The last days of Édith Piaf

from persona vocal to icon of media culture

Abstract

“The last days of an icon - Édith Piaf” (2005), Philippe Pichon portrays an important name of the French song: a woman of fragile health, at the same time willful; moments of glory in public life and solitude, in intimacy. Morbidity and vertigo are interspersed. Image contrasts sharply with representation set by the recording industry, seen on the album covers. Considered within the scope of the song of the media (Valente, 2003), this text analyzes aspects such as his performance (Zumthor, 1986), the vocal persona created by Piaf (Coli; Valente, 2018), of the particular sound landscape (Schafer, 2003). These parameters contribute to understand Piaf as a constitutive element of media memory.