“This is the fight of my life”. Survivor of a terrible road accident, he devotes his life to Béarn

Little Béarnais has become large

No doubt. To hear him roll the R, Jacolet is a Pure Béarnais. His language, he used to hear him in the family home. His father, a cabinetmaker, a restaurateur of old furniture, and his mother, who made mattresses, regularly received people at home. Cantonniers, attached by the “wine reserve of his father.” Or seamstresses, friends of his mother, who “took the afternoon. »All Béarnais!

But Jacolet is part of a generation where regional identity has been lost. “At school, my parents were not allowed to speak Béarnais. Not just us: the little Basques, the little Bretons, the little Catalans … so I did not have a lesson. The generation of my parents, they were shame on their own language. »»

The culture of the country, Jacolet learned it with his grandparents, with whom he spent the school holidays. “My grandfather, he taught me life this man. He told me the stories he had experienced in war, humorously, in Béarnais. The language came like that! »»

Industrialization

The little boy was born in Artix in 1953, in the midst of the Lacq basin. Growing up, Jacolet perceives the industrial turn taken by Béarn, then rural land. “Obviously, these people meet with a factory in front of the door”, that of Lacq. From the first deposits in the 1950s, Jacolet remembers a little. “We were small when the well had farted. To remedy this, we called on the American specialist in Myron Kinley wells.

new inhabitants land: Mourenx is built to house them. “There was immigration everywhere, but no racism at the time. Portuguese, Spanish, Algerians … The problems came when they were ghettois. »»

Money “comes from everywhere”, we have before our eyes the beginnings of globalization. For Jacolet, “it was no longer the fashion of Béarnais. An observation which does not be suited to the child of the country, determined to revive this “vital” culture, which saw it born.

(Re) shape the Béarn

Growing up, Jacolet works in several areas, even if he will have a career in posts, telegraphs and phones (PTT), which later became France Telecom. He does research in the departmental archives. He finds the characters typical of the region there, which he exploits by creating the Biarnès carnival in Pau. “We went around the merchants, we exhibited the project. They even offered to write the Béarnais signs! We were told that we were crazy to try to start this. »»

40 years later, carnival is an institution. Jacolet does not stop there. He remembers having gone around Béarn in bicycle, with a friend, to find the origin of Béarnais jumps, these “dances of round villages, very primitive”.

The writing advises you

Thirsty for traditions, he joined the Los Pagalhós group at his beginnings, created in 1972 following “a marriage that had lasted a week” by his brother Alain Abadie and friends. The accomplices meet to sing at the Siros Béarnaise Song Festival. “My friend Robert Touzet made pastiches, resumed songs … And we behind we did the Claudettes on stage. The group reproduces each year, sings, and parodies even more.

The man wants to be welcoming. “If you work here, if you live here, then this culture belongs to you. For Jacolet, the duty of identity is shared by all. “There is nothing worse than someone acculturated.”

1988, the accident

And then there is this drama in 1988. Jacolet is on a construction site, on the road between Morlaas and Lembeye, near Saint-Jammes. With a colleague, they come up points – trees, houses – to bury an airline. The work has already started. Two workers and traffic signs indicate the presence of the site. A car, carrying three passengers plus the driver, stops on the aisle. Neither one nor two: a bus arrives, at full speed, brakes too late to avoid the shock. He hits the car in a descent. Everything goes too fast. “The car made a jump, she grabbed me. Jacolet is thrown several meters. The shock does not forgive. In its crazy race, the bus strikes the car again “which wraps around an EDF post”. “I saw the bus go over me, and land in a field further. »»

The balance sheet is heavy. The three passengers of the car died instantly, its driver will die a year later. Jacolet remembers it as if it was yesterday. “In the morning it was very beautiful. I woke up, it was total black. »»

Miracle. Jacolet Abadie survives. Nevertheless, he will leave the sight there. The 34 -year -old man is in doubt for two years. “I didn’t really know if I had to continue to live or not. The strength to continue, he finds her with his friends, his family, his friends. Luckily, he is well surrounded. “Ah no! If you are no longer there … we stop everything! »Stop the Biarnès carnival when he was president? All that work they started? Jacolet is convinced: it is decided, he will live.

The villages of Béarn

With the necessary care and an undeniable force of character, Jacolet Abadie rehabits his environment. He does not change course, his goal is always the same: bringing Béarnaise culture to life.

The writing advises you

Armed with his computer and a vocal synthesis, which reads what is displayed on the screen or what he writes, the artisian listed digitally during several years 580 plants in the territory. His friends push him to publish his research: for 6 years today he therefore designs, with 12 co -authors including his wife, the book published in September 2024: “La Chélidoine” (Éditions: Conservatoire des vegetables ancien du Béarn). In this book, Gascon stories and traditions mingle with gardening stories.

A work that enhances the local culture again… and that still does not satisfy our Béarnais Tout-à-Tout. In his chair in Oloron, Jacolet approaches playful air. “I may have a new project in progress. I also listed the villages of Béarn… ”A new work? Case to follow.

Between the former singer and his region, it was an infinite love story that helped him survive. Jacolet agrees. Make (re) live this local culture, “it’s the fight of my life”.

Line of life