The Paris Commune is a famous and tragic episode in the history of France which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. To pay tribute to the Communards and to the poet-chansonniers who set this revolt to music, several artists gathered on the record. The Municipality will bloom again, released on October 8.
The album was produced by Irfan, the Ogres de Barback label. But as two of the group’s musicians, Sam and Alice Burguière explained to us, just before their concert on October 14 in Lyon, the initiative for this recording came from one of their friends, singer Corentin Coko.
Songs that date back 150 years or more, as some were written long before La Commune, and yet themes that instantly echo our society today. In the liner notes, Les Ogres de Barback explains: “We tried to weave a thread between past and present. Respect History, show an era, its utopias, its thoughts, its verses. But also to appropriate this History, re-interpret these songs, create arrangements, mixtures, which speak to us today. Imagine them sung in a 2021 demo… “
A way to rediscover the history of La Commune, a series of events of which we do not necessarily know all the inner workings. But these themes addressed in the songs are still so current that the disc makes you want to take a deeper interest in them.
When we talk about La Commune, two songs spontaneously come to mind: The international and The cherry season. We also learn that the second was written long before and was then dedicated to a very active paramedic during the clashes between Communards and police forces of the government of Adolphe Thiers.
But this disc was also an opportunity to research much less known or even completely unpublished texts. Sometimes the musical scores could not even be found, which has prompted some artists to compose today for lyrics of the time.
What shines through listening to the songs is the duality between a tragic story and a festive spirit that seems to want to ward off fate. This Cherry Time which starts on a piano in minor mode quickly takes us into an atmosphere of celebration and joy.
It’s not really surprising when you know the music of the Barback Ogres. And even the arrangements of the other artists on the record remain in the spirit of what has made their style for 25 years. Alice specifies: “We did not want something heavy. These are serious subjects, but full of hope”.
If there is one French singer who has long embodied this feeling of revolt, and at the same time anchored in the realistic and popular song of the 19th century, it is Renaud. The irritating singer has quoted La Commune several times in his texts, for example in Red throat in 1988, but especially in one of his first iconic songs in 1975: Society you will not have me. And the verse “The Municipality will bloom again” (which will become in concert in Bobino “Anarchy will bloom again”) was found to become the title of this disc.
The author ofhexagon and of Society you will not have me, but also the famous “tatatin…” could not not be on the album. An appearance in the form of a wink that recalls the singer’s attachment to revolutionary values.
By embarking on the project, Les Ogres de Barback remembered that one of their uncles was a member of an association in memory of La Commune de Paris, and he also signs a few notes inside the booklet. A story of filiation in a way. And that’s the spirit of this record too, as Sam explains: “Make you want to dig into the subject”.
With performers like François Morel, HK, Francesca Solleville, Christian Olivier, Michèle Bernard and many others, the bet of the Ogres de Barback and Corentin Coko is indeed successful. Listening to these strong and gripping songs, we can only want to go research and find information on this essential episode in our history.
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The Municipality will bloom again was released on October 8 on the IRFAN label
Find all the information on the official website