This Sunday, June 23, visiting the Nîmes festival on the occasion of his “Reflets” tour, the slammer presented a more mature repertoire, although just as powerful.
This Sunday evening, the 23rd, the slammer Grand Corps Malade resonated the notes of his urban poems in the arenas. But first, it is the exhilarating violin of Camille Berthollet, finally taking to the stage alone on the stage of the Nîmes arenas, who performs the repertoires of Vivaldi, Queen and cinematic soundtracks. Chills.
MIDI LIBRE – Alexis BETHUNE
MIDI LIBRE – Alexis BETHUNE
Against a background of piano and bass, Camille Berthollet explodes the stage, tickles the audience’s ears, sometimes silent, surprised, or captivated by the power of the fusion between classicism and modern musical paraphernalia. Then led by the covers of Alleluia, where Bella Ciao. The poetic and lyrical atmosphere is launched. The long, flamboyant hair disappears backstage under the din of a standing ovation, and gives way, after the intermission, to the confident entrance of Grand Corps Malade.
MIDI LIBRE – Alexis BETHUNE
MIDI LIBRE – Alexis BETHUNE
A more personal slam
His long silhouette, leaning on this cane, makes his entrance onto the stage. Light, and… The deep and quiet voice sets the rhymes. “In the arenas of Nîmes, we saw light, and we entered!”launches the singer to his audience, after having started the repertoire of his new album ‘Reflets’. “We have some handsome reflections this evening, young and less young reflections, it’s nice. Some weird reflections, too.” Yes, it’s him, Fabien Marsaud, who returns to seduce his audience with his interactions and his dry humor, his life confessions and his self-deprecation, which make him a “guy like you”.
MIDI LIBRE – Alexis BETHUNE
It must be said, Grand Corps Malade has aged. Like his audience, like his music. The texts are different, draw on feelings, move from parenthood to love, tell the stories of everyday life and “grille-pain”. THE “bullshit from 20 years ago” still mark the character of today, but the enthusiasm of youth leaves more room, in his repertoire, for nostalgia and refocuses on more personal stories. It’s a playlist made up of “modesty and personal”.
MIDI LIBRE – Alexis BETHUNE
Awareness tool
Attention, “despite the wrinkles on my forehead, I have the feathers of my adolescence”, recalls its title Autoreflet. The Grand Corps has calmed down, but the slammer’s writing denounces, imagines the dystopian future in “2083”, always gives a voice to the forgotten, the disabled, the fighters. By his titles “The day after”Or “Romeo and Juliet”, written 15 years ago but whose words are “unfortunately still relevant”, Grand Corps Malade raises societal divides. Whether they are those he has always denounced, or new injustices. We talk about minorities, politics, racism and illness. The tone never rises, it’s not aggressive: it’s raw. His conscious words sting, silence the audience, provoke reactions. “We have to go and vote,” poses, firmly but always under this calm air, the poet.
The (re)discovery of Grand Corps Malade is a retrospective on the character, an open book. But it is always, and above all, visionary texts and slam as a tool of struggle. Powerful, and acclaimed at length on an encore without leaving the stage.
