Chinese New Year – L’Année du Serpent
IT’S THAT TIME of the year again, Chinese New Year and it’s goodbye to the year of the dragon and welcome to the year of the snake.
The Chinese New Year is a moveable feast. In the Gregorian calendar it falls somewhere between 21st January and the 20th February but the precise date is determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar and the date when the second new moon after the winter solstice occurs.
Each year in the Chinese calendar is associated with one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac. This year is the year of the snake.
Chinese communities the world over celebrate their new year with tremendous enthusiasm and the Chinese community in Paris is no exception. The streets are decorated with red Chinese lanterns, wonderful colours abound and the air is filled with the magical sounds of drums and cymbals accompanying the magnificent lion dances.
I went to Place d’Italie in the 13th arrondissement to watch and listen to the celebrations.
The Year of the Snake in Sound:
Mort Pour La France
ARMISTICE DAY WAS MARKED in Paris on Sunday with the national act of remembrance led by François Holland, Président de la République.
Accompanied by the children of two French soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the Président laid a wreath on behalf of the nation under the Arc de Triomphe at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
The act of remembrance is about remembering all those who have died in the service of their country but in a poignant moment, the names of the French servicemen killed in Afghanistan since this time last year were read out while the large crowd stood in absolute silence.
Mort pour la France:
Of all the sounds to be heard at the Arc de Triomphe, it seemed to me that this one best expressed my feelings about this act of remembrance. Some sounds, however simple, can often say all that needs to be said.
La Fête de Ganesh 2012
INDIAN COMMUNITIES across the world celebrate la Fête de Ganesh at this time of the year. Yesterday, I went to join the celebrations in Paris.
Genesha, the Hindu deity of wisdom, propriety and good fortune, has a temple dedicated to him in Paris, the Sri Manicka Vinayakar Alayam temple, in the rue Pajol. And it was from here that a colourful procession set off on its tour of the surrounding area. As always with these kinds of events perhaps it’s best simply to let the pictures and the sounds tell the story.
Sounds of La Fête de Ganesh:
Sounds of La Fête de Ganesh:
Sounds of La Fête de Ganesh:
Sounds of La Fête de Ganesh:
You can find the sights and sounds of last year’s Fête de Ganesh here.
La Fête Nationale 2012
ON SATURDAY, THE CROWDS gathered, the rain held off and the Champs Elysées was decked out for La Fête Nationale and the annual defilé, the parade to mark 14th July, the French National Day.
Picture from Wikipedia
While the defilé comprising most branches of the French military and civilian services were parading on the ground, overhead, sixty-six aircraft from the Armée de l’Air, led by the French aerobatic display team, la Patrouille de France, flew directly over my apartment and down the Champs Elysées in perfect formation. From my balcony it seemed that I could almost reach up and touch them. I couldn’t of course, but I was perfectly placed to record their sounds, the sounds that on this day each year become some of the sounds that define Paris.
The Aircraft:
Some ninety minutes later, it was the turn of thirty-two helicopters from the Armée de l’Air, the Armée de Terre, the Gendarmerie Nationale and the Securite Civile, the French Civil Defence Agency.
The Helicopters:
After the morning parade and fly-pasts in the Champs Elysées, culminating with the now customary parachutists landing with pin-point accuracy in front of the Président de la République, members of the government, diplomats and invited guests, the afternoon was taken over with operation ”Les Parisiens et les franciliens accueillent leurs soldats”.
Many of those who took part in the morning’s defilé scattered to various locations in Paris taking their equipment with them. This was a chance for members of the public to meet the French armed forces and to learn at first hand what they do. It was also a wonderful opportunity to crawl all over very expensive things one would never get the chance to even get close to normally.
I spent the afternoon at the Esplanade of Les Invalides. Some of the helicopters that took part in the morning’s fly-past were now parked here along with some other vehicles.
Of course, I was interested in what was on show but I was also working, hunting for sounds and I wasn’t disappointed.
I found these two men from le Bagad Lann-Bihoué, the very popular French Navy musical ensemble who specialise in playing distinctive Bretonne and Celtic music.
Music from La Bagad Lann-Bihoué:
And from the Navy to the Army … and representatives from Le Choeur de l’Armée Francaise, the French Army Choir.
The 14th July has become a fixed point in my calendar. I’m not French but I have learned to enjoy La Fête Nationale and all its sights and sounds.
