Julien Clerc kicked off his mega-tour of North America on 20 April playing to a packed concert venue in Denver, Colorado. The French star is now heading off across the States, stopping off in 9 different towns in the U.S. and Canada before performing his grand finale in New York (3, 4 & 6 May). This is, we're sure you'll agree, a remarkable feat for an artist singing in French - even when that artist is as famous as Julien Clerc!

To mark this extraordinary occasion we will be sending one of RFI's special correspondents out to Ottawa on 27 April. Our lucky reporter will get to accompany Julien on the second half of his tour, keeping cyber music fans up to date with concert highlights and writing about the impact Julien makes in North America (a continent where French music is still surrounded by the most folkloric clichés!)

In fact, Monsieur Clerc's tour - which has been organised by the North American network of Alliances françaises (French cultural institutes) in conjunction with the A.F.A.A. (Association Française d'Action Artistique) and supported by Radio France Internationale - will give us the chance to get to the bottom of what American music fans really think about "le French pop"!

Julien Clerc, who recently celebrated 30 years in showbizz, has been off on many an extensive foreign tour in his time. But this American trip is nevertheless a once-in-a lifetime experience for the French star (and Le Petit Journal will be bringing you a special interview on the subject with Julien in a few days' time). The show Julien will be performing in the States is "Entre Nous" a simple, intimate-style 'recital' which proved a huge hit with French audiences when the singer performed it here at the start of this year. And now we're all waiting with bated breath to see how Julien and his two musicians, Jean Schultheis and Hervé Brault, will go down with our American friends! We hope it's a big success, because when they're finished in North America, Julien and co. will be heading off to Asia (12 - 25 May).

So cyber music fans don't forget to check out RFI Musique's Petit Journal over the next few days (coverage starts 27 April), to see how French national hero Julien Clerc is going down with the American public. We'll be talking to the Alliances françaises and the local press as well as Julien and his musicians, keeping you up to date with all the latest from this extraordinary tour!