« Le bonheur est dans le pré » (Happiness is in the meadow) wrote very beautifully the prince of poets, Paul Fort, and our great Georges Brassens set some of his most beautiful verses to music. And I hear “Happiness is in giving”. The creators of melodies and texts give us the gift of their hearts through their works, and as life is not always a model of gratitude, they sometimes find themselves “quite deprived when the cold weather comes”. So, what a joy it was, on Friday 26 April… 

… What a joy it was to welcome to the Debussy-Ravel auditorium the men and women who celebrated their 40 years commitment to our association and, on stage, the winners of the Louis Ganne, Michaële and Baxter awards and the well-named Comité du cœur award!

Rose’s tears, Viktor Lazlo’s warm voice, Florine Malherbe’s smiling virtuosity, Claire Gallo-Place’s witty performance and Pascal Danel’s youthful message were all beautiful! As I cheered them on, I thought of all the people the Comité had already helped to get back on their feet after the storms and the “never mind” moments. That Friday was the morning of hope, the blue dawn of “so much the better”. It was a magnificent and moving opportunity to say thank you to those who thanked us. 

And the words of Jean-Edouard Grésy and the short film supervised by Anne Dorr topped off this celebration of solidarity with fireworks. Indeed, the Comité du cœur is here, stronger than ever to heal the often-fragile souls of those forgotten by success, the miracle workers, and to give them the boost they need for a new beginning. And new memberships are constantly enriching the breeding ground for future creations. 

On the evening of that superb 26 of April, a great heart stopped beating, that of Jean Musy, an extremely active member of our association, who was music itself and whose gaze alone was a symphony of humanity. I know, I’m sure, that as he left the visible world, he left us this message, as simple as a goodbye: “My friends, I love you, I’m here, keep going!”. 

Claude Lemesle, author, vice-president of the Comité du cœur