erupted at a bar in the Alpine town of Crans-Montana<\/a> in the early hours of Jan 1.<\/p>\nMost of those killed in the disaster at Le Constellation bar were teenagers, while 115 people were injured \u2013 38 of whom are still in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.<\/p>\n
At the Salle Metropole theatre in Lausanne, the performing artists came onto the stage to a song written about the tragedy called \u201cEtoile de nos coeurs\u201d (\u201cStar of our Hearts\u201d), and lined up holding white roses.<\/p>\n
Beforehand, the families of the victims gathered in the foyer. There were hugs, smiles and some tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about solidarity. To all the victims, up there or here on Earth, it means one thing: we haven\u2019t forgotten you,\u201d Ms Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, whose 16-year-old son Arthur was among those killed, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in survival mode. Half of our hearts have been ripped away,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps alive the memory of all those who were hurt, both physically and emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Vincianne Stucky, the mother of Trystan Pidoux, who died aged 17, told AFP: \u201cI truly don\u2019t want the children to be forgotten; that\u2019s my greatest fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find tonight\u2019s concert magnificent because it will help, in particular, the burns victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the event, one of those badly burned was out in public for the first time since the fire.<\/p>\n
Tickets cost from 90 Swiss francs (S$146.34), with the proceeds going towards Swisshearts \u2013 an association founded by parents affected by the disaster.<\/p>\n
The participating artists \u2013 performing for free \u2013 included Gjon\u2019s Tears, who finished third for Switzerland at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were young people who just wanted to party and have fun,\u201d the singer told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing close in age to the majority of the victims… I think we can relate to it,\u201d the 27-year-old said.<\/p>\n
Also on the bill was the veteran French-Italian singer Richard Cocciante.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to think about the people who are no longer here,\u201d the 80-year-old told AFP, adding that music \u201ccertainly helps; I don\u2019t know if it can heal, but it helps\u201d.<\/p>\n
The concert was organised by events managers Olivier and Corine Uzan, who are based in Crans-Montana and were running a live event 200m away from Le Constellation on New Year\u2019s Eve. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were shocked, because we knew some of the victims,\u201d Ms Corine Uzan told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy that could have been avoided \u2013 that\u2019s the worst part. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want is to bring a little light and joy… music brings people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thirteen people are under criminal investigation in connection with the disaster, including the bar\u2019s owners and several current and former local officials. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAUSANNE – A benefit concert was held on April 22 in tribute to the victims of a fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-406212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}