Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien (Officiel) [Live Version]

After reading Barthes’ passages, I am left with very little answers and many questions.  However, according to the basic understanding that I grasped, I selected a specific singer who I believe mirrors the description or behavior he describes. One of the biggest challenges was to determine how or what makes a voice raw. However, Edith Piaf is the closest resemblance I can make in my mind.  The music starts to fade to the background as her voice draws the listener in. When I hear her sing, I am not caught on what she is singing but how she is singing. This is how I believe a raw or naked voice would sound. No generalities—just pure, natural, and organic.

“… the  grain of the nasals, a little harsh, as though spiced; the r, rolled of course, but in no
way obedient to the somewhat heavy role of peasant speech…” (282)

How does peasant speech sound?

“I myself have a lovers’ relation to Panzéra’s voice: not to his raw, physical voice, but to his voice as it passes over language, over our French language, like a desire: no voice is raw; every voice is steeped in what it says.” (280)

How does a voice pass over language?

 “… one must pronounce, never articulate for articulation is the negation of legato.” (282)