And finally …
Although the defilé in the Champs Elysées is carried out with meticulous precision things don’t always go to plan. This year, the parachutist’s display at the end of the parade was more spectacular than ever. All of them landed inch perfect and bang on target but unfortunately, one of them was injured on landing and, unable to walk, he had to be carried off to one side. These things happen and François Holland, Président de la République, was quick to walk over to have a word with him. C’est la vie!
Carnaval Tropical 2012
LE CARNAVAL TROPICAL DE PARIS winds its way through the streets of the 11th arrondissement every year in July.
And this year was no exception. Yesterday, it took over four hours for the carnival to process from la Place de la Nation to le Boulevard Voltaire, la Place Léon Blum, l’Avenue Parmentier, la Rue du Chemin Vert, le Boulevard de Ménilmontant, l’Avenue Philippe Auguste and back to la Place de la Nation.
Sounds of the Carnaval Tropical:
With the theme of Le sixième continent, the Sixth Continent, some 4,000 people from Martinique, Guadeloupe, Mayotte, La Réunion, French Polynesia, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, China, Vietnam and other corners of the globe took part. This was a wonderful celebration of cultural diversity.
The carnival is organised by the Fédération du Carnaval Tropical and the Direction Générale à l’Outre-Mer, part of the Paris city authority concerned with supporting the welfare and cultural traditions of Parisians born overseas.
I went to la Place de la Nation to see this spectacle and I can share with you some of the sights and sounds.
More Sounds of the Carnaval Tropical:
More Sounds of the Carnaval Tropical:
The best that can be said about our weather this summer is that it hasn’t been great but even so, we don’t usually expect a sudden tropical storm like the one that descended without warning yesterday afternoon.
Undaunted though, the carnival continued with everyone still in high spirits. Even as the last of the procession was making its soggy way into the distance the sounds of the crowd were as enthusiastic as ever.
More Sounds of the Carnaval Tropical:
La Marche des Fiertés 2012
IT’S SUMMER AND AT this time each year la Marche des Fiertés, or the Gay Pride March, hits the streets of Paris.
Around half a million people take part and yesterday, as I stood on the Boulevard Montparnasse at the head of the march, it took over two and a half hours for them all to pass by.
Reporting La Marche des Fiertés is one of those occasions when words seem to become much less important than the sights and sounds which very definitely take centre stage.
Sounds before the start of the march:
For those who think that recording events like this must be simply a matter of pointing a microphone and hoping for the best then think again. It’s actually much more difficult than that.
Sounds of the March:
The seemingly endless, obscenely loud, mind-numbing music plays havoc with those of us trying to capture the much more interesting sounds. Even from the depths of the café, La Consigné, where I retreated to try to escape from this sonic onslaught, the unwelcome sounds penetrated unremittingly.
From inside the café La Consigné:
No, I do not like the excessively loud so-called music that is such a feature of this march every year, but that probably says more about me than it does about the march. There is no doubt that La Marche des Fiertés is an astonishingly well-supported event. The atmosphere is terrific and the people are very friendly and good-natured. Yes, it’s noisy but it’s also very colourful and deliciously outrageous. Long may it continue.
The First of May in Paris
TUESDAY, 1st MAY WAS a public holiday in France – La Fête du Travail. In Paris, it was an opportunity for the whole spectrum of political opinion to take to the streets. The Left marched from Denfert-Rechereau to Bastille, Nicolas Sarkozy held a UMP rally at Trocadéro and the far-right Front National used the occasion to mark the 600th anniversary of the birth of Jeanne d’Arc, Maid of Orléans and national heroine of France.
Such a wide political spectrum on display and the prospect of interesting sounds to collect gave me quite a problem in deciding whom to follow.
In the end, I decided to follow the Front National, the smallest of the events but perhaps, I thought, the most interesting. Since I’ve lived in Paris I’ve seen, followed and recorded endless marches and demonstrations by the Left in various guises but never anything by the far Right. This seemed like an opportunity to redress that balance. I joined their march at the statue of Jeanne d’Arc in the rue Rivoli and followed it to the Place de l’Opéra.
Sounds of the march:
More sounds of the march:
At the Place de l’Opéra the procession congregated in front of and around the Opéra Garnier. A stage had been erected on the steps of the Opéra with a large backdrop featuring Jeanne d’Arc.
