Who: Singer Anggun, 49, is best known for pop songs such as the global hit Snow On The Sahara (1997) and Mimpi (1989).
The Indonesia-born artiste, who has released multiple albums in English, Bahasa Indonesia and French, lives in Paris with her husband, German photographer Christian Kretschmar, 55, and their daughter Kirana, 15.
Anggun is back in Singapore to take the stage at President’s Star Charity 2023, where she will perform a duet with Singapore Idol winner Taufik Batisah. The charity event will air live on mewatch, Channel 5 and Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube on Sunday at 7.30pm.
“My perfect weekend would be spent at our country house, which is around 80km from Paris, in Haute-Normandie. I was born and raised in Jakarta, and when I decided to leave Indonesia in my 20s, I went on to live in London, then Montreal and finally, Paris, which has been home for 20-plus years.
I am a devout city girl, always have been. So, never in my life would I think of not only owning a house in the countryside, but actually loving the countryside.
We were lucky enough to have found this house by the forest six years ago. We are surrounded by oak trees, we have the sunrise and sunset from our terrace. There is absolutely no man-made noise around and our closest neighbour is 1km away. The silence, the quality of the air and the slow pace that we have here is priceless.
Still, the fast Internet connection helps us to keep my daughter interested.
We don’t really have breakfast during weekdays, and my daughter takes her cereal standing up in the kitchen before rushing to school. So breakfast during weekends is glorious. My husband goes to the boulangerie, the only one in our village which happens to be a most sought-after bakery as people from other villages go there for their “baguette tradition”.
We have our breakfast late, around 10 to 10.30am. There is usually a very lazy jazz playlist. We have the famous baguette with rillettes, brioche with milk jam and pain au chocolat or other chocolatey specialities.
We take our time, we talk a lot and often our breakfast turns into brunch as my husband makes his delicious scrambled eggs and throws in a sausage or two. Mind you, he is German, so sausages are never far away.
Usually after all that deliciousness, we have a food coma, so we either read something in front of the fireplace, watch Netflix or nap on the sofa at the terrace.
In the afternoon, we sometimes go for long walks in the forest. This year, we have been blessed with a long summer, but I like autumn, when the tree leaves change colours. Once it is cold and humid enough, we do our mushroom hunting.
The smell of nature, the noise our shoes make when we walk on broken branches and the animals we see during our walks make these moments really special and, might I add, necessary. Kirana is just like me, a true city girl. She’s almost 16, and we know that the countryside is not really high on her fun list, but we can see that she appreciates it, though she does not want to admit it yet.
Dinner is one of our favourite times. Christian is an incredible cook. During the cold months in Europe, he would make osso buco, beef bourguignon or other saucy, slow-cooked meals. But at the moment, I’m loving his seafood pasta. I help him with the prep – peel and devein the fresh shrimps, clean the scallops and dice the salmon.
After dinner, we will watch a movie, then go to the terrace again and stare at the sky. Christian whips out his numerous apps about stars and starts telling us about galaxies.
Then it is off to bed. The quality of sleep we have here – oh my. Sometimes we can hear owls, but mostly, nothing.”
