It's official: Amaury Vassili to represent France!

Amaury Vassili is no stranger to the French music scene. The 21-year-old opera singer has already released two albums in France called Vincero and Cantero with which he sold more than 250000 copies. His latest album will soon be released in South Africa too. Amaury has performed on stage with stars like Natasha St. Pier who represented France in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest.

The song with which Amaury Vassili will represent France in the 2011 Eurovison Song Contest is called Sonniu - sung fully in the Corsican language - which means Dream in English. The premiere of the song will take place at a later date.

Special jury

The decision was taken by a special jury. Among the selection  comittee members were Pierre Sled, Manager of France3 Programs, Marie Claire Mezerette, Manager of the Entertainement Department, plus  Frederick Valencak among others.

 Our choice was  driven by the desire to promote a young talented artist representing the  best of the French music and its diversity. That's why we quickly  agreed an opera singer was the most elegant option. Amaury is an angel  of music with a powerful voice. Without any hesitation, he was  definitely the perfect choice. - Pierre Sled

 

About the song

Daniel  Moyne and Quentin Bachelet (son of the famous French singer, Pierre  Bachelet) composed the song and Jean-Pierre Marcellesi, famous Corsican  singer, wrote the lyrics fully in the Corsican language, which perfectly  fits the opera song. Sonniu is composed like a bolero which goes  crescendo at the end of the song and it  perfectly suits Amaury's amazing voice.



For the third time since its very  first participation in 1956, France will be represented by a song fully  in a regional language.

Bruno Berbéres, Head of  the French Delegation, declared that "following the commercial success  of Sébastien Tellier, Patrica Kaas and Jessy Matador, we have a lot of  expections on the way how Amaury and Sonniu will be welcomed by the  international audience".