Vicu – Vico
I drive to Vicu for the first time and it promises to last more than 2.5 hours. I have a set of principles when it comes to driving to concert destinations in Corsica: in case I find the road too scary to drive at night, I will remain at the point of arrival until the sun rises. And if I cannot keep my eyes open because I am too tired, then I just stop and try to sleep in the car.
The way there is indeed quite heavy, and falls into three parts. The first part is quite normal with the inside track, but the second part is rocky with high cliffs on the right that will easily scrape away the paint of my car. On the left side of the road is a cliff with behind it rocks rising again. A kind of mad moonscape. It’s warm, almost 40 degrees (104 degrees F!), but fortunately there is air conditioning in the car. The last part is more woody and thus, more wild animals. It has just rained, so the temperature has fallen significantly. It is just over 20 degrees.(68 degrees F) Things can change in Corsica.
The second part of the route is where the main challenge is. The canyon is to my right, and though there are rows of stone masonry to keep you on the road, one should definitely not fall asleep. But when I arrive in Vicu I am sure I will drive back to my apartment after the concert. I do want to enter this challenge. I do already have a quick prayer that I will not encounter a truck, fire engine or camper.
Vicu is a strange village with a large sharp turn of 300 degrees as the center. The concert takes place in the stadium, the “stade”, which is higher up, on the outside of the village.
When I arrive, the band had already gone through sound-check, and public access seems to be closed. But Dumè, the man who sells tickets every night, knows me a bit, and he kindly lets me through, provided that after the sound check I will return to let him tear my ticket.
When I enter the site guitarist Mickey Meinert notices me directly. He greets me warmly and is making gestures from the podium that I have to wait because he wants to tell me something.
Mickey has recently joined the band and we have met briefly on the morning after the first concert of the Giru that I attended this year, in Ajaccio. Coincidentally I stayed in the same hotel as the band and that morning he was sitting nicely, relaxing on the terrace watching the route to Calvi where they would play that night. When I asked him what he thought of the Giru he already made the impression he was considering himself to be a kind of chosen one to visit that beautiful Corsica, which he had not previously visited, and to make beautiful music every night in a band with excellent musicians who were still very sympathetic. He beamed even, and I did not really see that smile on his face disappear.
It takes a while before he reappears, but that is because he has gone to the back to pick up his cd “Hin und her”, that he has released two years ago, and he wants to give it to me. I thank him for the gift and ask once again whether he likes to play night after night in Corsica. Again he says he finds it fantastic . “The emotions that you feel in the hall,” he says “trust me, on stage we feel them too!”
Our conversation comes suddenly to an end as the sound check really starts and Mickey must participate. Soon after Alain also appears on stage. Because he does not play an instrument, he basically has not much to do during the sound check, and must wait until the end of it to adjust his microphone. So every night, and thus this night too: Alain must wait. Often he does it behind the podium, sometimes on a chair in the hall, but tonight he does that on stage. And Alain can wait in a beautiful way:
The sound check is never entirely closed. You can always ask if you can enter inside. This was done by a woman too who has asked Shelly, the manager, permission, and Shelly accompanies her to Jean-François. She asks him to put his signature in her copy of the “Dicocorse”. How important the sound check may be, there is almost always time made for things like this, unless it is really impossible.
The concert itself actually went like clockwork. Meanwhile they have played the songs, the new ones included, so often that it seems like they play themselves.The most striking is that the audience in Vicu seems to laugh much harder at the jokes of Jean-François in his Dicocorse than I’ve heard elsewhere.
The program booklet this year contains one lyric, the song “Quand’hè” of the latest CD “Et les 500 Choristes”. (I Muvrini and the 500 Chorists) It is listed under the heading “Je chante I Muvrini” (“I sing I Muvrini”); the same invitation is shown on their website. It is an invitation for everyone to record an I Muvrini song on a video, and send it to them. They will then choose the best ones and present them on their website. The invitation is visible for some time now but no video has been shown in this context.
In all honesty, I doubt if “Quand’hè” is the song that will win the doubters over to film their performances. The text of the verses is very fast, half sung, half pronounced, and is hard to learn. Besides the Corsican text in the booklet, the French translation is written, leaving the Corsican sentences not enough space. For example, some words shrink into one word like: “Mafiosapassaàatelevisiò” while the sentence actually reads: “Mafiosa passa à a televisiò”.
