"Jazz sous les Pommiers" celebrated its 40th anniversary!
(Part 1)
Audio 48:13
Cheick Tidiane Seck in concert on August 25, 2021 in Coutances (Normandy).
© Francis Bellamy / JSLP 2021
By: Joe Farmer Follow
51 mins
Who would have said, at the start of the 1980s, that a small Norman festival succeeded in becoming the undisputed meeting place of world cultures?
Although the pandemic has shaken up habits a little, "Jazz sous les Pommiers" has defied the obstacles.
Thus, in Coutances, from August 25 to 29, 2021, dozens of musicians met to offer the public moments of exceptional grace and musical jubilation.
Mali, Cuba, Angola, the United States, France, Congo, Mexico, many countries were represented as if it was necessary to display international harmony in these uncertain times and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the festival with dignity!
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Cheick Tidiane Seck made a strong impression during his concert on August 25 at the Théâtre municipal in Coutances. Determined to return to the stage after being a victim of the coronavirus at the end of 2020, the Malian pianist and composer wanted to honor his elders and, in particular, his African-American counterpart, the late Randy Weston. His performance was accompanied by several curtsies. The musical allusions to Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, who died in March 2020, were as moving as they were heartwarming. The enthusiastic cheers of the audience greeted with gratitude the creative vivacity of the master of ceremonies whose inspired melodies gradually entered "L'épopée des Musiques Noires".
Cheick Tidiane Seck and his musicians, during the 40th "Jazz sous les Pommiers" festival.
© Francis Bellamy / JSLP 2021
The next day, it was the singer Sam Mangwana who made the spectators of the "Jazz sous les Pommiers" festival get up.
At 76, this diligent interpreter of the original Congolese rumba did not hide his pleasure in telling his story to attentive and tender spectators.
A true polyglot, he masters 7 languages (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Lingala, Kikongo), Sam Mangwana liked to give meaning to his turn by explaining and commenting on the different themes evoked in his songs.
This effort to communicate with the public was greatly appreciated by festival-goers who, for some, were perhaps discovering this artist and this ancestral cultural heritage.
The 40th "Jazz sous les Pommiers" festival therefore began with a firework of notes rooted in the dark soul, magnified by two great Pan-African figures, authentic and sincere.
It was only the beginning of a multicolored week which would welcome Manu Katché, Kenny Barron, Ballaké Sissoko, Naïssam Jalal, El Comité or Henri Texier, among others ...
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The site of Jazz under the apple trees
Sam Mangwana at the Théâtre municipal de Coutances, August 26, 2021 © Rémy Briand / JSLP 2021
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