ALVAN and AHEZ. With their song “Fulenn”, the Breton group Alvan & Ahez finished in penultimate place at Eurovision 2022.
[Mis à jour le 16 mai 2022 à 14h22] At Eurovision, Brittany won you over… not. A year after the second place offered to France by Barbara Pravi, the group Alvan & Ahez, which represented the country at Eurovision 2022, finished in 24th position out of 25 in the European singing competition, which saw Ukraine and the song Stefania be largely crowned winners of this edition.
With their song in Breton, Fulenn, the French outfit Alvan & Ahez struggled to convince the international jurors as well as the viewers, who only awarded them 17 points in total: 9 points from the international juries and 8 from the public. France therefore ends on the penultimate step of the Eurovision 2022 ranking, ahead of Germany and its 6 points.
It must be said that for days, the bookmakers had been giving Ukraine the big winner of Eurovision 2022 and France had, according to international bettors, less than 1% chance of winning. Relive the performance of French candidates Alvan & Ahez at Eurovision 2022:
It’s with the song Fulennwhich means “spark” and “young girl”, that they carried the French hopes, a year after the second place won by Barbara Pravi and the title There. “Fulenn, it means spark and pretty girl in Breton, with for this last expression a slightly pejorative connotation, as if to say light girl, and we wanted to take this expression on the opposite foot and carry an emancipatory discourse for women. We sing the story of a young girl who goes dancing at nightfall around a bonfire, she takes everyone with her, pushing back the slanderous looks”, explained before the final of the competition to AFP Marine Lavigne, one of the three young women in the group.
It was on Saturday March 5, at the end of the Eurovision France program, that the group Alvan and Ahez had been designated French flag bearer with the song Fulenn. In total, twelve candidates were in the running during this telecrochet, hosted by Laurence Boccolini and broadcast on France 2.
Alvan, Marine, Stereen D. and Stereen form the group Alvan & Ahez, a name borrowed from a figure from Breton mythology. “We met in a bar last summer, explained Alvan to Tele-Leisure. We discussed our respective musical universes. Alvan had already written a piece, and he was considering the possibility of adding Breton voices. We listened, and I hooked directly on what he was proposing. In the process, I called Sterenn Diridollou and Sterenn Le Guillou. We sing together at Breton festivals. We wrote lyrics, and that’s how it was born Fulenn.”
So it is with the song Fulenn that the group Alvan and Ahez had the heavy task of succeeding Barbara Pravi and her second place with the title There in 2021. The title of the Breton song means “spark” and “pretty girl”. “It is made with the heart”, explained Alvan in the columns of TV Mag du Figaro. “She is unclassifiable”, added Sterenn Diridolou, member of the group. And to Setrenn Le Guillou to conclude: “It’s a cauldron in which everyone put a little of what they liked, the influences of Alexis, the values we want to defend, the words, the language, our identity . It’s really a song that looks like us, and we want to take it to the highest level!”
Before the Eurovision Song Contest, each of the competing countries reveals the song with which its candidate will defend its colors. The same goes for France, which unveiled its representative on March 5, 2022. The group Alvan & Ahez therefore posted the clip for its song online. Fulenn on YouTube on May 6, 2022.
In the song Fulenn, the group Alvan & Ahez therefore sings in Breton. The lyrics evoke a young girl, who dances around a bonfire in spite of judgments. “In the darkness of the woods the night sprouts. The stars appear in the restless rustle. A feminine shadow twirls in the light of a torch. Ignoring the wild beasts, I dance. I steal the fire from their full gazes of lust. And changes it into a song to be sung in unison. She dances with the devil, so what?”, sings the Breton group.
But then what did the French think of their representative at Eurovision 2022? While opinions have been mixed since their appointment, both the difference with Barbara Pravi and There in 2021 was great. Like every year, the most watched comments were those of the bookmakers, who bet on the winner of the edition. For this 2022 competition, Ukraine won all the votes during the last week before the final. France and Alvan & Ahez hovered around the tenth position with, according to bettors, a 1% chance of winning Eurovision. The result of Eurovision 2022 will have proven them right.