At first glance, we noticed that the public was old and one had to really look hard before finding some heads which are less grey, sprinkled here and there but not at all uncomfortable at this meeting of old friends. With her 200 million records sold and more than 300 gold, platinum, and diamond records, Nana Mouskouri is certainly one of the great international stars of what is called popular music, but this success hasn't spoiled her legendary simplicity and the disarming shyness that the public of the Grand Theatre gave a triumphant welcome to at the apparition of The Voice.

No other voice has this colour, this texture partly attributable to the absence of a second vocal chord. She is unique. She either attacks or captivates but regardless, nobody remains insensitive to it. It is also impossible to confuse her with another, her voice is marked, it is her identity. This night she would sing in English, in Greek, in Italian, in Spanish in German and of course in French. She has always taken it upon herself to meet people in their own language and in their deep roots. This is without a doubt why, in 1965, during her first visit here (Canada) she sang "Un Canadien errant", just like she had done in France with the famous cover of "Temps de cerises" in 1963.

Her soul, Nana Mouskouri never hesitates to bear it each time she sings and, tonight as well, with the hits like "L'enfant au tambour", "Plaisir d'amour" and "L'Amour en heritage" (my favourite song), she makes the room vibrate. The first part is very mellow and we must wait until the second part to discover a Nana Jazz with the covers of the great cinema hits like the famous couplet by Yves Montand," C'est une chanson qui nous ressemble... Toi qui m'aimais, toi qui m'aimait...".

And yes, our worldly Nana stills knows how to surprise us, especially when she lets herself go in jazz or gospel repertoires. But the surprise of the evening came in the second part of the show. A total surprise. So great that I don't know if it is reasonable to reveal it to you now. After all, you weren't there! Do you really deserve to know?! Could you really understand our astonishment when Nana, trembling and moved, introduced us to the young woman with whom she had just finished brilliantly interpreting some great standards of her Greek and American repertoire. The beautiful tall and slim chorist, whose voice reminds us of Nana Mouskouri's, but more balanced and refined, is none other than ...her daughter Helen! We were without lungs and oxygen masks too, but as my neighbour in seat 42 rightly reminded me:"On n'est pas dans un avion" ...(we're not on an airplane).
So singer from mother to daughter, the changing of the guard is underway and she has talent. Helen has followed her famous mother since the beginning of the tour and skims over forty years of career with her with a remarkable presence.

Nevertheless, this show was not "THE SHOW" of the year. The lighting was classic, the voice sometimes uneven and although one cannot say that Nana Mouskouri is exactly the life of the party we don't expect the grand lady of song to move like Sporty Spice. The technical side didn't give us a comfortable listening quality worthy of the star. The music, unfortunately, overpowered the voice . Despite this we must note the good performance of the six musicians, in particular that of Philippe, the man who knows how to do everything, who gave us a much-appreciated voice-saxo duo.

Nana Mouskouri hasn't lost any of her passion, this is what stands out about this evening which was far from being memorable but will nevertheless remain a good moment, one must see Nana Mouskouri at least once in concert to know and understand what a happy singer is.

But that's not all! For the RFI MUSIC website, Pascal Evans met with Nana Mouskouri. Here's the interview:

"Your first visit to Quebec is owed to an American, and not just any American?
Yes, that's right it was 34 years ago already. It was Harry Belafonte who suggested that I participate in a show that he was doing in Montreal in 1965. You weren't even born yet. At that time I was preparing an album of famous American songs with Quincy Jones and the Torrie Zitoe orchestra,"The girl from Greece sings", and this trip to Quebec was a bit unexpected. But when I arrived in Montreal I realised that I was known a little by the Canadians and, after the show with Harry, I was asked to come back and sing alone. I went there two years later with my musicians to do a recital. It was really nice, there was a lot of enthusiasm.

"It's been exactly forty years that you have been singing throughout the world. You have more than 150 albums, more than 200 million albums sold, and more than 300 gold, platinum, and diamond records to your name. What is it that makes you have this same desire to carry on after all of that whereas the stars of today can't take it and their taking time off work is becoming more frequent than ever. Celine (Dion ) is stopping at the end of '99 for two or three years and only after 18 years of work and Nana Mouskouri doesn't seem to want to stop. What is your source of energy?"
"I grew up in a different time. I understand Celine quite well. Life today is much more hectic than before and then there is this competition that pushes today's artists to reach the top at any cost and to produce number one records. But the descent is inevitable. I, in forty years of career, have despite this had the time to have children. I have a son who is 30 like you and a daughter who is 27. I had my kids between tours and recording sessions and they accompanied me all over the world for seven years with a nurse who took care of them during my shows. We spent a lifetime together. It seems that this was a more sensible time whereas today you must impose yourself and obviously make more of an effort to succeed. But success doesn't always necessarily follow. People listen more closely to the songs and now things are replaced very quickly.

