The Escales Experience

, 14 August 2009

Western France has a lot to offer in terms of culture, even more during summertime. From the famous “Route du Rock” indie festival to the “Bout du Monde” (world music) the offer is quite astonishing for such a small region.

Last weekend the St-Nazaire Port welcomed for the 18th time a transatlantic flight coming directly from Africa after stopping in South & Central America. Most of us went to listen to the obvious: Cesaria Evora and Marianne Faithfull the two queens of the festival, but it was so much more. That’s the good thing about these annual parades right?

From the first day two groups clearly made us vibrate,

Tala (a creation of Titi Robin & Majid Bekkas) played for the first time in France mixing the oriental & gipsy sounds clearly mastered by Robin with Bekkas’ Afro-American blues or the gnaoua. An hour and a half of pure creation & experimental fusions which shall continue to grow in the future, their sauce is so sweet…

Tumi and the volume (TATV) closed the first day with the grooviest swing poetry in this part of France. Tumi Molekane and his lads made all of us (even the most tired) give him the beat and fuck in consonance with his political messages. TATV are indeed the incarnation of modern South Africa, a colorful and explosive post-apartheid mix… probably one of the freshest bands (if not the most) of the festival.

And when the second day started with the Calypso Rose queen, then a not very shiny Marianne Faithful half-delighted its generation with lots of versions from old classics… “I’m tired” that’s not a very convincing excuse for a spiritless concert.

Fortunately Konono nº1 and Speed Caravan where there to make us dance through the night,

Konono nº1 are a legend in the Congo. Bringing their home-made sound system built from old car parts, megaphones and discarded amps they managed to create an absolutely hypnotic sound. African rhythms with a touch of electro which made all of us dance to the ecstasy.

Speed Caravan had the responsibility to close the festival … and in what a way. This unclassifiable group created around the oud player Mehdi Haddad, mixes traditional oriental sounds with a rock & some electronic bases that made us remember Daft Punk more than once (they used some Chemical Brother’s samples…). Their speed of sound was simply contagious, the best way to close a world music festival.

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