“My heart was beating 100 per hour that day.” Invited this Friday to the set of BFMTV, Candice Parise, who sang yesterday on the sidelines of the parade on July 14, counts backstage at the event, along with Julien, Voisin, head of the Paris fire brigade orchestra.
It all started on February 22, “at 6:22 p.m. precisely,” recalls Candice Parise. “Julien called me to say ‘it’s okay, it’s validated’. My heart was beating at 100 per hour that day. For any artist it’s an incredible thing to live. I still haven’t come down from my little cloud. It was really a magical moment”, returns to get excited Candice Parise.
“I felt extremely proud and honored to have been able to sing The marsellesa. At that time, I was all the women of France”, confesses Candice Parise.
“Enjoy every second”
The singer explains that she tried to “enjoy every second”, without fear of possible false notes. “I told myself ‘you absolutely have to benefit from it, have fun’. (…) I tried not to stress myself too much.”
If she managed to break free from the pressure, Candice Parise realized the scope of her role at a very specific moment. “Where I realized it was when I didn’t sing during the Marseillaise. I said to myself: ‘you are in the Place de la Concorde, with the president, standing in front of you!’ Incredible!”.
This performance is the culmination of several months of preparation and an intense week of rehearsal.
“I had an absolutely crazy week of rehearsals, with impossible schedules”, evokes the young singer who confesses that she is not “used to singing at 6 in the morning”. “This military environment was a great find,” she adds. “Passionate and exciting people, very supportive”, she throughout these rehearsals with the firemen’s orchestra.
“An Original Creation”
The idea was to offer an original musical table, mixing tributes and new composition. “The theme of this finale was not to do covers, but to do original things,” details Julien Voisin. It was he who offered to call Candice Parise when she was contacted for the event.
Candice Parise has been performing with firefighters for 4 years. Since she crossed her path in 2018.
“I had the opportunity to meet First Sergeant Julien Voisin. I have been an ambassador for an association called Audition Solidaire for several years. And one day they offered me to go meet the brigade. [des pompiers de Paris] for a prevention session. Since then, we have been working together for just over 4 years.”
“One thing led to another, we did a performance together, then a second… and we met today at the parade on July 14 for this final animation”, adds Julien Voisin.
Source: BFM TV
