VZCZCXRO3326
RR RUEHIK RUEHPOD RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #4634 3381654
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041654Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1362
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1932
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0513

UNCLAS PARIS 004634 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/PPD, EUR/WE, R, PA/OBS/BE, PA/PBS, IIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO SCUL FR
SUBJECT: TV COOP HIGHLIGHTS FRENCH GOSPEL SINGER IN THE UNITED 
STATES 
 
REF:  06 PARIS 7510 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Based on a proposal from APP Lille and with funding from 
PA, regional television affiliate France 3 Nord-Picardie produced a 
twenty-six minute magazine feature on Sabrina Adel, a young musician 
of Muslim origin whose lifelong dream was to study American gospel 
music in the U.S.  France 3 ran the full story to an audience of 
56,000 viewers on June 16.  The station also ran a shorter, 
five-minute version on June 26.  End Summary. 
 
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BACKGROUND 
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¶2. (SBU) Sabrina Adel is a young musician of Algerian origin who 
hails from one of northern France's toughest inner-city 
neighborhoods.  Clearly talented and highly motivated, Adel had 
already begun to make a name for herself on the French gospel 
circuit before she came to the attention of APP Lille.  She lacked 
formal musical training, however, and her life's ambition was to 
study gospel music at the source, in the United States.  She applied 
to Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music and was accepted. 
With the help of supporters from around Lille, she then created an 
association to raise the money for her studies.  She started classes 
in Fall 2006. 
 
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A GOOD STORY ALMOST SELLS ITSELF 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) APP Lille followed Adel's progress closely and suggested to 
France 3 Nord-Picardie (the northern regional affiliate of the 
national French television station) that Adel's story might make a 
wonderful human interest story for its viewers.  Producers at France 
3 were intrigued with the idea, but balked at the high costs and 
logistical hurdles involved in sending a team to the United States. 
PA then stepped in with timely co-op financing and a local U.S. 
producer, which was enough to close the deal. 
 
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A FINAL PRODUCT WITH SOUL 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) France 3 reporter Setti Dali, herself of North African 
origin, was assigned to cover the story.  She and her team spent 
three days in Boston watching Adel struggle with sightreading and 
music theory, deepen her friendships with her roommates, and rock 
out on stage with Berklee's gospel choir.  APP Lille collaborated 
closely with Dali on the project and its production, even helping 
her with translation of some of the more colloquial English of 
Adel's American schoolmates. 
 
¶5. (U) The final story was a twenty-six minute TV magazine piece 
that ran on France 3 on June 16.  According to France 3 producers, 
viewership for the piece was approximately 56,000, considered a 
solid result for a local affiliate.  France 3 subsequently aired a 
five minute condensed version on June 26. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶6. (SBU) This is exactly the sort of story we want out there:  a 
young French girl of Arab origin is able to achieve artistic success 
by following her dreams to the United States.  The subject comes 
across as sympathetic and very pro-American, the story highlights 
American culture, and the piece encourages studies in the United 
States.  The coverage would not have been possible without the 
enthusiastic, and very flexible, support of PA. 
STAPLETON