be the first Eurovision entry in Breton since 1996. This year’s contest will also be the first contest in history not to have an entry in French.

Song Review

We had a Slavic forest rave last year, so it’s only right that we have a Celtic forest rave this year.

As a Celtic language speaker, I feel so proud seeing a Celtic language shining, living and thriving on stage. Our languages are not relics of a forgotten time. They are languages of the present and of the future. And now Alvan and Ahez have the chance to show that to more than 200 million people.

When I listen to this song, I want to run away from modern life and join my people deep in a forest and dance until the sunrise. It has a hypnotising beat that seems almost ritualistic at times. The lyrics also take a Breton myth and put a feminist twist to it, which shows that even languages regarded as “backwards” can be brought up to speed with modern times. There is a magic in this song that transcends language and gets everyone raving. France had an experimental period in the 1990’s, drawing on different styles and its regional languages, which gave them mostly good results. Driven by their recent successes in the junior and adult contests, France understand that authenticity to yourself and the image you want to project to the world, not what others want you to project, gets you far in the contest. I predict another strong result for France in the contest. And thank you France for showing that there are more languages in France than just French and that every single one of them deserve to be spoken and to exist.

(Also, Alvan, if you’re free on Friday, hit me up!)

The One That Got Away

Ever wanted to bring your harp to a club? Pauline Chagne has got you covered.

Singer, songwriter, actor, writer… there isn’t a lot that Pauline can’t do. With her song “Nuit Pauline” (The night of Pauline), she brought the audience into an intergalactic disco with 80’s influences and nostalgia. The audience rewarded her with a second place finish. If we get to discover more songs like this during France’s new experimental period, long may it continue!

Bonne chance à la France! Chañs vat da Vro-C’hall!

Will sparks fly for Alvan & Ahez or will they be burnt out? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for another Eurovision preview!

(Sources: eurovision.tv, France Télévisions, YouTube)

Eurovision 2021 Preview: France

From Spain, we hop over the border to the land of baguettes, haute couture and the current Junior Eurovision champions. It’s France!

History

France was one of the seven countries to take part in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. This year marks their 63rd appearance in the contest. They have won the contest on five occasions; in 1958 with “Dors mon amour” by André Claveau, in 1960 with “Tom Pillibi” by Jacqueline Boyer, in 1962 with “Un premier amour” by Isabelle Aubret, in 1969 with “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Boccara as part of a four-way tie and finally in 1975 with “L’oiseau et l’enfant” by Marie Myriam. Amina also tied with Sweden for first place in 1991 with “Le dernier qui a parlé” but lost on a countback tiebreak rule. At the 2019 contest, Bilal Hassani finished sixteenth with “Roi”.

2020

The French broadcaster, France Télévisions, internally selected their 2020 entrant. Tom Leeb was initially selected to represent France in Rotterdam with “Mon Alliée” (The Best In Me)”. The song was revealed to the public with a performance on the Eiffel Tower (no really).

2021

After the cancellation of the 2020 contest, Tom Leeb declined representing France at Eurovision 2021, citing other upcoming projects that year. As such, France Télévisions came up with a new national final format to select the French entrant for Eurovision 2021.

Eurovision France: C’est vous qui décidez! (Eurovision France: It’s you who decide!) saw twelve songs compete against each other over three rounds of voting. In the first round, the public chose six songs to advance to the final. In the second round, the professional in-studio jury chose one of the songs that did not advance from the first round to advance to the final. In the third and final round, the jury (50%) and public voting (50%) chose the winner. After winning both votes in the third round, Barbara Pravi was awarded the French ticket to Rotterdam.

Artist

Barbara Piévic, better known by her stage name Barbara Pravi, was born on April 10 1993 in Paris. She is of Serbian and Iranian descent. Her stage name comes from the Serbian word “prava” (authentic) as a tribute to her Serbian grandfather.

Barbara began her music career in 2014 after meeting Jules Jaconelli. She was signed to Capitol Music France in 2015. In January 2016, she performed “On m’appelle Heidi” (They call me Heidi), the theme song of the French dub of the Swiss-German film Heidi. In November 2016, she was cast as Solange Duhmale in the French stage musical Un été 44 (One summer in 44).

In 2017, Barbara released her first single “Pas grandir” (Don’t grow up). Later that year, she starred in the television film La Sainte famille, which was later broadcast on France 2 in December 2019. From 2017 until 2018, she performed on the 55 Tour, supporting Florent Pagny. At the end of 2018, after releasing her self-titled debut EP, she decided to alter her musical style by adopting a more traditional French chanson style, rather than the pop music of her early releases. In February 2020, she released her second EP “Reviens de l’hiver” (Come back from winter).

