Mr. Grégory Lemarchal died 16 years ago at age 24: thanks to his mom, Laurence, for raising awareness about cystic fibrosis

Thank Goodness, music is eternal. So is the memory of Mr. Gregory Lemarchal in the hearts of his faithful fans, not just in France, despite his short artistic career.

If she may, Bambi would like to pause today with all your fans, Mr. Lemarchal, to honour your memory. She will do so by first sharing a moving yet beautiful message by your mom, Ms. Laurence Lemarchal, on Instagram [French content]. Bambi discovered the latter, thanks to Télé-Loisirs (https://bit.ly/44hsn2c). Last but not least, this post will end with your own pure voice.

Thank you, dear Gregory Lemarchal, for having touched the lives of so many people with your beautiful voice and postmortem through your foundation’s work (https://bit.ly/44hsn2c) on cystic fibrosis. For those who are not familiar with this health condition, it is an inherited disorder, which results in severe damage to not just the lungs, but also the digestive system and other bodily systems and organs.

The good news about cystic fibrosis is that, although it is progressive, people living with it can attend school and work too. Through more and more refined screening and daily health care, their quality of life has improved dramatically over the past decades. Many live a longer life than Gregory, into their late 40s, 50s, and maybe even beyond (https://mayocl.in/44djtCH). We can offer people with cystic fibrosis increased hope through better treatments, care, support, and quality of life. This is in line with the essence of the mission of Mr. Lemarchal’s foundation. Long life to it!

A day after her 77th birthday: Isn’t Ms. Ginette Reno incredibly talented?

Today, Bambi does not have anything specific to write about despite reflecting on more than a topic. However, she does not want this day to end without expressing the following thought: Ms. Ginette Reno, we are so lucky to have a GREAT artist like you. Your voice is like a sunshine for Bambi’s heart.Thanks for existing. Happy belated birthday! C’est à votre tour de vous laisser parler d’amour, Madame Reno ❤️!

Made in KZ: Do you like this version of Joe Dassin’s “Et si tu n’exitais pas”?

Bambi discovered this version of the eternal “Et si tu n’existais pas?” song yesterday while listening to a Lebanese-American internet radio. She was intrigued by the voice and made a quick search on Youtube. She would like to share the song with you.

The group is called Made in KZ and this is the translation of its description: “Made in KZ is a symbiosis of world hits, velvet vocals and age-old dombra sound! Our mission is to introduce the Kazakh folklore to the world, to promote the national values ​​and ideology of the Kazakh people! [“гр.Made in KZ – это симбиоз мировых хитов,бархатного вокала и векового звучания домбры! Наша миссия заключается в том,чтобы познакомить мир с казахским фольклором,пропагандировать национальные ценности и идеологию Казахского народа!]”.

Kazakh people are Turkic-speaking people of Central Asia, living mainly in Kazakhstan and the nearby parts of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China (https://bit.ly/40Zx4ed). As per Britannica (https://bit.ly/40Zx4ed), “the Kazakhs emerged in the 15th century from an amalgam of Turkic tribes who entered Transoxiana about the 8th century and of Mongols who entered the area in the 13th century“. Of note, according to Statistics Canada (2021), about 1415 Canadians reported speaking Kazakh, which is a Turkic language (https://bit.ly/3NmRRoC).

Bearing the above in mind, Bambi is lucky because she once randomly met one of these Turkic- fellow citizens in Toronto, Ontario. If her memory is accurate (after about 19-20 years), the encounter was with one of the sweetest salesperson she has ever met. This lady asked Bambi, while closing a transaction, if she was born in Canada. Bambi replied that she actually was born in Beirut, Lebanon and asked: Do you know this place? The lady said no. Then, Bambi said: It is in the the Western part of Asia. Do you know the Middle East? The lady said no. Bambi thought to herself. Maybe her birth country is too tiny. She asked her if she knows Israel or Syria; Lebanon’s famous neighbours. She said no. Well, Bambi replied then: “Lucky you; you do not know neither Israel nor Syria” :). With all due respect to all the world’s beautiful countries including the two latter, Bambi’s joke stemmed from the fact that back then Lebanon was occupied by its two powerful neighbours. Anyhow, that fun interaction stopped there with mutual smiles, thank you, and a good-bye.

You can guess that when Bambi discovered this talented singer and her two musicians, she recalled the incident reported above. If she may, she wants to dedicate this song to this fellow Canadian citizen, to the Made in KZ artists, and through them to all the people with a Kazakh ancestry, including those back home and around the world.

Mr. Samy Khayat: good-bye and thank you for having made Lebanon laugh since 1960, even under the shelling of 1975-1990!

It is hard to imagine you dead, Mr. Samy Khayat. Your memory will SURELY be eternal…

Bambi just read the sad news in L’Orient Le Jour (https://bit.ly/3Av1QRa). What a loss for Lebanon. Ouf. Her heart goes to your wife Nayla (your colleague as well), family, friends, team, and fans, not just in Lebanon, but also abroad, especially in France and in the entire Francophonie.

