Glad to be back and blogging again. I’m in that cliche quandary: if I take the time to make a living, I don’t have the time to even begin to make a living blogging. Or something like that.
Anyway, here’s the new deal. Once upon a time, when I was a kid, Paris shut down in August. It was the Big Vacation (Les Grandes Vacances). Everyone was told basically to stay home: the “real French” were somewhere else.
Well, times started changing, as evidenced by the 20-year history of the Quartier D’Ete, a multi-media, all-City art festival held in late July and early August (quelle horreur). Quartier D’Ete means (more or less) Neighborhood of Summer. It’s a terrific showcase of dance, music and outdoor performance in various parks, gardens and squares across Paris. Many of the works of art are being offered for the first time in France or even the world. It is truly international. The art ranges from very modern to very traditional forms. There will be 33 sites, 35 spectacles, 115 representations, and 260 artists invited to participate. The intellectual element in French activities is also evident here, in a program carefully designed to create a “journey of discovery” in “prestigious and unexpected” places around Paris.
The range of performances is staggering. “Nuits flamenco”, underway at the Palais Royal is billed as: Quatre nuits, trios univers, trios facons de vivre la dance et la musique . . . Un maitre du baile a la tombee du jour, deux etoiles au crepuscule . . . Tous les temps du flamenco prennant la scene du Palais Royal. Very (very) roughly translated: “Four nights, three universes, three ways to live dance and music . . . a master of the dance at the end of the day, two stars at dawn . . . all of the styles of flamenco take the stage at the Palais Royal.”
By way of contrast, meet “Hip-hop a la cubana, featuring Kumar, the rapper from Havana, who focuses on daily life in his neighborhood, Mantilla (a banlieue difficile de La Havane), ou les nuits de fete due temps de Battista racontees par son grand-pere. Basically, he’s from a tough neighborhood where his grandfather told stories of the party life during the time of Batista. His music includes touches of mambo, afro-cuban, dub (reggae) (“les petites incursions”).
The festival offers dance, music, exhibits, and even circuses and acrobatic performances, including the Cirque a la Cite (pole, acrobatics, clowns, diabolo (?), trapeze, and . . .
Check it out at:
htpp://www.Quartierdete.com
for the program, calendar, and archives of prior years. The festival ends August 9th, so there’s still time to make a quick jaunt to Paris, or if you’re there now, to get on-line and find a performance or exhibit that piques your interest. And, of course, add it to your Summer 2010 planning.
You can also check: Myspace and Facebook (search under parisquartierdete).
Next time: more summer fun in Paris, plus preparing for our September trip to France.