Bastia
After the day off on Sunday another big concert is scheduled on Monday: Bastia. This is kind of a home game, because Jean-François and Alain live not far away from here. For me it is not a long trip either. In the meanwhile I have moved to an apartment in Moriani which is only a one hour drive from Bastia.
I am at the beach at about 3 o’clock and believe I can hear thunder and decide to pack my bag to go back to my apartment. It is not until I am walking away from the beach, I suddenly see the dark clouds over the mountains that extend towards the sea. Just as I close the door of my apartment the thunderstorm erupts. I have experienced some storms in my life but this violence makes me flinch with every crackling and thundering zip fastener in the sky. I can hardly imagine that the concert tonight will not be canceled, because I believe that everything has been prepared and installed upfront, and therefore now is soaking wet and therefore useless.
But after ninety minutes everything seems to be quiet again and I can hear children’s voices near the swimming pool and decide to pack my bag. Later, when I have parked my car in Bastia I can’t imagine ever doubting the concert was actually going to take place that evening. The weather is beautiful, the sun is warming up everything again and there is not a trace to be found of the thunder storm anymore.
When I arrive at the ”Place du Marché” it has been fenced with plastic sheets to shield the concert from visitors that did not buy a ticket. The entrance to “the hall” is directly next to the entrance of the garage that is underneath the market place, and that is why we have to dodge drivers who are less capable of driving a car. It is not a very convenient arrangement, but fortunately we get to enter the arena at exactly 8 o’clock.
The Casone in Ajaccio is an open area compared to this market place in Bastia which is surrounded on all sides by houses, most notably the beautifully lit Jean-Baptiste Church. For the musicians on stage it is even pretty hot. Jean-François who is on stage during the entire concert, gets a towel thrown from Pierrot to wipe away some sweat. This is perhaps because at the beginning of the concert the audience is a little reluctant, as if the benefits of the home game are irrelevant here.
But as the concert progresses the efforts of not only Jean-Francois but the whole band pay off. After each song the audience is responding more and more enthusiastically, regardless ofwhether they hear it for the first time, or whether is it a golden oldie. The acoustic set starts with “Di” which is followed by “Blowing in the wind” and is concluded by the cheerful “Bonafurtuna”. This brings the audience into motion. “Bonafurtuna” is followed by the sing along song:“Gaïa“. The text can be read on the small sheets which are held up by Stéphane, Alain and Loïc who turns it more and more into a little ‘Loïc Taillebrest-show’ by looking aggravated when there is nothing on his sheet, and screaming delightedly when one can read finally read “Gaïa” on it.
At the end of the concert we have managed to create a lovely mess and it has become the home game I had in mind. Since I expect lots of people will be waiting to see Jean-François and Alain and confident that I’ll have many other opportunities to talk to them, and moreover since tomorrow the long drive to Carbine is on the agenda, I decide to pack my things and go back to my car. The jolly catching tune from “Ne farai un ortu” is already playing around I my head.
In Bastia I have filmed the start of the concert, the song “Ora”, preceded by a long intro. I Muvrini played this song already in the Giru in 2007. Possibly the song was not quite suitable to be performed with a choir of 500 persons, because it was absent on the cd “Et les 500 Choristes” which appeared later that year. The song has now got a new arrangement. It still has that very cheerful melody which is impossible to get out of your head, just like the accordion part of Loïc Taillebrest and the violin part of Laurence Dupuis. So here it is: “Ora” the start of the concert in Bastia:
Moriani – Bastia = 39,5 km, 53 minutes
Bastia - Place du Marché aux Poissons
Themocracy
Beste Petra
bij het zien en horen van de nieuwe liedjes, krijg ik het water al in de mond en kan ik niet stil blijven zitten achter de computer, het zal weer genieten worden, en van zodra de CD in de winkel ligt ben ik er als de kippen bij, het kaartje voor Brussel ligt al klaar, dus nog even wachten…
Hoi Stefan,
Ik proef enig ongeduld in je woorden. Eerlijk gezegd heb ik dat ook, en onderschrijf dus elk woord van je bericht: direct naar de winkel als de cd uitkomt, en mijn kaartje ligt ook al klaar voor Brussel. Ik zie erg uit naar het concert in Brussel. Het was in augustus al zo leuk op dat mooie terrein, het Belgische publiek was zo super enthousiast, ik vind het echt helemaal te gek om daar weer naartoe te komen. Tot dan!
Petra,
ik hier nog eens,
ik denk dat ik de liedjes van de Corsica tour al wel een keer of 100 heb aan geklikt om ze te horen, ik krijg er gewoon niet genoeg van, en van ongeduld gesproken, niet dat ik de tijd sneller wil doen gaan, maar maart kan niet vlug genoeg aanbreken….
Hoi Stefan, ik moet zeggen dat ik erg benieuwd ben hoe de liedjes straks op het nieuwe album zullen klinken. Ze spelen het eigenlijk nooit zomaar na. Meestal maken ze een versie voor de studio, dan wel voor het podium, en dan zodanig dat het liedje op die plek het beste tot z’n recht komt. Tja, konden we maar een lijntje trekken naar Taghliu-Isulacciu… Groet, Petra