ETheir names are Zaho de Sagazan, Charlotte Cardin, Santa and Bianca Costa, and they are very lucky. These four singers (+ 1 in a mixed duo) will perform on the Jean-Louis Foulquier stage, for the 40th anniversary of the Francofolies. Looking at the statistics, we can say that they were lucky to have been selected among 28 headliners alongside Sting, Étienne Daho, Phoenix, Jean-Michel Jarre… who the public will come to applaud from Wednesday 10 until July 14, 2024.
Congratulations also to Caravel and Theodora who landed a stage at Free Music in Montendre. Or even to DJ’S Alice April and Stella Rossi on the bill at Stéréoparc in Rochefort. As the festival season opens in a few days, “Sud Ouest” has counted women on the stages of the summer’s most important music festivals, and it’s not pretty.
Less than 15% on the Grande Scène des Francos (1) and still let’s not get too excited, these worthy representatives will not be the real stars of the evening since they perform at the very end of the day, at 6 p.m., before even if the gauge is full and catches fire. They will be a little less than 20% at Free Music, and only 16% at Stereoparc (2 women for 12 artists). And let’s not look for girls from the Surgères Brass Band, there are none alongside Ibrahim Maalouf, Christophe Maé and Claudio Capéo.
Charlotte Cardin is scheduled this time on the Grande Scène des Francos.
Xavier Léoty
An average of 14%
This is therefore an unfortunate but unsurprising outcome. The programmers of Charentais-Maritime festivals do in fact neither better nor worse than the national average. According to the latest study by the National Music Center published in 2023, “the proportion of women in 90 current music festivals in 2019 (out of a panel of 5,416 people) is 14% compared to 86% men”. What are programmers doing to change that? “At one time, we didn’t even ask ourselves the question of the female presence, then a few years ago we said to ourselves that: it would be good, today we say to ourselves: we have to”, summarizes, without boasting , Samuel Vincent, founder of Freemusic and artistic director at La Belle Factory which also manages the Stéréoparc and the Surgères Brass Band since last year.
South West
The young rapper Theodora will be on the Free Music bill.
No Angèle or Jain like last year to raise the average. The programmer, who would have liked to count on a Clara Luciani or a Juliette Armanet (but they are not on tour this summer) admits to being far from the mark. “I pay attention to it. I do the best I can. On the Surgères Brass Band, it’s true, I don’t produce a very good copy, I will do better next year. In a festival, there are artists that we choose because they attract people and those that we introduce. It is this editorial part that advances the offer and the presence of women. Of course, it’s because they will be scheduled, they will have notoriety and the public will follow. It’s the entire global model that needs to change,” continues Samuel Vincent.
Female solidarity
Proof that the lines are moving, this year, the entire After program, the electro scene within Free Music, will be 100% female. It’s not yet a panacea (it’s an alternative scene that operates from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.) but it would sound like the start of a new era.
In any case, this is what Louane De Mota Fereira, 23 years old, programmer and DJ herself, wants to believe. A local child, she grew up with Free Music and signed the 2024 program for After. “I am from another generation, I grew up with MeToo which made us aware of these issues. I am optimistic because more and more women are becoming actors in this movement and want to shake up the industry. »
The young DJ has just joined the Bordeaux collective La Zouzzanie, bringing together musicians, technicians, programmers… “The objective is to support us, to share good ideas, to create events to be visible. Personally, I am more confident, more comfortable with women,” admits the student. An essential sorority to find a place in a music world that is still very sexist?
We won’t say the opposite, at the Sœurs Jumelles festival, halfway between music and cinema, created in Rochefort in 2021. The event focuses on parity for its concerts as for its artistic encounters. Its founder, actress and producer, Julie Gayet would not have seen it any other way. “This has always been one of my commitments. We need to provide models, female representations in all areas, video games, math, street names… At a minimum, we need to get to 50/50,” assures the woman who started out in an Agnès Varda film. , pioneer of the New Wave who showed the way.
(1) Contacted by “Sud Ouest”, Pierre Pauly, programmer of the Francofolies, did not respond to us.
