From the opening ceremony to DiscOlympics, Cerrone still reigns nearly 50 years on

PARIS (AP) — As the Eiffel Tower shimmered with laser lights, a tune from the man known as the French Disco King set the stage for the final leg of the Olympics opening ceremony.

As Cerrone's “Supernature” pulsed through Paris, sports legends like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal glided down the Seine, with deaf choreographer Shaheem Sanchez grooving to the beat through American Sign Language dance. This 1977 classic proved that disco's glittering charm still reigns supreme on one of the world's grandest stages.

For Cerrone, 72, this moment once again proved his cross-generational music has staying power.

“The sounds changed every decade, but for my part I never lose the movement,” the music producer told The Associated Press on Sunday night before he hit the stage as the headliner at DiscOlympics, which brought out more than 3,000 energic concertgoers to a riverfront nightclub.

The event paid homage to the roots of dance music and Cerrone, who shaped the disco genre in France in the mid-1970s with jams such as “Supernature,” “Give Me Love” and “Je Suis Music.”

Cerrone said he still has indescribable emotions after watching the opening ceremony segment featuring his song, released nearly a half-century ago. He was surprised when the ceremony's composer and music director, Victor le Masne, approached him nine months ago. Le Masne proposed updating it with a more symphonic sound, featuring orchestral arrangements.

Cerrone said the creative process was like witnessing a woman enduring months of pregnancy before giving birth.

“I think it's my best work of my career,” said the producer, who has released 23 albums and sold more than 30 million records worldwide.

Along with Cerrone, the 12-hour DiscOlympics had several performers such as Agoria, He.She.They., and Kartell. The diverse lineup showcased disco's evolution into a foundation for subgenres such as hip-hop, house music and electronic dance music.

Disco initially made a splash in the early 1970s in New York City with various musical influences from funk, soul and Latin music. Cerrone, along with other French artists including Dalida and Amanda Lear, were a part of the Euro disco movement in the mid-1970s.

European artists with disco influences, like Daft Punk and Giorgio Moroder, have found success in the U.S.

“Everybody knows the real disco has never left,” Cerrone said. “It never stopped. Sometimes it was bigger then lower. ... With the young people, it's funny. I performed at a big festival. I see 60,000 people in front of me. I stop the music and (they're singing) ‘Supernature.’ It's never changed. Sometimes, it's like that.”

Waël Mechri-Yver, a French-Tunisian musician, said Cerrone is deserving of high recognition, calling him a disco musical savant. After he first heard about the legendary producer's involvement with the opening ceremony a few months ago, he reached out to Cerrone's manager about being a headliner at DiscOlympics.

“He's the father of disco. He's the king of disco music,” said Mechri-Yver, who performs under the stage name WAÏ. His culture collective company BABËL and Silencio hosted the DiscOlympics.

When Mechri-Yver heard Cerrone's song during opening ceremony, he knew it was perfect timing for his event.

“Disco is coming back really strong and we really want to be the champion of that music,” said Mechri-Yver. Along with Kosmo Kint and Cerrone's son Greg Cerrone, Mechri-Yver recorded the song “Are You Ready,” which was performed for the first time publicly Sunday and received a favorable response from the crowd.

“It's very joyful, celebratory, inclusive, grateful music that is about giving praise to the Lord, giving praise to nature. That's why ‘Supernature’ was such an incredible performance. The Eiffel Tower lit up. The whole world started to sing. It was absolutely beautiful,” Mechri-Yver said.

DiscOlympics attendee Alexia Charles was extremely pumped up about the event. The Parisian, who's in her mid-30s, rarely frequents the nightclub scene but felt compelled to see Cerrone perform — especially after the opening ceremony.

“It's amazing to see,” she said. “You can hear the people screaming for him. That's a good representation of electro music in France.”

Cerrone said seeing people cheer him on in his 70s fuels him.

“That's the best deal to live a long time,” he said. “It makes me happy to sing about that.”

For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.

