Category: Culture

Fifty cities to denounce the sexist violence

Des milliers de personnes sont attendues ce samedi dans une cinquantaine de villes en France pour dire “stop” aux violences contre les femmes. Un collectif citoyen est à l’origine de cet événement, soutenu par des célébrités, plus de 400 femmes journalistes et une centaine de syndicalistes

Thousands of people are expected this Saturday in fifty cities in France to say “stop” to violence against women. A citizen collective is behind this event, supported by celebrities, more than 400 women journalists and a hundred trade unionists.

Continue at France Bleu: France Bleu – Live news, local and national news

 

A fledgling party emerges from the ashes of the French left

Between Macron and Mélanchon a wasteland at the left of the political spectrum has been up for grabs. The latest pretender, a party launched by an essayist, an environmentalist and a leftist economist, has just held its first meeting.

The French left was devastated in the 2017 presidential and legislative elections. The dominant party on the left, the Socialist Party (PS) – the party of presidents François Hollande, François Mitterand and countless other powerful politicians in recent decades – lost 90 percent of its deputies and was forced to sell its historic headquarters in the centre of Paris.

“It’s hopeless,” said Noémie, a 20-year-old philosophy student. “But for the first time in a long time, we want to hope again. I read Raphaël Glucksmann’s book, “The Children of the Void”, and I found it very interesting. This movement is made up of people who are already engaged and who want to go into politics to get things moving. I like their approach.”

Changing Places

Just a week after its founding, Place Publique – a party founded by, among others, essayist Raphaël Glucksmann, economist Thomas Porcher and ecological activist Claire Nouvian – has attracted 10,000 members. On Thursday night, about 1000 of them flocked to Montreuil, a town east of Paris, for the first meeting of the movement that seeks to address “ecological, social and democratic emergencies in Europe” [ . . . ]

Continue at France24: A fledgling party emerges from the ashes of the French left – France 24

Ballaké Sissoko et Vincent Segal

The very first time I heard the magnificent musical dialogue between Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal  – I was blown away by the beautiful mating of sounds between the kora and cello.

Here’s what Songlines says about the latest recording from this unique artist collaboration:

Ballaké Sissoko is one of Mali’s great kora players and Vincent Segal is a French cellist and producer of remarkable refinement. Their debut, Chamber Music, was one of Jo Frost’s picks of 2010 and this is just as good – perhaps better as the duo have performed together so much they seem to respond to each other instinctively. The contrast of plucked and bowed strings is much of the magic, although Segal is frequently playing pizzicato or creating percussive or flute-like sounds on his cello. The title comes from the fact that much of the album was atmospherically recorded at nighttime on Sissoko’s rooftop in Bamako. SB

Listen via Spotify

Thomas Fersen on Thé ou Café: “Un coup de queue de vache”

I love this description of Thomas Fersen, a French singer-songwriter whom I’ve long admired. “Juste un merveilleux poète qui allume des bougies d’anniversaire dans les yeux de qui l’entend”  [Translated] “Fersen is a simply wonderful poet who lights birthday candles in the eyes of those who hear him.”

Here is Fersen performing on on Thé ou Café

And his interview from the same program

 

For the ukelele players, here’s a nice video showing the chords  from Fersen’s most famous tune, “Louise” I’m going to attempt this on my own uke and perhaps post later!