Wow, what a jam-packed weekend that was! to make it easier, I’ll split our festivities into separate posts…
As I mentioned previously, Friday was Fete de la Musique day in Foussais. We wandered down to the garden behind the church, where it was all going to happen, and got ourselves established. It was a beautiful evening, the sun was still strong and there was not a cloud in the sky. The evening kicked off with a lady playing the accordion, joined by what I assumed to be her pupils – one on the accordion and one on the flute. They played a few tunes and the pupils did very well. I imagine the accordion is deceptively tricky to learn, what with it being side-ways-on and all that squeezing in and out – seems like a lot to remember to me.
Then came the kids from Gaston Goulard, the ecole publique. They did several numbers, all unaccompanied, and performed admirably. Some of them were really getting into the swing of it and were jigging along without any worries. Then they were joined by some of the children from St Antoine, including Joe, to sing a song that really confused the audience by singing alternate verses loud then quiet. Each time the quiet verse came around everyone thought they had finished and started clapping!
Then the GG kids left and the rest of the St Antoine children, including Molly, joined the “stage”. They were accompanied on the guitars by Joe’s teacher Nathalie and her guitar teacher in an anglo-french version of “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound of Music. Lisa had leant Nathalie the DVD of the film a while ago to help her in getting the pronunciation right – the only word they struggled with was “so”, pronouncing it “soo”, but apart from that they were spot-on.
They then went on to treat us to a couple of songs that had featured in last month’s Chante-Mai, “Oh Eh Hein Bon” and “TGV”, both very catchy numbers that had the audience singing and clapping along. The kids were brilliant and we were very proud of them. it was especially nice that we had Lisa’s mum and sister with us so they could see the kids performing, something the family will miss out on very often now we are so far away.
The evening then progressed with a choir from, shall I say, the older generation in the village. I’m not sure what they were singing about, but they made quite a lovely sound and did quite a long session. The crowd were really getting into it by the end, swaying in time to the music and joining in with the chorus – great to see.
By the time the choir had finished, our troops were getting restless, so Lisa took her mum and sister plus Rosie home, while I satayed for a while so Molly and joe could play with their friends. it was such a nice atmosphere, as it always is at these events. The kids all got on and played without getting up to too much mischief and the adults could all relax and enjoy a drink on the grass.
While they played a young lad with another accordion played several songs. I have to say that I think it;s great that there was so much music on show, but the accordion did start to drag on a little bit – reminiscent of the flamenco guitar from the Stevenage concert. Thankfully the accordion was soon replaced by a chap singing some folky kind of songs, accompanied very well by a guy with a guitar. He sang a few songs, then made way for a 3-piece combo of keyboard, flute and some other instrument which I can’t remember now…perhaps an oboe. But they were very good, and nicely turned out in matching costumes too!
Once they had finished it was about time to head off. Joe had already been picked up in the car, so Molly and I walked back home. It was still a lovely long, warm night and it was a really nice way to end a very pleasant day.
