Emmanuel Macron is filmed SINGING in the street

Emmanuel Macron is filmed SINGING in the street after addressing the nation over pension reforms which have hit a bum note with French voters

• Video taken on Monday, April 17, in the 6th district in Paris after his TV speech
• Macron was out on walk with his wife Brigitte when video was recorded at 10pm 

Footage shows French President Emmanuel Macron singing a traditional song in the street after a televised address in which he sought to soothe tensions over his unpopular pension reforms.

The video was taken on Monday, April 17, in the 6th arrondissement in Paris after Macron’s speech, a source close to the president confirmed to AFP.

‘The president took a moment with his wife (Brigitte Macron) after his speech (on Monday evening). They encountered a group of young people who were singing… so he joined them in a song from the Pyrenees which he knows and loves,’ they said.

In the night-time video, recorded around 10pm, Macron can be seen reading from his phone the words of ‘Le Refuge’, a song about a lodge in the mountain range on France’s southwestern border with Spain, singing with men in their 20s and 30s.

One of the singers in the video called Géraud said he was part of a Parisian all-men choir whose members show ‘their love of the country through regional songs’.

The video was taken on Monday, April 17, in the 6th arondissement in Paris after Macron’s TV speech, a source close to the president confirmed to AFP

‘The president took a moment with his wife (Brigitte Macron) after his speech (on Monday evening). They encountered a group of young people who were singing… so he joined them in a song from the Pyrenees which he knows and loves,’ they said. One of the singers said that his group saw Macron and his wife walking with a bodyguard and as he and his friends started singing ‘Le Refuge’, Macron turned around ‘with a smile’ and approached them

Géraud added that he and the other choir members came from a rehearsal when they encountered the president.

He said that his group saw Macron and his wife walking with a bodyguard and as he and his friends started singing ‘Le Refuge’, Macron turned around ‘with a smile’ and approached them. 

He told France Inter: ‘First, he asked us nicely how we had heard of this song. One thing leading to another, after talking to him for a few minutes (…), he offered to sing the first verse with a chorus, but we were able to sing the entire song.

‘It was completely spontaneous. I think it only happens once in a lifetime to be able to sing, to share this completely suspended moment with the President of the Republic, in the middle of the street, on a Monday evening, with the choir.’

The singing performance might at first have seemed a welcome show of connection with voters for the president, whose reforms including an increase to the pension age have earned him widespread animosity in recent weeks.

In the night-time video, recorded around 10pm, Macron can be seen reading from his phone the words of ‘Le Refuge’, a song about a lodge in the mountain range on France’s southwestern border with Spain, surrounded by men in their 20s and 30s singing vigorously while bystanders gathered to watch

One of the singers in the video called Géraud said he was part of a Parisian all-men choir whose members show ‘their love of the country through regional songs’. He added that he and the other choir members came from a rehearsal when they encountered the president

But the video was first published on the Facebook page of an organisation called ‘Projet Canto’, an app holding a directory of popular songs from France.

While the group describes itself as preserving traditional songs in digital form, left-wing newspaper Liberation reported last year that it was founded and run by far-right activists and offered recordings of songs with ties to Nazi Germany in its app.

Macron ‘could not have known in the moment the backgrounds of every person he was speaking to,’ the person in his entourage said.

The group told Liberation last year that ‘political songs are part of the history of song, that’s why we’ve stored them,’ saying it also had ‘far-left’ songs in its catalogue.

Macron previously sang ‘Le Refuge’ by Edmond Duplan during a trip to the Upper Pyrenees in 2022, where his grandmother was from. 

His singing performance on Monday came shortly after his televised speech, during which the president staunchly defended his widely unpopular pension reform but said he understood the ‘anger’ felt by the French after three months of protests.

His speech was met with yet more, sometimes violent, protests throughout France.

Addressing the nation for the first time since signing the reform into law, Macron said he regretted that no consensus had been found on the change.

Macron signed the legislation early Saturday, just hours after its banner change to hike the retirement age from 62 to 64 had been validated by the constitutional court, prompting accusations he was smuggling the law through in the dead of night.

The left and unions dismissed his latest attempt to ease tensions and warned of mass Labour Day protests on May 1.

Polls have consistently recorded a majority of French opposed to the reform, which the government rammed through parliament using a controversial mechanism to avoid a vote.

Speaking from the Elysee Palace, Macron defended the reform as ‘necessary’ and insisted ‘doing nothing’ was not a solution.

‘Has this reform been accepted? Obviously not. And despite months of consultations, no consensus could be found and I regret it.’

Noting the protests that have raged against the reform, he added: ‘No one, especially not me, can remain deaf to this demand for social justice.’

The president assured that his ‘door will always be open’ to talks with the unions.

Macron’s personal popularity ratings have eroded with some analysts suggesting he has given a head start to far-right leader Marine Le Pen down the long path to 2027 elections.

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