3 spots in the Sud region which inspired Clara Luciani

Martigues and Septèmes-les-Vallons

Back to her childhood

Clara Luciani was born in Martigues, where she spent the first years of her childhood. At the time she lived in an old fisherman’s house, on Rue Margueridette, just next to the Ferrières Beach and the Baussengue canal. When she thinks about the town where she was born and which is nicknamed “the Venice of Provence”, the singer remembers her walks along the Saint-Sébastien canal or the Etang de Berre, her primary school years at the Ecole Primaire Jean Jaurès, and also her first songs with her sister, who was also to become a singer. As a teenager, she moved with her family to Septèmes-les-Vallons. For her, those years at the college in Bouc-Bel-Air conjure up a more difficult period, but one which was to become an inspiration for her future songs. In 2018, she came back to sing at the top of her voice at the Théâtre des Salins de Martigues, for her first time in front of the local public and the people who saw her grow up.

La Sainte-Victoire

First album, first success

Even though her songs are mostly autobiographical, Clara Luciani doesn’t explicitly mention the Sud region in her lyrics. For her first album, the young singer wanted to find a name which would pay homage to her Provencal origin, and it was while she was contemplating the Montagne Sainte-Victoire from the Aix-en-Provence train station that she got the idea of giving its name as the title of her album. Premonitory? Could be! A year after the release of Sainte-Victoire, she was given an award at the Victoires de la Musique in the “Révélation scène” category in 2019, and in the “Artiste féminine” category in 2020. After having inspired Cézanne and Clara Luciani, will the Sainte-Victoire cast its spell on you too? Several walks and hikes are there to explore this little mountain. And when you reach the top, you may not have an artistic epiphany, but you’ll have the entire satisfaction of an incredible view over the Pays d’Aix!

Sanary-sur-Mer

A clip in the colours of the South

To shoot the clip of one of her flagship songs entitled “Le reste” from her second album “Cœur” written during the pandemic, Clara Luciani and her team chose the streets of Sanary-sur-Mer. The video clip is a sun-kissed ode to the South: You can see her walking along the town’s shopping streets, dancing in Jean-Georges’ hair salon (he actually exists), wandering along the wharves of the little harbour on market day, lying down among the bright yellow lemons, dancing in front of the Art Nouveau facade of the ABC cinema… and ending her day on the Portissol beach, a spot in which is really picturesque and where it’s easy to swim, sunbathe on the fine sand or just have a drink!

If you want to know more about Clara Luciani, we recommend the documentary “Ça commence comme ça” which follows the singer over more than 2 years, from the recording of her second album during her concert at l’Accor Arena to her awards in the Victoires de la Musique. And last but not least, Clara Luciani even lent her voice to the documentary “Il était une fois Marseille”, in which she embodies the Mediterranean city which tells its own story. A true voice of the South!