Canadian songstress Celine Dion performed Edith Piaf’s Hymne a l’Amour as a tribute to Paris at the American Music Awards.
The montage that was played behind her performance honoured the 130 victims of the Paris terror attacks on November 13th.
Many of the audience members were moved by Celine’s emotional tribute.
She was introduced on stage by Jared Leto who’s friend Thomas Ayad, was killed in the massacre. He went on to pay tribute to his dear friend and quoted lines from a viral Facebook post written by French journalist Antoine Leiris who’s wife was also killed in the attacks.
He said:
‘You will not have my hatred,’‘I will not give you the satisfaction of hating you.’
‘You want it, but to respond to hatred with anger would be to give in to the same ignorance that made you what you are.’
He continued by saying that tonight they would honor the victims of ‘unimaginable violence’, not only the ones in paris but those all over the world.
‘France matters,’ he began. ‘Russia matters. Mali matters. Syria matters. The Middle East matters. The United States matters.’‘The entire world matters, and peace is possible.’
He concluded by touching upon the recent Syrian refugee crisis.
He reminded people that many in the country were ‘sons and daughters’ of immigrants – including Steve Jobs and President Obama.
Jared Leto’s band 30 Seconds to Mars had played at the Bataclan just months before the fatal attack.
‘It was beautiful, peaceful and unforgettable,’‘What a difference a day makes. Seven months later on the evening of November 13, 2015 that same venue was under siege. One in a series of terrorist attacks on Paris that changed the world forever.’
Audience members were clearly moved by his words:
American Music Awards producer Larry Klein said he wanted to include a tribute to Paris to reinforce a message of solidarity.
‘Celine’s performance will help us express our feelings through songs, when words do not suffice,’ Klein told Billboard.
The song Celine Dion sung was written by Piaf and titled Hymne a l’Amour.
It was wrote in 1949 for the love of her life boxer Marcel Cerdan, who was killed only months later while flying to New York from Paris to visit her.
It was beautifully delivered and gave me goosebumps from the moment she opened her mouth.
