“To arms, citizens, citizenes”: the adaptation elicited a standing ovation from the crowd.
The singer Catherine Ringer left her mark on Friday during a reinterpretation of the Marseillaise, the “impure blood” which “waters our furrows” becoming “a pure law in the Constitution” to celebrate the inclusion of abortion in the Basic Law.
The star of Rita Mitsouko was invited to conclude the ceremony of sealing the Constitution at Place Vendôme in Paris, which was held for the first time in public in front of the Ministry of Justice.
“To arms, citizens,” the artist first allowed himself, garnering a smile from the Head of State and applause from the crowd.
“Let us sing this pure law in the Constitution”
A cappella, but supported by the choir of the French army, Catherine Ringer then replaced the last sentence of the chorus of the national anthem with “Let us march and sing this pure law in the Constitution”, to the loud cheers of the crowd.
“She did it in freedom,” Emmanuel Macron then commented to the press, recognizing that this version was as “original” as it was “unconventional.”
The Élysée assured BFMTV that it had not been informed of this reinterpretation.
“She’s a talented artist so we didn’t fear it.
And we did well.
It was elegant and appropriate to the moment,” communicates the presidency.
Congratulated by Emmanuel Macron, to whom she kissed his hand, Catherine Ringer then seemed to have detached herself from the president to return to her seat, among politicians, artists and anonymous people, who attended this historic ceremony.
A sequence which did not fail to provoke a reaction on social networks.
The big wind from Catherine Ringer to Macron after his Marseillaise pic.twitter.com/EEIuAKBEwA
— Nils Wilcke (@paul_denton) March 8, 2024
The president wanted “a popular ceremony” to mark “the culmination of this collective fight”, a few days after the approval of the constitutional revision by Congress.
He also brought flowers to the tombs of “great figures” of feminism who contributed to the revision of the Constitution, including Gisèle Halimi and Simone Veil.