Tag Archives: music

Arts, Traditions

Arles tunes in

By The Arles Project Staff

Arlesians gathered in the city’s many plazas to enjoy performances from local musicians and students June 21 as part of the nationwide Fête de la Musique.

”It’s alive,” said Arles resident and music student Maria Del Mar. “It is the moment to be. You are concentrating on what you are doing and people are watching and feeling you and exchanging with you.”

Dancers at Place Genive. Photo by Thomas Murphy.

Fête de la Musique has annually animated French streets every June 21 since 1982.

This year, students from Conservatoire du Pays d’Arles, a local music school, showcased their musical talents at Le Capitole in La Roquette.

The eldest of the three sisters, Judith, aspires to specialize in classical music. However, for her, the fun is in the familial aspect of her musical endeavors. “It’s very nice playing with my sisters because I can help them. I really like when we can practice together and play all together.”

Judith and Madeleine Drilleau. Photo by Elizabeth Coleman

Helping her band, The Sheshs, set up, Lisa Guibaud said that this festival is great for the city because it attracts even more tourists to Arles. “It makes the city alive, so it is really cool,” Guibaud said. 

At La Place Voltaire, children gathered to watch and even perform. “If I am in France and there is la Fête de la Musique, I go” said Yodit Kebede, the mother of a young performer. Kebede has been attending the festival since her own childhood.

Children were as engaged as their parents. Photo by Solange Jain.

Young students from a nearby music school came out to perform hit classic rock songs such as “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure and “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits.

“I think people are drawn to the rhythm,” said Marco Xavier, who was taking in the scene. “Our bodies have a rhythm, too.” This sentiment was also seen in the west end of La Roquette, where residents gathered to sing, dance, and enjoy delicious food. Among the songs sung by the assembled choir was one titled “Gentrifica,” a song that expressed local frustrations with the rising costs of housing due to the spread of Airbnbs.

Guitar detail. Photo by Malcolm Taylor.

Liam Franceschi is a twelve-year-old student at Studio Franceschi, a music studio in Arles, France. He has a variety of talents, including playing the piano, electric guitar and singing, which he has been doing for five years and counting. “I started singing by myself and wanted to start learning the lyrics and sing with other people,” Franceschi said.

His father, the director of the school, has taught him many skills. Liam doesn’t have a favorite genre to play or sing to, but he does not enjoy French rap as much.

Liam Franceschi and a fellow band member. Photo by Karla Valdez.

The celebration brought a stream of business to cafes and restaurants such as Floris Artisan Glacier in the Place de Republique. “It is the opening of the season, it is the moment where people start to come and all and it is a festivity when all the bars and restaurants start to organize everything,” said Pascal Jeom-Phillipe.

Left to right: Bruno Arnold, Pascal Jeom-Philippe and Edwin Noel. Photo by Sophia Maxim.

The day ended with a collective concert held by Rockette Records in front of the Saint-Trophime Primital Church in Place de la République, with flashing lights, and fog for a rave. The featured performers were Makassa, Vax Populi, Bison Bison Falling Down, Salah, and DJ Transition. The energy of the crowd was electrifying with people standing on top of each other and screaming their hearts out all night long.

The evening ended with a blast. Photo by Autumn DeGrazia.

Video by Hannah Levitan

Reported by Thomas Murphy, Karla Valdez, McCade Hayes, Morgan Lily Neuhauser, Lydia Perez, and Judas Wiley. Featured image by Surya Vaidy.

Arts, Places

Arles’ Performance Aerie

Story and photos by Louis Denson

Claire Nys, and six of her friends were returning home after leaving multiple parties that they didn’t enjoy on a festival evening in Arles when they happened to pass by L’Aire d’Arles. Inside, they saw people happily dancing. “Two girls dressed in long dresses, like two princesses” especially caught their eyes, says Nys, who recalls excellent rock being played on vinyl. Although they were tired, the group of women stopped to join the fun and dance together.

“We were so happy to have found a place that suited us, by chance, in this remote place, away from other parties,” says the long-time Arles resident. “It was a magical, improbable, very joyful, and pretty moment.”

“It’s a place dedicated to the taste and the image,” says its founder, Jonathan Pierredon. Pierredon utilizes the “e” in L’Aire to imply its relation to an aerie or nest. L’Aire d’Arles is “a home for all the eagles and falcons,” he says. L’Aire d’Arles rises from the hill just above the Arles amphitheater and the Roman theater. 

It’s a place to party, gather, share and discover as on any day of the week, especially during the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, there is something different happening on each of the three levels of this restaurant/bar.

There are many venues in Arles to grab a bite or a drink, but none compare to the versatility and diversity that L’Aire provides. Throughout the year, L’Aire d’Arles rotates both its menu and exhibitions. It presents installations of photography and videography from all over the world, music from Brazilian flamenco to Memphis underground vinyl, and food brought to Arles by chefs from Madagascar and Tel Aviv.

As you find the bathroom on the second floor you may come upon an entirely different performance and forget to return to the floor where you started. The sight of the bartenders mixing cocktails welcomes you inside and the aroma of the kitchen floats you upstairs. You can draw on the chalkboard along the stairs, or appreciate the drawings of other patrons.

The second floor is a velveteen lounge space where you can sit and talk as you dissect the everchanging art installations on both the walls and podiums.

And on the third floor, the sound of music and the breeze of fresh air call you to the dance floor and terrace where you can sit back and watch projections on the ancient walls of the city, dance the night away to music, or refresh yourself at the mini-bar.

L’Aire d’Arles welcomes artists and guests of all sorts and styles as all events are free and open to everyone. Pierredon has no criteria for who can share their work. He welcomes all types and techniques of music, art, photography and creation and works them into the venue’s busy schedule.

Arles is not known for its party scene and can be thought of as a small and sleepy town. It can be difficult for amateur artists to have a place to share their works, but L’Aire gives them a platform. L’Aire also invites the students of MoPA, Arles’ prestigious school of animation, to share projections of their films, and it hosts an annual auction for the student work of the National School Supérieure de la Photographie, with an exhibition floor and gavel bidding.

None of this would be possible without the tireless effort and passion of Pierredon and his staff. “Life is full of time, [but] time goes fast,” said Pierredon, sharing his mentality as a business owner, exhibition facilitator and active father.

Pierredon has worked many jobs, including videography for an advertising agency. The time he spent away from his son did not seem justified by pushing a company’s agenda. He wanted that time to have value, reason and passion. In his current work, Pierredon can share his excitement with his son in hopes of instilling verve for community and creation.

He focuses his energy on things that inspire him and that he can look back on and say that he is proud of. “If anything can inspire me, I’m running and jumping.” He loves what he does, the community he can welcome, and values the opportunities the city of Arles has offered him.
The feelings of appreciation are reciprocated by the Arlesian people as well. Pascal Ansell, a musician and language teacher at Arles à lacarte, says, “Jonathan has a very rare and special energy that is exceptional in Arles. He does things for the hell of it; he promotes so many events and wants to support people in what they are already doing. That is so, so precious in the Camargue as there is very, very little of that energy to go around.”