Corps de mots

Poetry, be it that of Christian Olivier or that of the great writers, has always been a key element in the history of the band Têtes Raides; several of their albums include the works of a “guest” poet put to music. In 2010, during the celebration of Jean Genet's hundredth birthday at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Christian Olivier presented a musical reading dedicated to the writer. Thus was born the idea of creating a show entirely dedicated to the poets that have long inspired him. For him, words are matter. They fill bodies and only come alive when filtered through flesh. The book as a concept plays a key role in this concert, sitting in the middle, a visible and respectable symbol, but the music of Têtes Raides changes our relationship to those difficult texts: this sensible experience gives them meaning. This is a homage of sorts, but also a desire to help the audience discover or rediscover texts that may have been neglected. Playing the part of a “drive belt,” the members of Têtes Raides give Marina Tsvetaieva, Antonin Artaud, or Phillipe Soupault another medium to express themselves beyond just the page, lending them their instruments and their acoustic energy to make their words echo and resonate. Brought together by their common quest for beauty, the words of Desnos, Dagerman, Rimbaud, Dubillard, Lautréamont, or Apollinaire are softened when accompanied by a cello or take on a cheerful quality thanks to the band's clarinet. As proof, “Ginette”, one of the band's most famous songs, soon gets invited to join the party.

“We have been granted life to take risks,” Jeanne Moreau asserts. Artistically, she has taken a great many of them to build, through daring choices, a career as an actress in the theatre and cinema, which made her an icon. She who became an actress in the same way as “one takes one's vows” still believes that acting means “letting everything in someone else's words be heard.” She hadn't sung in years when she recorded Jean Genet's Le Condamné à mort (The Man Sentenced to Death) with Étienne Daho. Even though she was reciting the poem, the specific musicality of her voice couldn't help but bring her singing to mind. Têtes Raides were also part of the cycle dedicated to the hundredth birthday of Jean Genet at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe; there they met Jeanne Moreau, and that encounter led to the recording of “Emma”, the main single of their 2011 album L'An demain. They are once again coming together to celebrate poets in the Cour d'honneur.

Marion Canelas, April 2014

Texts by Guillaume Apollinaire, Antonin Artaud, Stig Dagerman, Lydie Dattas, Robert Desnos, Roland Dubillard, Jean Genet, Lautréamont, Christian Olivier, Raymond Queneau, Arthur Rimbaud, Philippe Soupault, Marina Tsvetaieva

With
Serge Bégout (guitar, clarinet and piano)
Anne-Gaëlle Bisquay (cello)
Éric Delbouys (drum)
Pierre Gauthé (trombone, piano)
Christian Olivier (voice, accordion, guitar)
Antoine Pozzo di Borgo (double bass, bass)
Jeanne Robert (violin)
Grégoire Simon (saxophone, accordion, flute)

Jeanne Moreau n'a malheureusement pas pu être des nôtres le 27 juillet, pour le spectacle Corps de Mots dans la Cour d'honneur du Palais des papes.
Pour des raisons strictement personnelles, Jeanne Moreau «accablée par cette décision, a tenu à s'excuser auprès du public du Festival d'Avignon, de toutes les équipes du Festival, d'Olivier Py et de Paul Rondin, des Têtes Raides et de Lydie Dattas».
C'est une immense tristesse pour la direction du Festival comme pour les Têtes Raides.
Jeanne Moreau était avec nous sentimentalement dans la Cour d'honneur le 27 juillet et sera toujours l'invitée du Festival d'Avignon, dont elle est la Papesse.

Production Astérios Spectacles
In partnership with les Passagers du Zinc, la Sacem