Along with writing and composing her own songs, Barbara has written for several other artists including Yannick Noah, Julie Zenatti, Chimène Badi and Jaden Smith. She is also involved in women’s rights organisations, particularly those fighting against violence against women as she is a survivor of domestic violence. She was invited to speak at a TEDx event at Emlyon Business School in Lyon, where she talked about her career and gaining self-confidence.

Prior to being selected for Eurovision, Barbara had been involved in Junior Eurovision. In 2019, she composed “Bim bam toi” for Carla, which finished fifth at Junior Eurovision 2019. Last year, she also composed “J’imagine” for Valentina, which went on to give France their first ever Junior Eurovision victory.

The song that Barbara will perform in Rotterdam is called “Voilà” It was written and composed by Igit, Lili Poe and Barbara herself. Igit previously attempted to represent France at Eurovision 2018 with “Lisboa – Jérusalem” and was involved in composing both “Bim bam toi” and “J’imagine”.

Song Review

This song could not be more French if it tried and it’s not a bad thing at all.

This song is pure chanson. It starts off as a simple ballad but the undercurrent of emotions gradually builds up throughout the song, culminating in the release of the hurricane of anguish and despair during the last chorus. Being French, the song retains a touch of class throughout. Barbara’s performance brings to mind some of the great chanson performers, most notably the most famous chanteuse of them all, Édith Piaf. The last time France were favourites to win, a shaky live performance derailed their chances. We know that Barbara has no problems with performing live. “Voilà” is captivating, artistic and authentically French and with all of those things, I believe it stands a big chance of winning. Et voilà, that’s all I have to say!

The One That Got Away

Eurovision France had a lot of variety packed into twelve songs. We had songs in Tahitian and Corsican but perhaps most surprisingly, we had neon coloured horse/man hybrid playing banging tunes. Pony X performed “Amour fou” (Crazy love) and their performance definitely matched their song title. They ended up third overall. While it was clear that Barbara was always going to win, this was a joy to watch on stage.

Bonne chance à la France!

Is Barbara’s song the chanson for you or not? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for another Eurovision preview!

(Sources: eurovision.tv, France Télévisions, YouTube)

Eurovision 2018 Previews: France

This day next week, we will know who the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is! THE EXCITEMENT!!! But we still have a few things to do before then. Our next preview takes us to the land of baguettes, haute couture and eternal strikes. It’s France!!!

History

France was one of the seven countries to take part in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. This year marks their sixtieth entry in the contest. They have won the contest on five occasions: in 1958 with “Dors mon amour” by André Claveau, in 1960 with “Tom Pillibi” by Jacqueline Boyer, in 1962 with “Un premier amour” by Isabelle Aubret, in 1969 with “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Boccara as part of a four-way tie and finally in 1975 with “L’oiseau et l’enfant” by Marie Myriam. Amina also tied with Sweden for first place in 1991 with “Le dernier qui a parlé” but lost on a countback tiebreak rule. Last year, Alma came twelfth with “Requiem”.

Selection

The French broadcaster, France Télévisions, organised Destination Eurovision to select their entry for Lisbon. This was the first national selection in France since 2014. 18 entries competed over two semi-finals. In each semi-final, a Francophone jury and an international jury chose four acts to advance to the final. In the final, the winner was chosen by an international jury (50%) and public voting (50%). Despite only finishing third in the jury vote, a win in the public vote was enough to award Madame Monsieur the French ticket to Lisbon.

 

 

Artist

Madame Monsieur are a duo made up of married couple Émilie Satt (born 30 November 1984) and Jean-Karl Lucas (born 22 June 1982). The pair met in 2008, and formed Madame Monsieur in 2013, with Émilie taking the role of vocalist, and Jean-Karl the producer. Their debut album Tandem was released in November 2016. They have composed songs for many French artists including Youssoupha and Lissandro Cuxi, who they beat in Destination Eurovision. Their second album Vu d’ici (Seen from here) was released last month.

The song that Madame Monsieur will perform in Lisbon “Mercy” was written and composed by the duo. The inspiration for the song comes a child called Mercy, who was born on a boat carrying Nigerian refugees across the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

 

 

Song Review

I was lucky enough to attend the final of Destination Eurovision and see this song performed live at London Eurovision Party. There was a huge reaction from the crowd on both occasions. It’s not hard to see why. The song is a simple but beautifully constructed piece of electropop. It also carries a very important message of survival and hope, which transcends the language barrier for non-Francophone people. France have been putting a lot of effort into their entries over the last few years and I think this is their best chance at victory in a very long time. I predict a top 10 result for France at the very least. (P.S. If you do win France, have the contest in Toulouse, just saying!)

