“Douce France”, the story of exile music is told at the “Détours de Babel” festival in Grenoble

Sweet France, it is one of the essential songs of the French musical heritage, interpreted by Charles Trenet from 1943 and which was quickly taken up by the public as an act of resistance during the occupation. And then there is the rock and multicultural version of Rachid Taha and his group Carte de séjour, released in 1986. A song that has become the anthem of mixed youth in search of identity. The ideal symbol for the exhibition Sweet Francepresented at the old painting museum in Grenoble.

Rachid Taha, symbol of an opening

Because it is a question here of tracing a history of immigration through music. People from the Maghreb who have arrived in France since the 1960s have brought their cultural heritage with them. A legacy that will remain first in families or cafes frequented only by Algerians, Tunisians or Moroccans.

Over the decades, some have succeeded in opening up. Rachid Taha represents this symbol. Part of the exhibition revolves around the career of the late Franco-Algerian singer. “He finds himself caught up in all the problems of the time. The second generation of immigrants, born in France or who arrived in France during childhood, are torn between their two crops, explains Pierre-Henri Frappat, co-director of the International Center for Nomadic Music. He had this brilliant idea to make the link with the French musical heritage by taking up the song of Trenet”.

songs of exile

The exhibition also traces other, lesser-known stories. interactive and playful, it allows for example to discover the atmosphere of the fashionable oriental cabarets in the 60s in Paris where a wealthy public came to listen to Chaâbi, one of the most popular musical genres in Algeria. Artists who also frequented Algerian cafes, where they played for the workers in the suburbs. The suburbs, also birthplace of the hip-hop movement in the 80s: the urban and multicultural culture also evoked in the exhibition.

The exhibition Sweet France, until April 8, is part of the festival program Detours of Babel. A unique musical meeting. Everywhere in Grenoble and in the department of Isère, concerts are organized to introduce a wide audience to groups from all over the world. The festival continues until April 10.