The Béarnais group Nadau, apostle of Occitan song, celebrates its 50th career with a sold-out crowd at the Zénith de Pau. From the small village to the big cities, from the small stage to the big Parisian halls, the group has an extraordinary destiny. The party continues with other concert dates in 2024.
On the stage of the Zénith de Pau, the musicians of the Béarnais group Nadau play to a sold-out crowd to celebrate their 50th career. For those who don’t know, Nadau is the cLandes ornemuse which battles with the electric guitar, it is the traditional singing which fries and which rubs with the music. Nadau has defended Occitan songs with humor and poetry since 1973.
Nadau is 4 Zénith, 4 Olympia and thousands of people singing during a 2-hour bilingual show that combines humor, impertinence, tenderness and poetry. “These are photographic songs” explain Joan de Nadau, author, composer and performer. “A poet is someone who takes his dreams and makes them come true. I’m the opposite, a photographer who takes reality and turns it into a dream.”
The Occitan group Nadau celebrates its 50th anniversary
The Occitan group Nadau celebrates its 50th anniversary – (France 3 Aquitaine L. De Casanove / M. Lasbarreres / M. Galle)
An extraordinary destiny
While young people are looking for their roots after the explosion of 1968, the Nadau group which was created in Pau sets the tone. Larzac is in struggle and the group fills the rooms with the slogan : “Volem viure au país.”The first disc Monsur lo regent was released in the summer of 1975. The songs are protesting. Some also talk about love. It’s the era of committed song. The group supports wine and worker struggles. Very quickly, “La venta a las enchèras” was released in 1976, and “L’immortèla” in 1978, with a flagship song which became an Occitan anthem “Se canto”. In 50 years of career, Nadau comes out 13 albums, including 8 on CD, 3 videos, 2 DVDs and has sold more than 60,000 records.
2 hours of communion with the public
Nadau dreams but still in Béarnais. The group carries the language like a standard. Aficionados love it! “I’ve been following them for 74 years and it’s always a joy and emotion to listen to them” says this fan. This ancestral culture still touches the public and echoes that of the Corsicans. Invited on stage to sing, Jean-François Luciani, the singer of I Muvrini, explains it. “The mother tongue is the essence of who we are. The relationship I have with the Corsican language is not Walt Disney, it is not a tourist relationship. It’s a language that we have in our hearts, that we have in our guts and therefore it is very important that this language lives in this way, it is very important culturally too“.
A fight for the Occitan language
Nadau has always been alongside Calandreta, the first teaching school in Occitan, in its fight for the language. He was also involved in the first free radio stations, in the newspaper “Pays”. “T’on vas” appeared in 1982, “Qu’èm çò qui èm” in 1986, produced with 400 singers. The same year, pianist Pierre Micouleau joined the 3 voices, 2 acoustic guitars and the diatonic accordion. The show “Nadau en Companhia” brought together 4,500 people at the Zénith de Pau in 1993, and 7,000 in 1996. Two more CDs: “Pengabelòt” in 1994, and “Zénith 96”. Philippe and Jean-Michel Espinasse bring a strong traditional influence to the group. On May 20, 2000, the group sold out the Olympia in Paris and set the house on fire. Over the years, success continues! 13,500 people came to applaud them this weekend to celebrate their fifty years. Two other concerts are planned for February 2024 at the Zénith de Pau. They are already full.
Nadau’s concert dates in 2024 :
- From 02/10/2024 to 02/11/2024 – Zénith de Pau – Pau (64)
- 02/16/2024 – Arena Hall – Pontonx-sur-l’Adour (40)
- 09/21/2024 – Espace des 3 Provinces – Brive-la-Gaillarde (19)