You were an integral part of our childhood and youth. You were a lighthouse of creativity with much humour and lovely music, which served as an artistic uprising against war and against warlords.

People literally risked their lives under the shelling to go to the theatre for your performances. They/We sang your songs or advertisements on TV. We all laughed to your satiric jokes.

You gave innocent people caught in the middle of fire a therapeutic space where they just laughed at the absurdity and cruelty of a long bloody civil war, which stole years of their lives (when it did not literally steal the latter or their loved ones).

Since 1960, and according to L’Orient Le Jour (https://bit.ly/3Av1QRa), you created and produced over 62 satiric shows in what you called “franbanais” (French and Lebanese-Arabic).

You also wrote and published several books in French.

L‘Orient Le Jour (https://bit.ly/3Av1QR) reminded us of your beautiful words: “Writers express themselves in writing, painters in painting. As far as I am concerned, I express myself in laughing” [ “Les écrivains s’expriment en écrivant, les peintres en peignant. Quant à moi, je m’exprime en riant“].

You were highly educated: law, political science, modern languages and linguistics (Université Saint-Joseph et École des lettres de Beyrouth).

Not only you cared for arts and people. You also cared for animals, presiding the Lebanese Society for the Protection of Animals (https://bit.ly/3Av1Q).

Of note, in 2020, you received the prestigious Medal of the French Order of Arts and Letters, at the rank of officer. Wow. You made your Lebanon so proud!

To conclude this post, Bambi cannot recall when precisely she listened to your last interview on her favourite Lebanese-American internet radio while working. It seems to her that this took place only a few months or maybe even weeks ago. You made her smile and laugh several times up until the last minute of the interview. Thank you for those fun yet inspiring moments.

For the readers who may be interested in remembering or discovering you, Bambi found a YouTube brief English Al-Monitor documentary (2019) about your career, along with a great interview with you. It is entittled “Samy Khayat: Lebanon’s Culture Comic“. It is filled with wisdom as well as humour.

May you rest in peace… May your memory be eternal, DEAR Mr. Samy Khayat ❤️.

Today is Doudou’s birthday!

Among the millions of people celebrating their birthdays today around the world, there is a unique and a dear individual. His name is Doudou.

For the readers who have never heard of Doudou before, he is Bambi’s “brother” who happens to be her bother-in-law. OK, this sounds complex and WEIRD, but it simply means that this guy has been a gift of a brother for Bambi since she was 9 years old :).

Now that the introductions have been made, and with much love, Bambi will offer Doudou two melodies today: his first one is a personalized Happy Birthday song, which she was happily surprised to find on Youtube. As for his second melody, it is Mr. Michel Fugain’s “Chante” [Sing for Life] song. Bravo to the talented kids performing it and shouting: “Sing for life. Sing as if you are going to die tomorrow. Yes, as if nothing matters. Sing, yes, sing and love life. Love like a thug, like an insane, like a dog, like it’s your last chance. So sing, yes sing”.

Happy Birthday, dearest Doudou ❤️ !

Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté: “Biden-Trump: The old men’s rematch?” [Biden-Trump: le match revanche des vieillards?]

What a clever article by Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté, published yesterday, in the Journal de Montréal (https://shorturl.at/lM089). Bambi will translate it for you, thanks to the assistance of her faithful internet companion, Mr. Google Translate.

Joe Biden has just announced it: he will be a candidate for re-election in 2024.

It was predictable: a man who occupies the most important political office on the planet and who has a good chance of being able to occupy it for another four years will be tempted to keep it. Power attracts men of power, who seek, after having conquered it, to keep it.

But there is a catch: it seems pretty obvious to the world that Joe Biden is a damaged man, who has lost his mind.

UNITED STATES

I’m not saying he’s not lucid “most of the time.” I am saying that we have been able to understand over the years that the man had enough moments of mental absence for us to wonder if he is really fit to occupy this political office, the most important in the world, I repeat.

Especially since he will oppose Donald Trump who is not what one could call the most balanced man in his country. Since his defeat in 2020, he has presented himself as a president in internal exile, waiting for the opportunity to take his revenge, as if he had been the victim of a universal conspiracy.

Certainly, he has ten times the vitality of Joe Biden. But who sees him today seriously taking over the leadership of his country?

There is something sad about this Brezhnev-style duel of old men, something very disturbing, even.

On the one hand, Biden is just an illusion. Its function is to embody an old-fashioned, centrist, pragmatic Democratic Party. This illusion is necessary to win over “ordinary” voters.

But in reality, the American Democratic Party has been completely wokized. The ideological base of the Democratic Party is no longer the gruff trade unionist attached to the living conditions of working people, it is the fanatical blue-haired student who wants to tear down statues, censor books and who is driven by a profound aversion for Western civilization.

