Algerian -born French singer Enrico Macias rejects the idea of retiring despite being over eighty-four. The artist, who managed during a 60-year career to make Arab-Andalusian music popular in France, asserts that the "hope" to return to his motherland will remain.

"What I love most in the world is being a singer, playing music and being on stage!" the owner of Gens du Nord and Mandiant de l'amour said in an interview with Agence France-Presse.

"I'm glad I'm still here. I wake up in the morning, give interviews, give concerts... If it weren't for all of that, I would have finished," Macías, who is performing Sunday in Paris, adds.

He continues, "I have been singing for peace and fraternity for 60 years. I am happy and above all grateful for God's providence that has enabled me to live to the age of 84 and a half years, and to continue to be on stage (...). The audience gives me energy. It is the audience that keeps me alive." life and keep singing.

As the artist, whose songs numbered 150, thanked his fans, he addressed his fans, saying, "You must constantly maintain hope, and never give up in the face of life's difficulties."

The Jewish singer, who was forced in 1961 to leave his hometown, the Algerian city of Constantine, after the assassination of his father-in-law, "Sheikh" Raymond Leiris during the War of Independence, remembers that the music that Leiris taught him and the success he achieved helped him "heal from the trauma and difficulties" he experienced.

Macías, who was named “Ambassador-at-Large of Peace” by the United Nations in 1997, recounts, “I spent all my youth in the midst of violence. When I arrived in France I was, and still am, an orphan of the motherland, without revenge or hatred.” countries) is a perfect epitome of peace and brotherhood among human beings.

After moving to Paris, Gaston Grenacia, born on December 13, 1938, took the stage name Enrico Macías, in the midst of the “ye-ye” music wave, which means quoting hit songs in English into French.

Macias' first singles Paris, tu m'as pris dans tes bras ("Paris, you took me in your arms"), Les filles de mon pays ("My girls") and "Boi boui boui" soon became hits.

Macías was thirty when he sang at Carnegie Hall in New York, before performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London three years later.

"I never planned my success or my career," says Macías. "My drug is music, it runs in my veins, in my heart. I want to sing as much as I can, until my last breath."

A few years ago, singers of the new generation, such as Carla Bruni, Cali, Corneille and Natasha Saint-Pierre, honored him by performing his most prominent songs. Enrico continues to follow new talents, and believes that "talent consists in presenting something special and new, and the most important thing is that the audience loves him."

Enrico Macías turned away several times from returning to Algeria in light of the rejection of Algerian politicians who blamed him for his support for Israel. "I will still have hope," he said. "If I am destined to return to Algeria with what is left for me, I will not refuse."