M, IAM, Shaka Ponk, but also Ben Harper and Scorpions ... Here is a menu that the Albi festival Pause Guitar could congratulate, for its 23rd sunny edition. If many artists of the international variety were present, it is nevertheless the "90% French-speaking programming" of the event that wants to put forward its founder, Alain Navarro.
"I like the idea that we are not alone in building a story," he says to explain the presence, in his festival, of francophone artists from around the world: Acadie, Quebec, Switzerland and Belgium. Artists confirmed in their countries, and whose originality has not finished surprising the French public, like the Hostesses d'Hilaire who ignited the audience of the big stage "Pratgraussals" Thursday night, before give way to Matthieu Chédid.
French, "language of freedom"
Francophonie whose youth, too, is full of singularity. A youth to whom the festival intends to give access to a little more light, through the presentation of a dedicated prize, the springboard "Magyd Cherfi", named after the occitan artist and former singer of Zebda. Proud to bring this award - presented this year to the singer Matéo Langlois -, Magyd Cherfi tells France 24 his love for French, "language of freedom, language of the revolution".
Pause Guitar, festival on a human scale, gives place to all artists, from international to local, from jazz to rock through hip-hop. To wait until next year, find soon the interviews of Mr. Hyphen Hyphen and Ben Harper, met during the festival, on the site of France 24.