The Ilophone festival is celebrating its eleventh edition ouessantine, sold out, this weekend. On the menu: fanfare and rock, reggae and moss, hopped on the ground and salted at sea.
It all starts with the spray, and everything will certainly end with them, iodine full of hair and chorus full of head. On the port of Conquet, a motley crowd, all in flip-flops and sea clothes, hurries to the pier. Direction Ushant and his Ilophone.
3500 festival goers
This weekend, the most west of the Ponant Islands is the eleventh edition of the festival L'Ilophone, the fifth in a row sold out. 1,500 tickets were sold, and according to the Penn-Ar-Bed shipping company, nearly 3,500 people will be present on the island this weekend to attend the festivities, free and paid.
Ilophone is a ritual
The festival-goers, some novices, many accustomed, rush into the Fromveur II, the ship of Penn-Ar-Bed which makes the connection with the continent. Festival-goers like Marine for whom L'Ilophone is already a ritual. The 32-year-old farm worker, with golden locks, returns for the fifth time. Not even a glance at the programming.
Marine comes for "the atmosphere" : "It's a human-sized festival. On Ouessant, it is like in a closed vase. Everyone recognizes themselves, and the average age is higher than in other festivals. It's more fun. "
A festival on a human scale
On the bridge, nobody gives him wrong. The skiff is just out of the harbor, the beer is pulled down and the tobacco is taken out. A playground atmosphere that covers the snoring of Fromveur's bowels. "The Ilophone is not a festival like the others. It's a human adventure, " says the photographer Thomas Kerleroux arrived on " the pebble " for its fifth edition. Even the rapper Féfé, expected on stage Friday, says that playing on the island is "symbolic".
"It's good for Ouessant"
In Lampaul, the village of Ouessant, between the granite houses and the church, the streets are gradually swelling with music and laughter. An atmosphere that appeals to the Ouessantins. "Everyone meets, and it's good for Ouessant," rejoices Marie-Jose, islander since her retirement and volunteer at the festival.
Between two phone calls, Pauline Bourda, the president of the festival, confides that she will have a tight heart when everything is over, that festival-goers will have taken the boat and that it will be necessary to repack all. But before place to music. Mike and Riké (Sinsemilia), Fefe and The Moorings were (very) expected Friday night before La Cafetera Roja, Yarol, The Noface and La Phaze this Saturday.