the essential
Two journalists from the France 3 show, “Rencontre à XV”, followed musician Bernard Thore in Lectoure on Wednesday May 1.
It all starts in 2021 on the route of the “special World Cup” train, organized by the French Rugby Federation in order to discover in all major French stations the history of the French rugby team through the different cups of the world since 1987.
Éric Mouget, reporter at France Télévision, follows the event and discovers the D’Artagnan Band which provides musical entertainment for this tour. He then suggested to Bernard Thore, musician of the group, to do a subject on this emblematic formation from Gers, which carries everywhere in France, and even as far as New York, the colors of the party, of the Condom bandas festival and of Gascony.
Filming in the streets of Lectoure
Three years later, on May 1st, Eric Mouget and Bernard Thore met in Lectoure for filming, with Nicolas, the cameraman from France 3 Toulouse. Bernard Thore then talks about his profession as an artist and his passion for rugby. In 1987 he composed the song which will accompany the French rugby team, “La Rumba du Rugby”, and in 1991 for the Bèglais, champions of France, “La fanfare de Brennus”. In 1999 he directed the anthems for France-Namibia and Canada-Fiji.
He wrote his first book on the music and musicians of the South-West. A tireless ambassador of music, unifier of numerous groups, classical, jazz, traditional music, blues, he presented in 2020 the somewhat crazy project of having the English and French anthems played by 100 Gascon musicians at the Stade de France, during the opening of the 6 Nations Tournament. The project was also supported by Laetitia Pachoud, then vice-president of the FFR, and validated by Bernard Laporte, president of the FFR. Never in the history of the 6 Nations Tournament has a group other than military orchestras performed the national anthems.
So from Lectoure with Bernard Thore to Condom with the D’Artagnan Band, making a short stopover at the workshop of Martial, the musical instrument maker of great reputation, the journalist Eric Mouget wanted to share passions. And to discover the people who make them come to life.
