Saturday's Arc en Ciel concert (pre-gig report here) was in an interesting venue: the church of Saint-Maurice-de-Tavernole, a very small town east of Jonzac. The church was demolished in the big storm of 1999 and rebuilt in the same style, so it looks like a very spruce medieval building, much as it might have appeared when first constructed except for the beautifully-coloured frescos which are decidedly modern post-impressionist. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera and can't find any photos online. It's a simple rectangular shape in the same kind of stone as my house, but with white rendering, beautiful deep arched windows with stained glass, and a dinky square bell-tower. The interior is how I imagine the Atelier would look (minus frescos unless perhaps we run a painting workshop), if I can afford to have it done.
The town has about 100 inhabitants; there were about 80 people in the audience. So different from the turn-out for a small-town English concert! They were enthusiastic, too, but we only sang one encore.
Mauricette, a soprano who comes from Oléron area hit by Xynthia, managed to organise a collection for the oyster...um, what is the word in English... anyway, the oysters weren't affected but the ostréiculteurs lost their boats and equipment in the storm and high tide. After the concert the mayor of the little seaside town to which the money is being donated gave an almost tearful speech, and people signed concert flyers with encouraging messages to go to the ostréiculteurs. I've done fund-raising gigs many times, but this was curiously immediate.
The wine and cake partying was still going when the three of us from St Genis/Lorignac/St Dizant left.
No comments:
Post a Comment