English, French, Arabic Cover of “Hallelujah” Get French Singer a 4 Chair Turn – The Voice France
You might not know, but the “The Voice” franchises have been operating right over the world and some you might think are newcomers to this Simon Cowell brainchild. Starting in Brittan and then moving to the USA, you probably might have heard of other countries taking it on, as well as the Holland Kids version, which then went to Germany and other countries followed. One which you might not know about is the French one, which in fact has had its first series as early as 2012.
Like we find in all of these series, there are sometimes special performances which are not delivered by the final winners or even finalists, but are so remarkable that their video clips just do not stop receiving views. An instant hit was Mennel Ibtissem’s blind performance of the very well known Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah”. She had a virtual immediate chair turn by one of the judges when she started singing.
One would think that there are so many covers of this song, it is virtually impossible to put a spin on this classic song, which has been revived over and over again, like in the movie Shrek, and even that produced 2 versions. Although Rufus Wainwright’s version appeared in the soundtrack album, it was John Cale’s version that was used in the film.
But knowing the French; they have the cunning to pull a new rabbit out of an old hat. Halfway through the song, the beautiful, bright eyed Mennel, switched the lyrics to French and then Arabic. What was familiar suddenly changed into something exquisite. That, plus her sweet voice, got the other chairs to swing around, to create a full house of turns. The transition between the languages was flawless, as she is of French-Arab decent.
Unfortunately, after the show she made some social media remarks about France’s 2016 terror attacks and Israel, which created such a public backlash, she decided to withdraw from the competition. Luckily her beautiful singing will be remembered much longer than her political remarks.
