France Bleu Provence is a partner of the reed festival, concert fair and workshops around the cane of Provence in Hyères on May 28 and 29, 2022.
After two years of absence, the reed festival is back for its 21st edition.
More than a festival… A hope!
This 21st edition, which should have been the 23rd, will bring together again all those who want to honor the cane of Provence: the artists of course, but also the manufacturers of reeds and instruments, the participants in the workshops.
Fair, concerts and workshops
The Festival de l’Reed has presented a prestigious program over the years. Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, Archie Shepp, Michel Portal, Manu Dibango and many more. The show is also an opportunity for all players in the Cane of Provence to share their knowledge and passion. Producers, workers of excellence, and heralds of the formidable quality of Var reeds.
From agriculture to culture, from botany to music
Mixed with these reed makers and farmers, there are great instrument makers who will share their know-how and who will teach you how to grow cane, how to weave it into baskets or reeds, how to cut it into reeds to draw, in a tube to make “calamèu”, and you will finally arrive at the magic of the reed, the miracle of sound… Music!
What is a reed?
The reed is a blade cut from the cane of Provence, particularly fine at one of its ends, intended for music. It is essential for several families of wind instruments such as the clarinet and the saxophone (single reeds placed on the mouthpiece), the bassoon and the oboe (double reeds placed at the mouth). As different as they are, these instruments all harbor a brilliance of Provence cane and a “bit of Var”. Placed at the mouth or on the beak of so-called instruments, its vibration generates sound and music. Without a reed these instruments would be dumb! Often shaken by the Mistral in its vegetal life, when the cane becomes a reed, it embraces another wind. The reed then transforms the musician’s breath into a melody.