 

 

 

What Could Have Been

Destination Eurovision was a very strong selection and I had a difficult time choosing an entry to put here. In the end, I chose Emmy Liyana with “OK ou KO” (OK or Knockout). Emmy gave a confident, assured performance while serving attitude. The juries loved her but the public not so much, leaving her in third place overall. This was one of the couple of songs that would have made fine French entrants as well. And of course, who better to back you up on stage than yourself?

 

                           Bonne chance à la France!

Are you loving Madame Monsieur or are you saying “Non merci”? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for another Eurovision preview!

(Sources: eurovision.tv, France Télévisions, YouTube)

Eurovision 2017 Previews: France

Our penultimate preview takes us to the land of baguettes, haute couture and eternal strikes. It’s France!!!

History

France was one of the seven countries to take part in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. This year marks their sixtieth entry in the contest. They have won the contest on five occasions: in 1958 with “Dors mon amour” by André Claveau, in 1960 with “Tom Pillibi” by Jacqueline Boyer, in 1962 with “Un premier amour” by Isabelle Aubret, in 1969 with “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Boccara as part of a four-way tie and finally in 1975 with “L’oiseau et l’enfant” by Marie Myriam. Amina also tied with Sweden for first place in 1991 with “Le dernier qui a parlé” but lost on a countback tiebreak rule. Last year, Amir came sixth with “J’ai cherché”, France’s best result since 2002.

Selection

The French broadcaster, France Télévisions, organised an internal selection to select their entry for this year’s contest. Alma was selected to represent France in Kyiv.

Artist

Alexandra Maquet, more commonly known as Alma, was born on September 27th 1988 in Lyon. She started singing and playing piano at a young age. Apart from her native French, she also speaks English, Portuguese and Italian, due to her constant moving to different places. At the age of 16, she and her family moved to Miami. She moved back to France on her own at the age of 17 to study at the IESEG School of Management in Lille. During her studies, she spent a year in São Paulo, Brazil. After obtaining her Masters in Business Administration and Management, she worked as Assistant Manager in Abercrombie & Fitch in Milan, Italy. Afterwards, she moved to Brussels to start her music career and later to Paris to further it. An encounter with composer and singer Nazim Khaled on the programme Les chansons d’abord (Songs first) led to her eventually getting a record deal in 2015. She released two singles: “La chute est lente” (The fall is slow) and “Ivre” (Drunk). Both of these songs, along with her Eurovision entry, are included on her debut album “Ma peau aime” (My skin loves), which was released yesterday. She has widely been touted as one of the rising stars in the French music scene. Her entry for Kyiv, “Requiem” was written and composed by Nazim Khaled.

Song Review

Amir got France its Eurovision mojo back last year and they are still riding on that high this year! This song is light and breezy yet it packs a punch. Alma’s vocals are enchanting throughout and give the song a distinct French feel but not too French so as to alienate listeners. My only problem with it is the English. The original all-French version was full of charm and sensuality. The English adds nothing to it. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it! Nevertheless, I think France has one of the strongest entries overall this year and I expect to see it high up the score board on next Saturday.

What Could Have Been

Prior to Alma’s selection, there were rumours of Florent Mothe being chosen to represent France. Florent is best known for his roles in the musicals Mozart, l’opéra rock and La Légende du roi Arthur. He was awarded the “Francophone Discovery of the Year” in 2010 for his role of Antonio Salieri in Mozart, l’opéra rock. While his musical career is flourishing, his studio career has not reached the same heights. His latest album Danser sous la pluie (Dancing under the rain) only peaked at number 73 in the French Album Charts. Eurovision could have been used to elevate his studio career, especially with offerings such as Quoi de neuf (What’s up?). Maybe another time then.

                           Bonne chance la France!

Do you in or out of this requiem? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final Eurovision preview for this year!

(Sources: eurovision.tv, France Télévisions, YouTube)

Toulouse Top Five

Ahh France, the country of wine, l’amour, cheese, baguettes and a pretty big tower. France has a lot to offer to visitors, which is no surprise seeing as it is the most visited country on Earth, with 85.7 million foreign visitors in 2013. While most people head to the capital Paris or the pristine beaches of the Côte d’Azur, the rest of the country should not be overlooked! In this post, I will guide you the wonders and secrets of Toulouse, a city I lived in during my Erasmus and somewhere that holds a special place in my heart.

