A TASTE OF LOCAL CULTURAL EVENTS: COST OF LIVING IN FRANCE #4

In the USofA, we lived in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metropolitan area. The State Theater in Easton brought in class acts like Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Beach Boys and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. The century-old, award-winning Bach Choir of Bethlehem is known worldwide. Allentown Symphony Hall supports an orchestra of reasonable repute. Local universities provide an impressive array of concert opportunities. And tiny Godfrey Daniels Coffee House in Bethlehem has hosted artists from Tom Paxton and Townes Van Zandt to John Sebastian and Peter Tork to James Cotton and Odetta in a venue barely seating 100 folkies, 

But we were going to live in the rural, politically very conservative south of France. We knew that big cities were not that far away. And sure enough. ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen have all recently toured within a drive of two or three hours. to Barcelona and Marseilles or Toulouse. The ticket prices are as you would expect, a couple of hundred USD and up. Same for the opera in Paris - 200USD for a world-class performance of Tosca. Would we have to travel that far just to hear less expensive sounds of music? We quickly learned otherwise. 

Cases in point:

Built about 900 years ago, nestled in woods and fields well off any main road, Chapelle Saint-Germain hosts an annual summer concert series. This year, beginning in July and spaced two or three weeks apart through early September, five concerts are on tap in the small Roman chapel with a dirt floor and about 100 mismatched lawn chairs. Programs range from Bach sonatas presented by the Baroque Ensemble of Toulouse, 15 artists when at full strength, to the Ensemble L'Archerona string trio plus soprano presenting sonatas from the less well-known 17th Century German composer Johann Michael Nicolai. Tickets run about 17.50USD per performance and there's a free tasting of wines from the domain on which the chapel sits.

At the other end of the scale, Catalan conductor/composer/instrumentalist Jordi Savall helms a concert series in the magnificent Cistercian Abbey Fontfroid not far from us. A Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, a UNESCO Artist for Peace, and a Grammy winner, Savall specializes in Early Music but has presented snippets of world music and blues as components of his annual five-night series. Tickets for one evening of this one-of-a-kind series are running between 50 and 60USD this year.

But I don't want to leave you with the impression that the only music available to us locally in our little corner of France was composed hundreds of years ago. Down the road, in a concert series scheduled for the courtyard of the abbey in Saint Chinian, French sisters will present modern and traditional Celtic music. (Celtic influence in Europe ranges from southern Spain to Scandinavia.) Pianist Marc Olivier Poingt, who has collaborated with the likes of Lee Ritenour (American jazz), Omar Sosa (Cuban jazz) and Gilberto Gil (Brazilian jazz), will play solo. And the Duo Yakaira will lend their piano and accordion to Argentinian tango. Tickets for the series run from 20USD to a suggested minimum contribution of 8USD.

But I don't want to leave you with the impression that the only places to hear music locally are churches. While it's true that churches that are centuries old are particularly satisfactory venues for all sorts of music due to having been designed before the age of electronic amplification, they are not the only concert venues. We've heard New Orleans jazz performed by local French musicians on a boat moored in a canal down the road (free with a food order), Latin jazz played by a skilled combo from Toulouse while nestled among tanks of fermenting juice in a local winery (11USD donation suggested), a bad jazz trio performing on a stage next to a burger joint in a campground on the beautiful Gorge d'Heric (free with food order), and have heard various members of The Gypsy Kings perform twice, once on the lawn of a local chateau (free) and once during a fundraiser in the next town's community room (27.50USD). If you didn't know, The Gypsy Kings are French and the extended family comes from the area of Montpelier, about an hour away.

But I don’t want to leave you with the impression that the only cultural outings are music concerts. The cultural arm of regional government also supports children’s shows, magicians, comedians, acrobats, plays and readings. Of course, most is in French, so you will miss nuance if you are not fully fluent. But like reading the newspaper, listening to radio or watching television, exposing yourself to the language in multiple contexts enhances one’s ability to speak and understand your new language.

And I haven’t even mentioned the winery that hosted Nina Simone’s daughter Lisa or the little seaside music festival about an hour away that often has Sting on the bill.

So...

There are cultural opportunities aplenty. All genres. All prices. Locally and in the cities. Never fear. Even in the relative sticks where we live, the French, like Grace Slick, urge you to feed your head.

LA LIGUE CONTRE LE CANCER, CAPESTANG, 11 AUGUST: CONCERT PREVIEW

Last fall, we attended a performance by a Sufi choir and a Whirling Dervish in the seaside village of Meze. Last month, a quartet entertained us with a capella Corsican sacred and folk music in a church in the neighboring village of Ouveillan. In between, we've enjoyed jazz, classical, and world music in a variety of venues at prices ranging from free to 60€ per ticket. When we moved to the very rural southwest of France, I had no idea that our choices would be so diverse and so satisfying.

