"Éthiopie" is a charity song recorded in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

by the collective band known under the name 'Chanteurs sans Frontières'. The song achieved a huge success in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, topping the chart for two months and becoming one of the best-selling singles in that country.

Background and writing

Chanteurs sans Frontières was a French association founded in 1985 following the

English-speaking world Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...

model of the bands Band Aid and

USA for Africa United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa) was the name under which 47 predominantly U.S. artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single " We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a U.S. and UK number one f ...

with the same purpose: providing assistance to victims of the famine then raging in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. The association was presided by Antoine di Zazzo, the general director of EMI Pathé Marconi, and was led by Dominique Quiliquini (

Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (), known as Renaud (), born 11 May 1952, is a French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically 'broken' voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in F ...

's wife),

Francis Cabrel Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...

(treasurer), Franck Langolff (composer of music) and Rony Brauman (president of Médecins sans Frontières). The idea of a single was found by Valérie Lagrange and under the direction of Renaud. The song was written by Renaud and the music composed by Franck Langolff. It was produced by Franck Langolff and Thomas Noton. The total donations reached 23,000,000 francs distributed to various associations :

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. ...

(90%), AICF,

Médecins du monde ''Médecins du monde'' (MdM; ), or Doctors of the World, is an international humanitarian organization which provides emergency and long-term medical care to the world's most vulnerable people. It also advocates to end health inequities. It was f ...

, and Restos du Cœur.

Track listing

# "Ethiopie" — 5:25 # "Ethiopie" (instrumental) — 4:07

Artists who participated in the song

These are the artists who participated in the recordings:Names of the artists are written on the single cover (see infobox) *

Jean-Louis Aubert Jean-Louis Aubert (, born 12 April 1955) is a French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer. He went on a solo career after the split of the rock band Téléphone that he co-founded. Early life Born in Nantua, Ain, France in 1955 ...

Hugues Aufray Hugues Jean Marie Auffray (; born 18 August 1929), better known as Hugues Aufray, is a French singer-songwriter and guitarist. Aufray is known for French language covers of Bob Dylan's songs. Aufray knew Dylan and his work from his time in N ...

Josiane Balasko Josiane Balasko (born Josiane Balašković; 15 April 1950) is a French actress, writer, and director. She has been nominated seven times for César Awards, and won twice. Career One of Balasko's most recognized roles among English speakers is ...

Daniel Balavoine Daniel Xavier-Marie Balavoine (; 5 February 1952 – 14 January 1986) was a French singer and songwriter. He was hugely popular in the French-speaking world in the early 1980s; he inspired many singers of his generation such as Jean-Jacques Gol ...

Didier Barbelivien Didier René Henri Barbelivien (born 10 March 1954 in Paris) is a French author, lyricist, songwriter and singer. Beginning in the 1970s, he wrote a number of successful songs for artists such as: Dalida, Johnny Hallyday, Michel Sardou, Daniel ...

Axel Bauer Axel Bauer (born 7 April 1961) is a French singer, composer, guitarist, and actor, born in Paris. A figure of the French rock scene, he was discovered in 1983 with the song "Cargo". Several times awarded a gold record, he has sold three million re ...

Michel Berger Michel Berger (born Michel Jean Hamburger; 28 November 1947 – 2 August 1992) was a French singer and songwriter. He was a leading figure of France's pop music scene for two decades as a singer; as a songwriter, he was active for such artists ...

* Richard Berry * Gérard Blanchard *

* Louis Chédid *

Coluche Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci (, ; 28 October 1944 – 19 June 1986), better known under his stage name Coluche (), was a French stage comedian and cinema actor. He adopted ''Coluche'' as a stage name at age 26, when he began his entertainment ca ...

Charlélie Couture Charlélie Couture (born Bertrand Charles Elie Couture, 26 February 1956) is a French & American musician and multi-disciplinary artist, who has recorded over 25 albums and 17 film soundtracks, and has held a number of exhibitions of paintings and ...

Hervé Christiani Hervé is a French masculine given name of Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinization was ''Charivius''. Anglicized ...

