Another south of France glorious summer evening

The Paul Selmer Orchestre, giving an exciting extravaganza of a show for our village party

As we near the end of August we still have high-summer temperatures of between 30 and 36 degrees. This was perfect for our party day yesterday, August 21 - it was the Fête de la Libération, and although this would be too hot for comfort in the afternoon, by evening time this was just right.

This annual event, celebrated in many towns and villages throughout France, celebrates the end of Nazi occupation. The event is organised jointly but the Mairies and the local Ancients Combatants, the French equivalent of the British Legion, in alliance with other supporting associations.

In addition to sharing a long table with our close friends in the village, this year we had our 'family' from Ireland with us, so it was important to be there so make sure we had somewhere for everyone to sit - we managed to get 20 of us around a few of the tables, so we were soon installed.

There is always lots to catch up with at events like this. Once everyone is comfortably seated it's a chance to go around the Place, talking with friends who we haven't seen for a few weeks. David sat with our Irish family, catching up with their news and giving some information of what the Fête de la Libération was all about.

It was a long typical south of France summer evening, with a buzz of conversation, lots of laughter, and of course a chance to taste the local wines from our Cave Coopérative.

The meal was well prepared and served by willing volunteers, and 10 € was good value for a starter of locally produced melon, then a choice of Paella or Grillade, with bread and accompaniments, then Camembert cheese with a slice of baguette from the local bakers shop, completed with desert of ice cream.  Accompanied by the local rosé wine - at 5 € a bottle it may not have been haute cuisine, but it was certainly good quality and enjoyable and made for a good start to the evening.  The photo left shows Cora and husband Brian, starting off the evening with a display of their magnificent dancing skills.

Then, as last year, we had a show lasting some four hours - entertaining music and dance from the Paul Selmer Ochestre. This is a highly professional 24 piece group, composed of singers, dancers and the musicians, who play a wide range of instruments. Most of the team are young people who are attending the music academy in Montpellier, so each year it's a continually changing team - except for the older ones who seem to have been part of the orchestra since it started in the 60's.

The music is a melange of 40's - Glenn Miller and the Andrew Sisters for example, typical music of the era of the Libération, through the 50's, the 60's (the obligatory French take of The Village People, with the group dressed in the correct costumes for YMCA, always gets the audience spelling out the letters during the chorus). The music continues through the 70's up to the present day.

Three of the talented singer/dancers with the Paul Selmer Orchestre

This is another opportunity to spend a beautiful evening meeting friends and chatting together, learning the latest news and generally having a good time. Plus of course, plenty of floor space to have a dance to 'til the early morning.

It's Feria time!

Summer holidays are well underway with what seems the whole of the French population encamped here in the south. Certainly for the last two weeks the autoroutes from north to south have been very busy, with holiday makers making their way to their chosen holiday destination.

In our village, like all the other villages, summer time is feria time - Fête, Fiesta, Feria, the name depends upon the location of the village. The closer to Spain, like our village, then it's Feria.

Band Parade
Usually the typical village summer Fiesta will last 3 or 4 days.  In the afternoons there is plenty of time to show off your other competitive self. The local petanque championships for example. Then, to kick off events each evening in our village, there is a street music, with a local brass band doing extremely well with renditions of real live Spanish pasodoble music. Plenty of 'Enter the Toreador' and shouts of "Olé" from the crowds. The band parades up and down the village main street as a prelude to the main event - 'the encierro'.

The Encierro
This is a 'running' of the bulls through the street, a smaller version of the famous bull running of Pamplona. Not quite as dangerous, but enough to keep me and David tight behind the safety barrier erected at the entrance to our home (behind the horses in the photo above). This is one of the few safety barriers that are erected in some places.

Most of the street is unguarded and there are plenty of young bravados waiting for the arrival of the bulls. The run out alongside and after the bulls, the aim of which is completely lost on me, but not on their watching girlfriends. A sort of passage of rights, showing the bravery of their latest flame. It always amazes David, who spent a lifetime ensuring jobs in the workplace were safe, that such events take place with so much inherent danger. The only mention to safety are the many notices posted on the nearest wall or lamppost that states (in French) 'Risks are involved and the Town Hall cannot be responsible for any accidents or injuries' - or words to that effect.

Afterwards, the bulls are herded back to their stockade by 'gardians' (Camarguais cowboys), who ride close and tight on their white Camargue horses.

This is not the Corrida - bullfighting, of which I am certainly not a fan. There is an element of fun with this - if not a little dangerous fun - like skydiving. For me it gives the bulls a real chance for the bulls to be the strong animals they are, daring anyone to get too close. And fortunately, no one is seriously injured. A few bruises for sure, making the young men even more glamorous in the eyes of their admirers.

A long fun evening - food, wine, music and dancing
Then, the crowd make their way to the Place. Long tables and chairs are already set out - usually around 700 people are there for the evening. This is an evenings of a meal - usually an excellent barbecue or paella, with local wine accompaniment of course, plenty of time to talk with neighbours or holiday makers who arrive and sit at the long tables, then music from live groups - a chance to do your John Travolta bit on the dance floor.

Yes, this is another fabulous summer Fiesta in just one village in the south of France. Parfait!