Typifying such unexpectedly high-level entertainment choices is an upcoming benefit concert in Capestang, just a few kilometers away from us here in Quarante, on August 11th. A senior chorister performing some of the same songs that he sang at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle? Really? The organist during that same wedding performing jazz piano? World premiere of excerpts from a new ballet by a Grammy-awarded company? Show tunes? And a finale led by a mezzo-soprano who has sung at La Scala and The Met, Dame Sarah Connolly? Really?

We've got our tickets. I'll be posting a review after the event. You can learn more and buy tickets on the event website HERE. Look me up at the event. I'll be the graybeard with the balding head and the big grin enjoying himself immensely.

LISA SIMONE: CONCERT REVIEW

Music in the vines...

Billed as a private party, we joined about 200 lucky souls who spent a most pleasant summer evening on the grounds of Mas de Daumas Gassac, one of France's most unique wineries. We nibbled a variety of hors d'oeuvres, drank as much wine as we thought prudent, enjoyed bits of salmon and herb-encrusted tuna from the plancha, dressed rounds of bread with freshly sliced ham and aioli, gathered around cheese boards that were at least two meters long, and if that wasn't enough, spent an hour and a half or so listening to Lisa Simone both being herself and channeling her mother Nina.

First, a word about Mas de Daumas Gassac. You can read the history HERE. It's the story of a family that just wanted to produce the best wine possible without regard to the rules of French classification. Matching great vines from other areas of France to their impeccable terroir, they proved that the Languedoc was capable of producing wine that challenges the greatest vintages of the rest of the country. If that meant that their wine had to be labelled vin de table or vin de pays, so be it. They would simply produce the best wine that they could produce and let taste decide its worth. As a result of their dedication to craft, their winery is a destination for wine lovers from around the world, offering bottles ranging from under 10€ to over 40€ and more.   

Given that their dedicated following has lifted up Mas de Daumas Gassac perhaps beyond expectation, it's fitting that the Guibert family has decided to provide their friends with something special in return. We were fortunate to have discovered the concert on Lisa Simone's website and knew the venue. We arrived just after 8pm and enjoyed what was billed as a cocktail dinner until the sky darkened. The ropes dropped, we found our seats, and the concert began with an intro from one of the Guibert boys. The musicians came out one at a time, giving us a sample of their individual skills, and then came Lisa.

"Vous etes vous," shouted one of our neighbors in the audience as Lisa talked about her mother. (You are you!) But although Lisa displayed due deference to the memory of her mother, covering Leonard Cohen's Suzanne as her mother did and closing with a rousing rendition of Nina's classic The Work Song, Lisa was Lisa. She's basically a pop singer with a strong voice that contains overtones of blues and folk along with jazz. She plays no instrument but she plays the audience, and does it well, at one point coming down from the stage and roaming up and down the aisles, shaking hands while singing.

Her backing trio displayed their talents individually at various times during the show - an amplified acoustic guitar player, a bassist who played both electric and upright bass, and a drummer with an electric smile and a facility with the variety of rhythms in Lisa's songbook.

In sum,if you have the opportunity to see Lisa Simone, don't delay. She's a treasure.

Not a bad seat in the house, if you don't mind plastic...

Men in blazers and men in shorts, ladies in Capri pants and cocktail dresses...

Fish on the plancha...

Ham like you can't often find in France...

Nothing flashy, just the music...

Into the audience...

Yes, a bit of her mother in that face...

More about our life in France, including concert revues, HERE and HERE.

ENSEMBLE WITIZA AT CHAPELLE SAINT-GERMAIN - CONCERT REVIEW

Same Players/Different Venue

We first learned of the concert series at the Chapelle Saint-Germain last summer. But try as we might, we failed to manage to attend even one. The single occasion that we found the time to take the trip up to our north and west, we got hopelessly lost. By the time that we found the little 11th Century chapel tucked among the vines a couple of miles off the main road between Cesseras and Siran, the doors had closed. Again this year, none of the first four dates seemed to work - a wedding in England, friends arriving from Scotland, always an excuse. Until this fifth and last concert of the season.

We should have made the time much sooner.

As stated, the small, old chapel is way back among the vines with parking in a beaten-down glade across the barely-paved track. There's not much to the chapel - a dirt floor, an altar area at one end raised barely an inch or two above the dirt, a few slit windows without glass. Perhaps 100 temporary seats. Not much at all. But like so many of these old spaces, the chapel seemed designed for music. And Ensemble Witiza delivered. Renaissance music, sacred and secular, by DuFay, Machaut and others. Mostly a cappella.  Occasionally an oud or a rebec or a recorder were employed. But three strong voices were all that was required for a fine listening experience - tenor Leo Richomme, baritone Cedric Crespin, and contralto Beatrice Pary, assured and well matched.

Price of admission: 12 euros. We didn't stay for the complementary wine tasting.

Just wonderful.