* Christophe *

Julien Clerc Paul Alain Leclerc (born 4 October 1947), known by his stage name Julien Clerc (), is a French singer-songwriter. Life Born in Paris, Clerc grew up listening to classical music in his father Paul Leclerc's home, while his mother Évelyne Merlot ...

Michel Delpech Jean-Michel Delpech (French pronunciation: �ɑ̃ miʃɛl dɛlpɛʃ 26 January 19462 January 2016), known as Michel Delpech, was a French singer-songwriter and actor. Family Jean-Michel Bertrand Delpech was born the 26th january of 1946 in ...

Gérard Depardieu Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 al ...

* Diane Dufresne *

France Gall Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French '' yé-yé'' singer. In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg. Between 1973 and 1992, ...

Jean-Jacques Goldman Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a French singer-songwriter and music record producer. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017 he has been the highest grossing living French ...

* Richard Gotainer *

Jacques Higelin Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin (; 18 October 1940 – 6 April 2018) was a French pop singer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s. Early life Higelin was born on 18 October 1940. His father, Paul, a railway worker and musician of Alsatian de ...

Valérie Lagrange Valérie Lagrange (born 25 February 1942) is a French actress and singer. She starred in the 1960 adventure film '' Morgan, the Pirate''.Hughes p.39 Selected filmography * '' The Green Mare'' (1959) * '' Morgan, the Pirate'' (1960) * '' The Co ...

Catherine Lara Catherine Lara (born Catherine Bodet; 29 May 1945) is a French violinist, composer, singer, and author. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has established herself as an icon in French pop/rock music as well as the neo-classical g ...

Maxime Le Forestier Maxime Le Forestier (; born 10 February 1949 as Bruno Le Forestier) is a French singer-songwriter. Life and career Bruno Le Forestier was born on 10 February 1949 in Paris to father Robert Le Forestier and mother Genevieve (née Lili 1917–2010 ...

* Olive, member of the band Lili Drop *

Jeane Manson Jeane Manson (born Jean Ann Manson on October 1, 1950) is an American model, singer, and actor, born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her first name was changed from "Jean" to "Jeane" because, as all of her career was in France after 1974, the French would h ...

* Nicolas Peyrac *

Véronique Sanson Véronique Marie Line Sanson (; born 24 April 1949) is a three-time Victoires de la Musique award-winning French singer-songwriter and record producer with an avid following in her native country. Ten years after Barbara, Véronique Sanson becam ...

Alain Souchon Alain Souchon (; born Alain Édouard Kienast ; 27 May 1944) is a French singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films. Profile Alain Souchon was born in Casablanca, Morocco. His family on his mother ...

Diane Tell Diane Tell (born December 24, 1959) is a Canadian musician who was born in Quebec City, Quebec. She entered the Val d’Or conservatory at the age of six. She continued her studies at the Montréal conservatory and then at CEGEP Saint-Laurent and ...

Fabienne Thibeault Fabienne Thibeault (born 16 June 1952 in Montreal, Quebec) is a French Canadian singer. She is particularly known for her role in Starmania. Thibeault has released numerous albums over her career. She has been the recipient of two Félix A ...

* Trust *

Laurent Voulzy Lucien Voulzy (, born 18 December 1948), better known as Laurent Voulzy (), is a French singer-songwriter, composer and musician. Life and career Voulzy was born in Paris, France. He originally led the English-pop-influenced Le Temple de Vénus ...

Charts performances and sales

The single went straight to number 6 on the French SNEP Singles Chart, on May 18, 1985. It jumped to number 1 the following weeks and stayed at the top for eight consecutive weeks. After that, the single slowly dropped but remained for 14 weeks in the top ten and 22 weeks on the chart (top 50)."Éthiopie", in French Singles Char
Lescharts.com
(Retrieved April 20, 2008) Certified

Gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the SNEP in 1985 for 500,000 copies sold.

Certifications

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethiopie 1985 singles All-star recordings Chanteurs sans Frontières songs Charity singles SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Aid songs for Africa 1985 songs Songs written by Renaud