How to Get There

Toulouse (Tolosa in Occitan, a minority language spoken in France,Italy and Spain) is France’s fourth city and is the capital of the Haute-Garonne department and the region of Occitanie. It is located in the southwest of the country on the confluence of the Garonne river and the Canal du Midi, which connects Toulouse to the Mediterranean. Toulouse-Blagnac airport has both domestic and European flights. Aer Lingus fly direct to Toulouse seasonally. A shuttle bus and tram link it the city. If you are already elsewhere in France or Mainland Europe, you can reach Toulouse by train or bus. Gare Matabiau is served by frequent TGV’s (train de grande vitesse, high-speed train) to other cities such as Bordeaux, Marseille, Paris and Carcassonne. Bus routes connect the city not only to the rest of France, but to Spain as well, particularly to the Basque Country and Catalonia.

How to Get Around

Tisséo runs an extensive bus, metro and tram throughout the city. 1-, 2- and 3-day passes (€5.50, €8.50 and €10.50) are available from Tisséo offices in the airport and from the Arenès, Balma-Gramont, Basso-Cambo, Jean-Jaurès and Marengo SNCF (the metro station that serves Gare Matabiau). You must scan tickets upon boarding the bus or tram or before getting on the metro. Tickets can be bought on the bus (for one or two journeys) or in ticket machines at metro and tram stations. Be warned though, ticket machines only accept coins. So unless you have buckets of change, I would suggest buying a travel pass at the airport and taking the tram into town.

Top 5 Places to See

Place du Capitole

The metaphorical and literal heart of Toulouse is the main square, Place du Capitole. It gets its name from the Capitole, the city’s hôtel de ville or municipal administration. Brazen in the centre with a giant Occitan cross, a symbol commonly associated with Toulouse, take a look around you and you will see the distinctive red bricked buildings that give Toulouse its nickname “la ville rose” (the pink city). People often like to take a stroll across the square or sit at one of the cafés which surround the square, watching life go by. But don’t be fooled, this place can get pretty vibrant as well! Flea markets are often held here on the weekends and during the Christmas season, the square is filled with many stalls selling food, drink, clothes, jewellery, musical instruments and much more. Within the Capitole building itself, you can find the Théâtre du Capitole, an opera house and ballet company and the Salle des Illustres, a room which houses works of art from the 19th century. If you head south of the square towards the river Garonne, you can stumble across all kinds of quirky cafés, restaurants and secondhand shops.

Saint-Sernin Basilicia

France has the fourth highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world. One of these sites can be found in Toulouse, the Saint-Sernin Basilicia (Basilique Saint-Sernin), and is listed as one of the World Heritage Sites of the Route of Santiago de Compostela in France in 1998. The construction of basilica began towards the end of 4th century and was completed sometime during the 11th century. The architect Eugène Violette-le-Duc restored the church in 1860. The basilica contains several relics donated King Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire which date from the 8th century, a bell tower, an alcove in which you can find the tombs of the four Counts of Toulouse, a crypt and the Cavaillé-Coll organ, built in 1888 and considered one of the most important organs in all of France. Entry into the main building is free and it costs €2.50 to go into the crypts (€2 each if you come in a group of more than 10 people). Right beside the museum, you can find the Musée Saint-Raymond, a museum with many antiques, especially from the Roman period.

Musée des Augustins

As you probably guessed, France loves preserving its cultural and historical heritage and you are sure to find at least one museum in even the tiniest village. Toulouse’s most famous museum is without a doubt the Musée des Augustins. As the name suggested, the building which houses the museum was formerly an Augustinian convent. It is one of the oldest museums in France, opening for the first time to the public in 1795, shortly after the Louvre in Paris. It contains collections of paintings from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century and Romanesque sculptures, particularly those representing the Occitan culture of southern France. The cloister also contains a reconstructed medieval garden. Entry is €5 (€3 per person for large groups) and entry is free for the permanent collection on the first Sunday of every month (same applies to all museums around the city!)

Cité de l’Espace

Most of the things I have mentioned so far involve fine arts. If that’s not your thing, check out a museum focused on the future, the Cité de l’Espace (Space Town). Take the 16 bus to the very last stop and it’s a short walk from there. The “town” contains several space artefacts, a mini observatory and a space walk simulator. It might not look like much but it’s very easy to spend an entire day here!

Prairie des Filtres

Just along the south bank of the Garonne lies the Prairie des Filtres. This park gets its name from the sunlight that filters through the trees. It is particularly popular during the summer months, when you’ll see many inhabitants of this city having picnics, playing games, walking their dogs and forgetting about their worries. Another toulousain tradition you might see around here is people sitting by the river in the evening and having a few drinks, known as an apératif, or apéro for short. Another popular spot for this are the steps down from Place Saint-Pierre, a place famous for its bars full of university students.

Of course, this list is only a handful of things to do and places to go. There are many more gems to be discover in this place I got to call home for a year. Come see why I fell in love with la ville rose.