Lopez Blogs

We've now reached the summer of 2000, and another new country for us. The Algarve in Portugal was our destination. Bizarrely, I didn't buy any CDs whilst there. Faithful travelling companion has always been partial to a bit of the old fado, so needless to say he bought a fado CD. Fado, for the uninitiated, is a uniquely Portuguese style of musical melancholy. If you go to the Algarve, then the "Portuguese night" (see your rep for details) is a must: it may be cheesy, and touristy, but it serves as a nice introduction to Portuguese food, fado, and folk dancing. Oh, and there's free flowing wine as well.....

Strangely enough, there were no Portuguese songs on the radio, when they preferred the likes of U2's "Beautiful Day" and Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady". Portuguese radio is extremely fond of rock music - but they are also partial to some classic cheesy Euro-oldies. This holiday probably reawakened some dormant interest which I must have had in 80s Europop, as I was being sent subliminal messages by the likes of "China In Her Eyes" by Modern Talking and "Big In Japan" by Alphaville. And...."Dolce Vita" by Ryan Paris. Perish the thought. If you are old enough to remember this, then cringe along with me. If not, then....well just cringe anyway.

2001, springtime in Paris, and Shaggy singing "It Wasn't Me" - the hit of the holiday. As ever I was watching music videos on M6 and I rather liked "Tout ou Rien" by Gilles Luka. I had mentioned a few posts back that Gilles was making music again, but this was the first time I heard (and saw) him. It's hard to remember now that Eve Angeli was once a credible singer rather than a reinvented reality tv, er, 'star'. In May 2001 she was getting a lot of airplay with "Elle".

Other honourable mentions for this holiday go to Alizee ("Parler Tout Bas") and Gerald de Palmas ("Une Seule Vie"), whilst JJ Goldman soundalike Frederic Lerner also impressed me with "Si Tu M'Entends".

There was no escape from Natasha St Pier's "Je N'ai Que Mon Ame". Whether you were in a supermarket or in the Lido loos (!) this song would follow you everywhere. Nothing against Natasha, but IMHO this wasn't my favourite song of hers and she got better as her career progressed.

Worst thing about Paris 2001: Craig David.