The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics took place on July 26th, and the French band Gojira was one of the performers.
With the world watching the performance, the French group was accused of glorifying Satanism. The accusation came from a group of conservatives and religious people who felt the performance contained too much blood, heavy music, and were shocked by the decapitated head of Marie Antoinette.
The group performed a version of “Ah! Ça Ira”, a traditional song from the French Revolution, alongside opera singer Marina Viotti (via 89 FM ). The performance, which took place in a castle, was considered epic, as it was the first time a heavy metal band had participated in the event.
Joe Duplantier , guitarist and vocalist of the band, in an interview with the American magazine Rolling Stone , responded to accusations of Satanism: "There's nothing satanic about it," Duplantier defended himself. "It's French history. It's French charm, you know, decapitated people, red wine and blood everywhere. It's romantic, it's normal."
According to the musician: “France is a country that separated state and religion during the revolution. This is something very important, very dear to the foundation of republican France,” explained the musician, noting that there is even a word to define it:
“We call this ' laïcité ' (in translation: secularism). It's when the state is no longer religious and, therefore, is free in terms of expression and symbolism. It all has to do with history and facts. We don't look too closely at symbolism in terms of religion.”
The choice of the song “Ah! Ça Ira”
When asked about the choice of music, the Gojira vocalist simply stated: “It wasn’t us. The team of young composers and designers decided on the entire theme. We were in the dark about the whole ceremony; we just focused on that image and the moment of Marie Antoinette.”
He further added: “We didn’t know what it would look like or if it would fit into the whole performance. I didn’t know Lady Gaga or Celine Dion would be there. We were under the trust of the Olympic Committee and we couldn’t tell people what we were going to do.”
Duplatier concludes: “We didn’t know what was going to happen. We just exchanged ideas with the composer of the Olympic ceremony, Victor le Masne . He gave us a rhythm and a direction, and then we did our part.”
Gojira sees increase in streams on Spotify
According to a report published on the website of the newspaper O Globo , the band Gojira saw a 129% increase in streams of their music on Spotify outside of France and a 282% increase within the country in the weekend following their performance.
Watch Gojira's performance at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics:
Gojira
The band was formed in Ondres in 1996 and has since gained fans all over the world.
The band's central theme is environmental preservation. They also cooperate with an organization called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to protect marine animals, especially whales, dolphins, and sharks.
During his visit to Brazil in 2023 with Mastodon, vocalist Joe Duplantier spoke with Wikimetal about the tour and the song "Amazonia," from their most recent album, Fortitude (2021).
