The French metal group Gojira accompanied by the lyrical singer Marina Viotti won her first Grammy Awards this Sunday in Los Angeles, after igniting the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A triumph. The French metal group Gojira won its first Grammy Awards this night in the “Best Metal Performance of the Year” category. He was selected for his striking interpretation of “mea culpa (ah: that will be!)”, Seen for the first time during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics, with a decapitated Marie-Antoinette.
A performance that had bluffed and excited the French public who for some, discovered the group to the international aura. Accompanied by the lyric singer Marina Viotti, and the musician and producer Victor Le Masne, the French group therefore succeeded in Los Angeles by winning its very first Grammy thanks to a painting symbol of the French Revolution.
“If we can stir up people’s curiosity to this style, it’s already won”
“It’s huge. It’s hard to explain, I don’t have too many words to put on it.” It is a “very strong emotion, we expected a little bit, but at the same time we try to remain humble”, indicates Mario Duplatier,The drummer of the French metal group this Monday on France Info. It must be said that with this prestigious performance and reward, the Gojira group Domede the pawn of immense competitors like Metallica and Judas Priest.
On the Californian scene, his brother Joe Duplacetier dedicated this victory to “all the groups that push the limits. Support your local artists, support your local groups,” he said. It was the fourth nomination for the Grammy Awards group, after two in 2017 and one in 2022. “Afterwards, you must never force things, but obviously, metal is a complex style that is very rich and there are many good things in it (…) If we can stir up people’s curiosity to this style, it is already won, “said Mario, this Monday, February 3 at the microphone of France Info.
With their four nominations at the Grammy Awards (including a coronation), they also shared the scene in the United States with the Metallica or Korn icons, following them in particular in the first part during several tours. In France, they obviously hosted the Hellfest Reference Festival but also filled Bercy at Accor Arena in 2023. The album Fortitude Released in 2021 upstream from this record tour had already panicked the sales figures, especially in the United States. In France, Gojira’s choice for the Olympic Opening ceremony was also a strong choice of organization by giving a place to a musical genre little highlighted in this type of event.
A French group with planetary success
Gojira, a Landes group originally founded by two brothers Joseph “Joe” and Mario Duplatier, conquered the world in addition to France. The group is first known with albums like Terra incognito,, The link or From March to Sirius Between 2001 and 2005. He exported to the United States by collaborations with Children of Bodo Behemoth or Machine Head. It starts tours on the other side of the Atlantic until playing with Metallica.
After successful albums like The wild child in 2012 or Magma Four years later, which appear in good place in the Billboard 200, it is their album Fortitude which is the best sold in physical copies in the United States during its first week of sale in 2021. Gojira is the first French group to lead the Billboard Hard Rock Albums ranking.
For her part, Marina Viotti had been appointed lyrical artist of the year to the last victories of classical music, while having a very special appetite for metal. She even has her own group, Soulmaker. Far from the relative classicism of a cover of Edith Piaf as announced everywhere, the show of Gojira and Marina Viotti was one of the beautiful surprises of the opening ceremony of the last Olympic Games, before the coronation of Grammy.