La Fête de la Musique

This Saturday and Sunday it's wall-to-wall music in France. It's La Fête de la Musique! This annual event (sometimes called 'World Music Day' in other countries) just gets bigger, and the events in our village were no exception. Although the official date is June 21 each year, many cities and towns are holding the event over the weekend - a much better idea than having the event on a Monday.

The original idea for this annual feast of music is attributed to the American musician Joel Cohen in the mid seventies. However, I believe much of the credit for making the event so popular must go to French politician Jack Lang, who as Minister of Culture in 1982 made a number of proposals to create and widen the appeal of the event. From then, the event has become a national day of music enjoyed by millions.

The basic principal is that music - all categories, should be enjoyed in as many public places as possible throughout France. One strict rule is that no matter how famous the artists who are performing, the event has to be free of any charges for people who attend. This weekend throughout France there will be more than 15,000 concerts, most taking place in the streets or on the main Place of a town or village.

In our village we have many events, catering for all tastes in music, scheduled to start on Saturday night on the village Place with Les Princess - a quite lively pop group. Unusually however we had some rain and the event was moved to the Salle de Fete next to the Place. No worries.

The opening group was followed by Groupe de Jazz, local jazz musicians playing a wide range of jazz music from Blues to Trad. The singer of the group is one of our friends, Ray Everitt*, someone we have known for many years. To quote the title of one of David's favourite photographic books, Ray is "World Famous Around Here!"**

So we listened to Ray and the musicians as they poured out some beautiful soulful jazz plus some lively New Orleans tunes. Wonderful.

Then 'comme habitude', a break for a drink and refreshment, with freshly cooked grillade, frites, crêpes, gâteaux - and local wine of course.

Back to the music and it was time for a local pop group, Elastic Blues, followed by music from the DJ - dancing 'til the early hours.

Sunday, the music continues.  But a change of tempo. Martine, our best friend in the village, was performing with her choral group 'Des Amis en Musique', the event being held in our church. There was a variety of songs, in French or course, but a couple in English - Broadway musical songs, and as always, the ambience and the sounds created in the church is beautiful. Their session was followed by violin and piano recital and finally a session of medieval songs.

Then back to the Place for more pop music. I'm sorry but we didn't last the night. As I said at the beginning, it was a long, and beautiful weekend, but time for feet up.

*Ray, born in Wembley in North London, is the son-in-law of the famous French chanteur, the late Boby Lapointe. Over the past quarter century Ray and his wife Martine (Ticha) have made their home in the Languedoc, in southern France. Here he has made a name for himself as a singer, jazz musician, local personality and all-round eccentric.

Ray - whose extravagant moustachios and generally dishevelled appearance have earned him the description "a cross between Asterix the Gaul and an unmade bed" - is a former bricklayer, merchant seaman, stuntman (in Cliff Richard and Roger Moore films), Twickenham rugby player and Borstal boy. "I've had a colourful career," he admits cheerfully, "and I'm not ashamed of any of it, including my tearaway youth."

He earned great praise several years ago when he made a 1,300 km ride on horseback, from here to Berne in Switzerland. The object - to raise money for Autism. A special website was created for this journey here:
www.black-et-ray.com. It's worth a read.

** "World Famous Around Here" is the title of a book of photographs taken by a local photographer from David's home town, Castleford, and is a wonderful collection of photographs recording real life in the town during the 1950s.

Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur

Today, Friday June 18, is a day commemorated by the French to mark the anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's radio appeal to German-occupied France.

In the UK the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni will visit the BBC radio studio in London where the General famously urged his compatriots to resist Nazi occupation in a BBC broadcast on 18 June 1940. Later, Mr Sarkozy, joined by Prince Charles, will lay a wreath on the Mall at the statue of the Queen's father George VI. About 800 people from the Charles de Gaulle Foundation, the Free French Foundation and other groups have been invited to London to join events.

Here in our village of Montblanc it's a very important day too, and we attended a special ceremony with some of our good friends in the village, Robert and Myriam Chauvel. They gave us a special invitation to attend an event organised to celebrate the award to Robert of 'Le Grade de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur' (Militaire) - a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the day of June 18 being chosen especially to mark the honour of receiving the award.

 

The Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur' is the highest decoration in France and was created by Napoleon to reward and commend both civilians and military for distinguished service.

There are not many such awards and Robert joins an elite group which also includes foreigners and people outside of military service such as President Dwight Eisenhower (although he was given the award for his services during WWII), filmmakers Clint Eastwood, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg, Ellen MacArthur, sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur, author J. K. Rowling, playwright Harold Pinter, celebrities Barbra Streisand, Céline Dion... Wow! Our friend Robert joins the 'A' list!

However he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur not because he's a singer, film director or author but because of his many outstanding deeds during his long career in the army.

This included being part of the group that helped liberate Paris during WWII, and so many other acts of bravery carried out whilst defending the freedom of his country.

Obviously this is a great honour for Robert, and of course, his wife Myriam is just as thrilled, as can be seen by the photo below taken at the reception after the award ceremony.

Miriam went to great trouble to ensure the event was well celebrated, inviting close friends and Robert's friends from the military, both present and past.

It was an enjoyable and long day, and David was feeling quite chuffed that he should be invited (the only non-French person present!) to be at such an auspicious event.