I arrived at l’Opéra about forty-five minutes before the speeches began so I had time to look around. I found this delightful lady whose politics I couldn’t share but whose personality was absolutely infectious.
I was also reminded that although this was a public holiday, for at least one radio reporter this was a working day. She had recorded some vox pops and was editing them on her Nagra ARES before sending them by satellite link to her radio station.
For the Front National faithful the centrepiece of the day came at midday with the speeches. Given the Front National’s remarkable result in the first round of La Presidentielle where they achieved almost 20% of the vote the speeches were eagerly anticipated.
Jean-Marie Le Penn spoke first. He is the former leader of the Front National and now the Président d’Honneur. At the end of his speech he introduced his daughter, Marine Le Penn, the current Président of La Front National.
Jean-Marie Le Penn:
Marine Le Penn:
After following the march and listening to the speeches (Marine Le Penn spoke for about an hour) I was exhausted. I did though find the energy to go to Trocadéro where I emerged from the Métro station into a crowd of 200,000 Sarkozy supporters … but that is another story.
The Year of the Dragon Comes to Paris
THE CHINESE NEW YEAR is a moveable feast. In the Gregorian calendar it falls somewhere between 21st January and the 20th February but the precise date is determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar and the date when the second new moon after the winter solstice occurs.
Each year in the Chinese calendar is associated with one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac. This year is the Year of the Dragon.
Around 700,000 Chinese people live in France, the largest Chinese diaspora in Europe. In Paris, they have built their communities in both the city and the suburbs – in the 13th arrondissement in particular but also Belleville and further out in the suburbs of Lognes, Torcy and Noisy-le-Grand.
Chinese communities the world over celebrate their new year with tremendous enthusiasm and the Chinese community in Paris is no exception. The streets are decorated with red Chinese lanterns, wonderful colours abound and the air is filled with the magical sounds of drums and cymbals accompanying the magnificent lion dances.
The Year of the Dragon in Paris:
The lion dancer troupes come from Chinese martial art schools and they visit the houses and shops of the Chinese community to perform the traditional custom of “cai ching” (採青), literally “plucking the greens”, a quest by the lion to pluck green vegetables, often represented by a lettuce, tied to a red envelope containing money. The lion dances and approaches the lettuce and the red envelope. It eats the lettuce and then spits it out leaving it neatly arranged but it keeps the red envelope. The lion dance is believed to bring good luck and good fortune to the business and the troupe is rewarded with the red envelope. It’s fascinating to watch and to listen to.
Last weekend I went to experience all the colourful costumes, the symbolism and the wonderful sounds of this year’s ‘Year of the Dragon’ unfold in this diverse city. Of all the sounds to be heard none is more spectacular than the sound of the firecrackers. Not to be confused with fireworks, Chinese firecrackers have a sound all of their own.
La Fête de Ganesh 2011
PARIS IS NOT JUST for the French, other communities live here too. And while the French celebrate their Fête Nationale in style and the Chinese in Paris celebrate their new year with fabulous displays of colourful dancing lions and dragons accompanied by endless firecrackers, today it was the turn of the Indian community to have their celebration with La Fête de Ganesh.
Genesha, with his elephant’s head to make him easily recognisable, is the Hindu deity of wisdom, propriety and good fortune and a temple is dedicated to him in Paris, the Sri Manicka Vinayakar Alayam temple, in the rue Pajol. And it was from here that today’s colourful procession set off around this part of the 18th arrondissement. The women dressed up, the men dressed down and a good time was had by all.
So let’s celebrate the sights and sounds of today’s Fête de Ganesh.
The sounds of La Fête de Ganesh:
And after a long, hard day …
Pure Sounds
FEW WORDS AND no pictures for this piece – just the pure sounds of the aircraft and helicopters passing directly overhead during the fly-past for La Fête Nationale on 14th July.
As I said in my piece ’You Heard It Here First!’, I missed the Patrouille de France in the rehearsal because they appeared unexpectedly. On the 14th July I was ready and waiting.
At precisely 10.40, led by the Patrouille billowing red, white and blue smoke, forty-eight aircraft of the L’Armée de L’Air appeared directly overhead my apartment.
The Aircraft:
Fifty minutes later, right on cue, came the helicopters.
The Helicopters:
On this, the French national day, both the defilé on the Champs Elysées and the fly past were timed to perfection.
To see the running order for the defilé and for the details of the fly past click here.
