French Cicadas and Multicultural Music
By Lou Callet
Y'a des
cigales dans la fourmilière by La Rue Kétanou is not my
favorite album.
This only sentence reveals the
challenge scope of this article. Wordplays, slang and foreign words
sprinkle the whole musical creation of this French band.
La Rue Kétanou proclaims
its ownership of the streets. « C'est pas nous qui
sommes à la rue, c'est la Rue Kétanou »
(It's not us who are on the street, it's the Street Which'sour) is
their tagline that induced this pavement's tamers name-Street
Which'sour.
From the French streets to the best stages of Paris passing through
performances in squats, this band
lived a success
story that pushed street art in the news.
Let's
call
Y'a des cigales dans la fourmiliére a
contextual preference more than a favorite album. Music surrounds us
and sometimes some melodies meets personal events, intimate feelings.
This album loudly runs many times a week in the living room of the
house I rent during my year in exchange in the Philippines.
Six
months in this country pointed out how population's diversity was an
integrative part of my life in France. The Philippines have a really
homogeneous population. Most of the citizens are Filipinos and
Catholics. I daily experience their amused surprise to see a western
fair skin girl. On the contrary, Paris is one of those globalized
hubs. Origins and nationalities have melted since centuries in
France. As street arts, French culture keeps on evolving over the
course of the migrations.
Y
a des cigales dans la fourmiliére echoes
this French diversity. La
Rue Kétanou
melts gypsy, folk, reggae and pop music style. When I switch to the
fifth song of the album, São
Loucas,
a slow guttural male voice breaks the silence. It sings the
Portuguese widow's sadness.
« Elle pleure son marin/ Son marin n'est plus le sien/ Elle dit que les vagues sont folles/ Quand elle chante le fado/Son chant est un oiseau/Un oiseau qui s'envole »
(
She laments her sailor/Her sailor is not her anymore/ She says waves
are crazy/ When she sings the fado/ Her song is a bird/ A bird that
flies off).
And
this voice is joined by two others, they rise more and more loudly.
Guitars speed up to follow them.
« On dit que la vieille est barge/Mais dès qu'elle porte le
châle/Le silence s'installe/On écoute ses paroles »
(One
says the old woman is nuts/ But as soon as she wears the veil/Silence
comes/ One listen to her words)
La
Rue Kétanou
puts together portuguese and French lyrics. I take off to the narrow
streets of the old Lisbao. Lyrics flows with the melody to recreate
a modern fado- this traditional dramatic portuguese song.
At
the beginning of the second song of the album, Les
Hommes que j'aime (Men
I Love),the
accordion loudly starts, it repeats those three chords faster and
faster. The musician proudly handle this instrument that some
grandpas still keep in their closets. The song takes place on the
banks of the Seine, this river crossing Paris and the singer creates
a Bohemia atmosphere.
“Je
voudrais vous parler, des hommes que j'aime/Ceux qui m'ont embrassés,
au bord de la seine/Ou j'allais me jeter, jeter par une reine/Que
j'avais, aimé, plus que les hommes que j'aim”
(I'd
like to talk about men I love/ Those who kissed me, on the Seine
banks/ Where I was going to throw myself, throw by a queen/ That I
had loved, more than the men I love.)
Laid
on the floor, I grab the CD case and have a look at the back.
They
are three men in La
Rue Kétanou.
Mourad Musset is a 35 tall bold man. He has some origins from
Morocco. A part of Florent Vintrigner's family is from Belgium. He is
the older, almost in his 40's. He usually carries a large accordion
and on his face a smile almost larger. Olivier Leite has dark hair, a
long noise. He plays the guitar, the percussion instruments and he
has this voice which excels to sing the Fado thanks to his Portuguese
origins.
To
the French accordions, to the Paris landmarks present in their songs,
they add with brilliance cultural references and creations from their
background.
Album's
name is quite revealing. Y'a
des cigales dans la fourmilière
means “There are Cicadas in the Ant Hill”. It refers to a French
fable opposing working ants to lazy and partying cicadas.
Before
to switch off, the stereo system, I play the first song of the album,
Les
cigales,
(Cicadas). The gypsy violins get crazy, one can hear hands clapping.
I close my eyes and I clearly visualize an incredible party that
would take place in a large barn.
“Eh
bourgeois entends-tu/passer dans ta rue/une parade d'espérance/et
qui chante et qui danse/et vogue, vogue la galère/le cap sur la
bohème”
(Hey
bourgeois, do you hear/passing by your street/ a hope parade / and
which sings and which dances/ Come what may ! / Head for Bohemia)
Cicadas
from the old fable are over, they don't get lonely and poor at the
end as it happens in the book. When they criticize, when they
protest, they dance and chant the loudest possible. And ants don't
have any choice.
“Il
y a des cigales dans la fourmilière / Et vous pouvez rien y faire”
(There are cicadas in the ant hill / And you can't do anything)
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