Tuesday, 1 July 2008

French first lady takes extended bow









As France's first lady, singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy says she is giving up concerts until her husband is out of office, a French newspaper reported Saturday.

Bruni-Sarkozy, who has a new album out next month, was quoted in the Liberation newspaper as saying she will continue to promote her music on television.

"But I can't go on stage because I can't allow myself to drag along a security setup that, in my opinion, would be shocking," she was quoted as saying. "I'll give concerts again once my husband is no longer president."

The 40-year-old model-turned-singer married President Nicolas Sarkozy in February.

In the newspaper report, Bruni-Sarkozy said she does not share all her husband's political opinions. Sarkozy is a conservative, but the first lady said that while she is not very politically engaged, her "gut reactions are on the left."

"It's not an ideology or a system. ... I have the impression that people who are completely on one side or the other are thinking with only one half of their brains," she was quoted as saying.

Bruni-Sarkozy's album has made waves before its release, in part because of a track that reportedly has the French-language lyrics, "You are my drug / More deadly than Afghan heroin / More dangerous than white Colombian."

Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo has described the song as "very painful for Colombia."










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