On the other side, Trump has retreated to a very narrow base, which now inhabits a parallel world. He hysterizes the political life of his country by adopting the ways of a thug. Its ideological software is uncertain and seems to revolve exclusively around a personality cult so caricatural that it becomes absurd.

This says a lot about a country that is immersed without saying so in a new dynamic of secession, well represented by the conflict between California and Florida, the two states presenting themselves as contrasting laboratories of what should become America tomorrow.

Secession

This internal division finds an echo in the global role of Americans, which is more contested than ever. They who thought they were the superpower of the coming century find themselves drawn into a clash of civilizations that they cannot name other than by recycling old concepts from the Cold War. And in which they engage by mobilizing worn political leaders, the first looking like a mummy, the second, a lunatic, both senile leaders who represent the decadence of their country”.

With the utmost respect, along with love: Bambi remembers the Armenian genocide of 1915-16

The three songs featured in this post consist of: (1) “Amazing Grace”. What a beautiful English prayer performed by Mr. Andrea Bocelli during the pandemic; (2) “Nehna Hoon Men Iche” [We live here] a heartfelt tribute to the Armenian heritage of Lebanese people in both Lebanese-Arabic and Armenian. Thank you and bravo, Mr. Ghassan Rahbani; and (3) “Pour toi Arménie”, a famous song to Armenia composed by Aznavour, Garvarentz, and Yaman following the 1988 earthquake. Bravo to Ms. Hélène Ségara and to the kids singing with her.

May the memory of the estimated 1.5 million Armenians (along with other Ottoman genocides, including 950 000 Greeks and 750 000 Assyrians) all be eternal (https://bit.ly/3V2eXTd) ?.

“Never again” is Bambi’s prayer for humanity not just today, but every single day.

Ms. Naz Dej: Bambi fell in love with your “Tuttur Dur” song!

Luckily there is music to cheer us up or to help freeze and eventually heal our hearts!

Bambi discovered a singer, Ms. Nas Dej, and her Turkish (love?) song on a Lebanese-American internet radio station earlier this week. She does not want the latter to end without sharing this melody with you. She hopes that you will enjoy it too :). The two YouTube videos below feature the same song. The second video includes an English translation, if anyone is interested.

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Dr. Hassan Diab: why hasn’t Canada already said NO to France’s second extradition request?

Bambi has an earlier post on Dr. Hassan Diab’s saga, shown further below. There are many question marks about his case since 1980 and what appears like misleading media titles.

First and foremost, the bombing of the synagogue in 1980 in Paris (and the resulting death, injuries, and long-term trauma) is OF COURSE unacceptable. The victims and their families deserve the truth, justice (if possible), and healing.

Second, some international media titles, like the BBC, include the term “synagogue bomber convicted after 43 years” (https://bbc.in/40vJ2Mf). The latter, despite the following: an apparently weak evidence, contradictions, high emotions, which seem more important than solid evidence, and Diab’s continuous claim of innocence. Is he truly the man behind this horrible crime? The question remains open, despite the latest verdict of guilt and a lifetime sentence in French prisons.

Third, it is interesting to read all the Canadian mainstream media titles, which refer to “the supporters of Dr. Diab” who are urging Dr. Lamotti, Canada Minister of Justice, to have the courage to say NO to his extradition to France. Dr. Diab already went through a legal process in France once. He even spent a long time in jail there, and the French courts had a different verdict back then. Why are they still pushing this case in absentia and why is Canada not firm about it?

Bambi finds the titles telling us that only the vocal supporters of Dr. Diab misleading. Indeed, she does not call herself a supporter of Dr. Diab. Yet, in addition to publicly supporting him and his spouse on her blog in the past, she signed a petition yesterday night urging Dr. Lametti to say NO to France.

A related question to the above, does Bambi have compassion to the victims? Of course, she has the UTMOST respect for their pain. However, taking the risk of scapegoating a potentially innocent fellow Canadian citizen, especially AFTER his case has been closed before, will not bring healing to anyone. Indeed, we do not solve an injustice by creating another one.

Now, just for the sake of the benefit of the doubt, even if Dr. Diab is truly guilty of the 1980 horror story, what France is doing is odd from the point of view of Canada and the law. Why are they asking for his second extradition for the same allegation? It sounds like a legal harassment, even if Bambi is not a legal expert. This is why Bambi joins her voice to the REAL “supporters” of Dr. Diab to urge Canada not to hand him to France for a lifetime sentence in jail.

Happy Eid to the readers of this blog who are celebrating today!

Even if Bambi’s own heart is heavy (as per today’s earlier post), it means a lot to her to wish her observant Muslim readers, relatives, and friends who are celebrating the end of Ramadan a Happy Eid. You made it, bravo. Be merry, safe, and always blessed not just during this ending holy month ❤️.