People dance as French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Apolline Wolak dances during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. Cerrone, the legendary French disco artist, played at the DiscOlympics which paid homage to the root of dance music. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People dance as French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People attend the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People attend the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. The legendary French disco artist Cerrone played at the DiscOlympics which paid homage to the root of dance music.(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People stand at a bar during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. The legendary French disco artist Cerrone played at the DiscOlympics which paid homage to the root of dance music. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

People dance as French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A person dances during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. The legendary French disco artist Cerrone, played at the DiscOlympics which paid homage to the root of dance music. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

French musician Marc Cerrone performs during the DiscOlympics at Wanderlust night club at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule.

The surprise departure of the man considered by Venezuela’s opposition and several foreign governments to be the legitimate winner of July’s presidential race was announced late Saturday night by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. He is expected to arrive in Spain on Sunday.

She said the government decided to grant González safe passage out of the country, just days after ordering his arrest, to help restore “the country’s political peace and tranquility.”

Neither González nor opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has commented. But Spain’s center-left government said the decision to leave Venezuela was González's alone and he departed on a plane sent by the country's air force. González had stayed at the Spanish embassy in Caracas before leaving.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish national broadcaster RTVE that his government will grant González political asylum as he has requested. Albares spoke from Oman while en route to China with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on a state visit.

“I have been able to speak to (González) and once he was aboard the airplane he expressed his gratitude toward the Spanish government and Spain,” Albares said. “Of course, I told him we were pleased that he is well and on his way to Spain, and I reiterated the commitment of our government to the political rights of all Venezuelans.”

Sánchez said in a speech before González's departure was announced that the opposition leader was “a hero whom Spain is not going to abandon.”

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, in a statement Sunday described it as "a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” and also disclosed that the Dutch had been involved in helping González.

“Faced with repression, political persecution and direct threats to his safety and freedom, after being given hospitality at the residence of the Netherlands in Caracas until Sept. 5, political leader and presidential candidate Edmundo González has had to request political asylum and accept the protection offered by Spain,” he said.

Borrell added that González “appears to be the winner of the presidential elections” and that the EU will maintain its support of the Venezuelan people “in their democratic aspirations.”

In a letter sent Sunday to lawmakers, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp said that the Netherlands had given González refuge shortly after the election at its embassy. He added that González said at the beginning of September that he wanted to leave the country “and continue his fight from Spain.”

González, a 75-year-old former diplomat, was a last-minute stand-in when Machado was banned from running. Previously unknown to most Venezuelans, his campaign nonetheless rapidly ignited the hopes of millions of Venezuelans desperate for change after a decade-long economic freefall.

While President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of the July vote, most Western governments, including Spain, have yet to recognize his victory and are instead demanding that authorities publish a breakdown of votes. Meanwhile, tally sheets collected by opposition volunteers from over two-thirds of the electronic voting machines indicate that González won by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The tally sheets have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. In previous presidential elections, the National Electoral Council published online the results of each of the more than 30,000 voting machines but the Maduro-controlled panel did not release any data this time, blaming an alleged cyberattack mounted by its opponents from North Macedonia.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a staunch Maduro ally, sought González's arrest after he failed to appear three times in connection with a criminal investigation into what it considers an act of electoral sabotage.

Saab told reporters that the voting records the opposition shared online were forged and an attempt to undermine the National Electoral Council.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. In a statement critical of the election, the U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory, but they said the voting records it published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

Exiled opposition politician Franco Casella told RTVE that González would continue to campaign against the regime from abroad in what he called a dual leadership role with Machado, who Casella said remains in hiding in Venezuela.

He said he understood that some people who opposed Maduro might feel “orphaned” by González's departure but, he said, "this is going to be capitalized positively .... and my message is that this is not the time for tears, it is time for us to remain united against the dictatorship.”

Spain has been a major point of exodus for Venezuelans, particularly those leading opposition to Maduro’s regime. They include Leopoldo López, who fled to Spain to reunite with his family in 2020, and Antonio Ledezma, who left in 2017.

Some 44,000 Venezuelans immigrated to Spain in the first six months of this year. The last government statistics from 2022 said that some 212,000 Venezuelans were then residing in Spain.

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Goodman reported from Miami and Wilson from Barcelona, Spain. Mike Corder contributed from The Hague.

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)