"Your repertoire is greatly marked by three important themes: love, tolerance and peace. Growing up in Nazi-occupied Greece, it couldn't have been otherwise?"
"This period inevitably had an extreme influence on me and that is why, since then, I have followed the work of associations for the protection of children and underprivileged people. I lived part of my childhood thinking that the world was full of hate and that there wasn't any love. And I wanted to prove that in my life love and peace exist. Through my songs I searched for love and found it thanks to a public, which comforted me in my search for it. I think that by singing a little bit all over the world, I can satisfy the child that I was and who didn't receive all of the love that she had the right to.

"Peace is once more the theme of your latest album "Concert for Peace" which was recorded in one of the most beautiful places in New York, St John the Divine Cathedral?"
"Concert for Peace" is also the only album that I have made in the United States. I have made albums in Germany, France and England but never there. You know that peace is like love, it's nothing material. You need to look for it and to cultivate it. You must make it evolve and protect it. You must nourish it. I think that today people think so much about economic power, selfish power that they neglect the real things in life. Children arrive very innocent and they are conditioned and raised with false values, they are in the process of losing their roots and that is why I sing about peace. Even if there aren't many of us who do so, it's sufficient because we have still touched some people. But we mustn't stop. One song can often have more of an effect than any promise. When I sang in this magnificent church, I was very inspired to be singing in front of people of different faiths united by music. I was really touched and even the next day I could feel that something was different in the people that I would meet.

"You surprise people by the number of albums you have recorded and sold, by your childlike naivety towards the music business, even after forty years of career. Does it make you laugh to be the subject of perpetual surprise? A rare species in this business?"
I am surprised but in another sense I can understand why one always asks the same questions because I am a very shy girl, I am not very fashion conscious. I don't have much of an effect. I am not very sexy. Yes, I am surprised to receive so much love from my fans. My satisfaction in singing is so great that I share a lot of it with my public. There are a lot of people who are like me in the room and I exist thanks to them. I arrived at a time when Rock came onto the scene and I lived parallel to it at the same time. I think that it brought me a lot. I didn't stay in a corner.

"Is there a voice at the moment that touches you particularly?
You know that there are a lot of good singers, Celine has always sung marvellously. Moreover, I find the work that she has put in to succeed extraordinary, absolutely incredible, especially in a milieu that doesn't let you off lightly. She had to fight very hard. Recently I went to see the show "Notre-Dame de Paris" and there are many wonderful young artists. Daniel Lavoie who I have always adored and the one who interprets Quasimodo, Garou, has a magnificent voice. I personally have learned a lot from the Canadian artists and the world today is more open to what is being produced in your country.

"I have the impression that you have never made concessions about what you would like to sing and on a larger scale who you are and would like to stay? It's rare.
Yes, very rare. For me what I sang and why I sang it was important. You make concessions when you are aiming for something, I never wanted to be a star but it is true that I make my living that way. But from the beginning, what took precedent was to sing and to be honest with myself. I have stayed the way I am and I didn't give in to pressure and to glory because I respect my public too much and I really love what I do.

If you had to summarise your life in your own words or in the words of another, a poet and in Greek, for example, what would you say about your 40 years of songs?
Before I answer that I want to say that singing has enabled me to do a lot of other things as well. For example, to take care of handicapped children. I also work with Unicef and with my seat in the European parliament I try to help young artists. I am passionate about the young and their future. I think that what is important is to have a symbol for oneself to guide us. In my life, I had the chance to know a great Greek poet, Nikos Gatsos who always taught me, without influencing me or imposing his ideas, to look for a certain truth in life. The song which has marked me, and which is in reality one of his poems, one of the first that I interpreted, said this: "Chartino to fengaraki pseftiki i akrooyalia an me pisteues ligalci thassan ola alithina", which means and sums up life perfectly, "The moon may be made of paper, the beach may be imaginary but if we believe it, everything can be reality. You must never give up looking for truth, hope, peace and love all of which we need to live. Everything can exist, all you need to do is believe. It is also a question of honesty, it's the story of my life.

Interview by Pascal Evans (in Quebec)