Listen: The Rodolphe Burger festival pays tribute to Rachid Taha

 

Rodolphe Burger and his group Kat Onoma left their mark on French rock in the 80s and 90s. A fervent defender of the universality of music, in 2001 he created the C’est Dans La Vallée festival, in Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines in Haut-Rhin.

Crédit Mutuel supported this atypical festival, the 15th edition of which was held from October 19 to 22, 2023, marked by a vibrant tribute to Rachid Taha.

In this exclusive interview, Rodolphe Burger evokes the memory of the singer of Carte de Séjour and presents the Mademoiselle trio, which he forms with Mehdi Haddab and Sofiane Saïdi.

 

Listen at RIFFX: It’s In The Valley 2023: the Rodolphe Burger festival paid tribute to Rachid Taha – RIFFX

Sir Michael Gambon obituary

The word “great” is somewhat promiscuously applied to actors. But it was undoubtedly deserved by Sir Michael Gambon, who has died aged 82 after suffering from pneumonia.

He had weight, presence, authority, vocal power and a chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself from one part to another. He was a natural for heavyweight classic roles such as Lear and – in the days when white actors habitually played the role – Othello. But what was truly remarkable was Gambon’s interpretative skill in the work of the best contemporary dramatists, including Harold Pinter, Alan Ayckbourn, David Hare, Caryl Churchill and Simon Gray.

Although he was a fine TV and film actor – and forever identified in the popular imagination with Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise – the stage was his natural territory. It is also no accident that, in his private life, Gambon was an expert on, and assiduous collector of, machine tools and firearms for, as Peter Hall once said: “Fate gave him genius but he uses it as a craftsman.”

Off-stage, he was also a larger-than-life figure and  [ . . . ]

Continue at The Gurdian: Sir Michael Gambon obituary | Michael Gambon | The Guardian