PARALYMPIC GAMES – “Paris has been a party for 2 months, let’s celebrate this party one last time”. For the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, on Sunday, October 8, Thomas Jolly and his team have once again seen things on a grand scale. 24 electronic music artists will play the last notes of Paris 2024 at the Stade de France starting at 8:30 p.m.
Opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: these artists who left their mark on the show
With 3 days to go, the evening’s programme is starting to take shape. The ceremony will obviously see the para-athlete delegations pass through as well as the handover of power at Los Angeles 2028, which remains a surprise even for the artistic director of Paris 2024. But before the cauldron goes out, Thomas Jolly promises a “big sequence” festive for “say goodbye”as he explained during a press conference this Thursday, September 5, at which the HuffPost was present.
The musical table will last “about an hour”according to Romain Pissenem, producer of the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, during which “24 artists will make the planet dance with their most beautiful creations”.
Even though electronic music was already present at previous ceremonies, it will be the star of the closing of the Paralympic Games to honor this French heritage that is exported all over the world. It is also an opportunity to recall the history of the genre, whose birth dates back to the Martenot waves, and to celebrate its hundredth anniversary, explains Victor Le Masne, composer of the music for Paris 2024.
From Jean-Michel Jarre to the new underground scene
The 24 artists were not chosen at random: from different generations, they will represent the diversity of electronic music trends, from house to techno, including EDM. In this « back-to-back d’anthologie » There will be a succession of names familiar to the general public, such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Kavinsky, Martin Solveig, Cassius and Kungs, as well as more niche artists, well-known to techno aficionados, such as Miss Kittin, Irène Drésel and Agoria.
The common thread that will connect them will be the “wave journey”an original idea by Victor Le Masne. The musical wave “will pass from protagonist to protagonist”divided into four large families, “a bit like the torch relay”compares Victor Le Masne.
Each will play one or more songs in a short sequence, representing their individual identity and their musical scene. DJ Tatyana Jane, a new face of underground electro, has slipped in that she would, for example, be part of the family « High Energy » who wants to be “particularly danceable and vibrant”. The four sequences will be placed under the sign “of plurality, of diversity but also of unity”says Victor Le Masne.
Martin Solveig admires the “very clever correspondence” organizers to make this 24-person table coherent. “We are a bit into individual sports in music, and here we are going to make a collective gesture, it will be the French club of electronic music, in a way”he jokes.
Party and surprises
For Thomas Jolly, Tony Estanguet and Thierry Reboul, executive director of the 2024 Olympic Games, the watchword will be “the party”. Same story from the Ofenbach duo who announce “a huge party, a boiling Stade de France”. For Martin Solveig, “Our challenge will be to get the Stade de France and all of France up in front of their TVs”.
“We have to expect everything, and especially things that will be fundamentally different from previous ceremonies”believes Jean-Michel Jarre. The electronic music board will be, according to him “extremely dynamic” and will pass by “more abstract or darker moments to highlight brighter moments”.
Dance performances are to be expected, as well as a grandiose scenography and light show, but we will have to wait until Sunday to discover it. The organizers promise surprises, of which even the artists know nothing. They will only rehearse on the day itself and will not know the pieces and costumes chosen by each one until a few hours before the show.
Although the ceremony has its share of unknowns, we should not expect to see a 25th representative of the French Touch appear on stage. “There will be visual and musical surprises, but with these 24 artists, we are already telling the story of electronic music. They are all already the icing on the cake.”Romain Pissenem tells us. Enough to silence the umpteenth rumors about a possible return of Daft Punk.
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