FRENCH SINGER Michel Sardou, who had one of his biggest hits with a catchy ballad about the west of Ireland, has been awarded the freedom of Connemara.
Les Lacs du Connemara(The Lakes of Connemara) went straight to number one in the charts when it was released in 1981 and is still one of Sardou's most popular songs.
At a ceremony at the Irish Embassy in Paris, Sardou (64) was presented with a symbolic key to Connemara as thanks for having “put Ireland on the map” and encouraging French tourists to visit.
“He is a wonderful ambassador for Connemara,” said Brian Hughes, president of Clifden Chamber of Commerce, who presented the award. “He’s a full-time running ad for us. You can’t buy that. Connemara is to the French what Killarney is to the Americans. We see French people driving around playing the song in their car.”
Sardou has been one of the most commercially successful French singers over recent decades. He sells out some of the country's biggest venues, and Les Lacs du Connemara– a French wedding favourite – still gets airplay 30 years after its release.
“I’m delighted,” Sardou said. “I’m really touched, because I love Ireland, I love the Irish and I love racehorses, and in Ireland you have the most beautiful horses in the world.”
He admitted he had not visited Ireland when he wrote the song – he found the place-names from a tourist brochure and the rest was inspired by John Ford's The Quiet Man. "I have a very romantic idea of Ireland. It is a land of legends, mysteries, harsh and wonderful at the same time. Everyone had The Quiet Manin their head. Ireland wasn't really like that, but that image stayed in France."