VOX BIGERRI, QUARANTE: CONCERT REVIEW

I get it. Not everyone will make tracks on a Friday night to hear a group of Corsican men sing polyphonic music a capella even if the concert is free and takes place in an historic 10th Century abbey. There was a time when I might have passed on it myself. But The Southern Woman That I Married has managed to refine my tastes over the years. Even if certain genres don't touch my soul, at least I can be appreciative.

Take opera, for instance...

But this music does touch my soul. There's something about a minor key lament that strikes a chord. And when presented with confidence, skill, energy, and even joy, I can't help but be carried along with it. It's not music for every day listening, to be sure. You don't bop around the room to this stuff while you're dusting the furniture. But in the right setting - and L'Eglise Sainte-Marie in Quarante is a most proper setting - folks like the five men who comprise Vox Bigerrie can keep an audience of one hundred or more locals spellbound throughout an hour-long concert.

A quick word about polyphony, keeping in mind that I'm no expert. Basically, polyphonic music is music in which two different melodic lines are sung simultaneously. Most of us are used to single melody lines or melody lines enhanced by chords based on that single line. So polyphonic music can have an overly complex, even discordant sound to the modern ear.

Play the video above. If you like what you see and hear, head over to YouTube for more. The videos that Vox Bigerrie post are different, creative and enjoyable. Just as they are different, creative, and enjoyable as a performance group. If you have the opportunity, see and hear them in person. Wonderful stuff. And check out the annual Festival of the Troubadours of which this concert was a part HERE. The series of concerts lasts from June through October and the venues span the entire region.

You can read more about my takes on French life on my blog HERE. Enjoy.

RIFA I PASSI: CONCERT IN THE ABBAYE DE QUARANTE

This Friday night, 19 September, 2014, as a part of cultural programming that takes place throughout the year in several small towns like our Quarante that cooperate regionally, the tourist office presented a free concert in the Abbaye de Quarante performed by the seven female singers comprising the group Rifa i passi. The above Youtube video was not taken Friday night but both the setting and the sound quality approximate our local abbey, built 1,100 years or so ago, just a few steps from our front door. Pictures of the abbey available on the web appear below.

This was plainsong singing at its best in the proper setting and the ladies received two well-deserved standing ovations, one at the end of their main set and one after their encore, during which they brought out their first instrument, an accordion used just for chords, then sang a final chant as they moved down the main aisle of the abbey from the altar to the exit. The pews were full and folks stood along the walls and in the back. It was a magical evening. 

QUARANTE ABBEY IN FRANCE BLOG

While walking through the square by the Abbaye de Quarante just a few steps from our house, we heard the sound of voices. The voices seemed to be coming from the Abbaye. Read about our discovery HERE.