I myself have been so crazy to learn the song by heart that it cost me three weeks time. I found this the biggest challenge in the repertoire of I Muvrini, and therefore strange that these lyrics were prisicely displayed to encourage the public to sing with them. But perhaps my approach helps more people. First I have written down all lines phonetically, because reading the lines in this language in this speed was impossible. When I knew the words so well that I could switch to the original Corsican text I replaced the phonetic parts by the original text until I knew the whole text. To demonstrate, I’ve published (below) my phonetic version on the right side, next to the original text on the left. Unfortunately it shows the final phase of my learning process, in which so much text has been replaced, but you can still see traces of the earlier phases.
| Quand’hè | |
|---|---|
| Stasera u paese s’assumiglia à a cità | Stasera u paese s’assumiglia à la cità |
| Ùn si vede nisunu ùn ci hè anima chì và | Un si vede nisunu un ci he anima chì và |
| Ùn aghju voglia à di e più pocu à dumandà | Un aghju voglia à di e più pocu à dumandà |
| Stasera ci hè da more sai o mà | Stasera tji da more sai o ma |
| Cinque ore diggià chjosi li purtò | Cinque ore deno djosi li purto |
| Daretu a i mio muri mi ne vò | Daretoe ai mio moeri mi ne vo |
| A to telefunata face prò | Ato telefoenata fatjee pro |
| Dumenica si porta male è bè | Dumenica si porta male è bè |
| Dumane passeraghju à lu caffè | Dumane passeraghju à lu caffè |
| È torna mi dumandarà di tè | È torna mi dumandarà di tè |
| Quand’hè l’ora di campà | Quand’hè l’ora di campà |
| Quand’hè ch’ella venerà | Quand’hè ch’ella venera |
| Quand’hè l’ora di campà | Quand’hè l’ora di campà |
| Quand’hè chè no l’emu da fà | Kwandee kenelemoewafa |
| Stasera u paese face nice d’aspettà | Stasera oe paesa fatje niesje aspetta |
| Ci hè duie case à vende a chì vole cumprerà | Tsji doeje casa vende a ki bole kumprera |
| Dumane farà ghjornu mi vurria addurmentà | Dumane fera jornu mi joeri addurmenta |
| Dumane farà ghjornu diu hà fattu eppo farà | Dumane fera jornu dioe fattu pofera |
| Cinque ore l’anu chjosi li purtò | Cinque ore l’anu chjosi li purtò |
| Stasera u mio core dice innò | Stasera oe mio core ditsjeeno |
| Mafiosa passa à a televisiò | Mafiosa passa à televisiò |
| À belli novanti anni pè finì | A belli novantanni pe fini |
| Dumenica ci crede è torna à dì | Dumenica tji crede a torna di |
| Tù o figliolu statti quì | Toe o figliolu stati qui |
| Quand’hè l’ora di campà | Quand’hè l’ora di campà |
| Quand’hè ch’ella venerà | Quand’hè ch’ella venera |
| Quand’hè l’ora di campà | Quand’hè l’ora di campà |
| Quand’hè chè no l’emu da fà | Kwandee kenelemoewafa |
| Cusi corre l’esiliu duve stò | Cusi corre lesiljoe doe-esto |
| Hè scritta libertà pè u stradò | He scritta liberta pe oe strado |
| T’abbracciu à un bel ghjornu s’e ci sò | Tabbratja un bel ghjornu se ci so |
| Quand’hè l’ora di campà | Quand’hè l’ora di campà |
| Quand’hè ch’ella venerà | Quand’hè ch’ella venera |
| Quand’hè l’ora di campà | Quand’hè l’ora di campà |
| Quand’hè chè no l’emu da fà | Kwandee kenelemoewafa |
© Jean-François Bernardini
When
Today my village resembles the city
There is nobody to meet, not a living soul around
I do not want to talk and even less to ask
Do you know, mama, today it feels like dying here
Five o’clock, they have closed the doors
I retreat behind my walls
Your call cheered me up
Dumenica is doing fine
Tomorrow I’ll go and have coffee with her
And again she will ask me about you
When will the moment come to live
When will it come
When will we start
Tonight the village seems to be waiting
Two houses for sale
For anyone who wants to buy them
Tomorrow is another day
I want to go to sleep
Tomorrow is another day
God always gives a new one
Five o’clock, they have closed the doors
Tonight my heart says no Mafiosa is on tv
She is almost nighty years old
But Dumenica still keeps faith
And repeats:“Don’t you ever leave, son!”
When will the moment come to live
when will it come
When will we start
And so my exile here is slipping by
On the road is written “freedom”
I embrace you, see you some day, if I’ll be there…
When will the moment come to live
When will it come
When will we start
When will we start
My vocal skills do not force me to send I Muvrini a video. They really do it all much better. Look how they sang “Quand’hè” in Vicu!
After the concert I drive back without any problems. On the second part I stop, turn off the lights of my car and step out of it. I literally am not able to see my hand in front of my face. I know the canyon is located within two meters of me, and stare breathless into the sky that cannot light the ravine. Then I step back inside and ride, wide awake, and very alert to my apartment. When I get into my bed I think: that route, I definitely like to ride it once again!
Moriani – Vicu= 126 km, 2 hours 38 minutes
The route between Moriani and Vicu.
The tennis courts with below the field where the concert took place.
A picture of the site so you can always return to it when you’re looking around in Google Maps.
This is the street you must run into in order to reach the stadium. The street view from Google maps unfortunately extends to the entrance of the stadium.
Themocracy