Some sunny weekends, a yellow Mitsubishi truck drives through the streets of Paris. Passing it, passers-by suddenly stop to dance, exchange smiles, and cling to the vehicle. In the Strasbourg-Saint-Denis district (Paris 10e), a “block party” is improvised in front of the KFC restaurant in the neighborhood. In Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne), when the truck stops in front of the prison, prisoners scream with joy and bang on the bars of their cells.
Emmanuel Maizeret, who calls himself « Daddy Reggae »is the craftsman of these impromptu festive moments. In 2014, he turned his moving truck into a traveling music cart, installing a sound system in the back and a record player in the front. Like him, individuals or associations transform their vehicle into a traveling caravan, in the city, in the suburbs, in the countryside, in places where the cultural offering is dense, in territories where it is less so. And they try to take culture out of its institutional framework.
This is also the case for Thierry Zo’Okomo Ndinda. In 2018, this Strasbourg musician bought an old Peugeot van and converted it into a music classroom. “We wanted a tool capable of reaching out to people in their usual living environment”he said. Since then, the director of the Espace Jalmik association has been introducing young people to playing musical instruments. Every summer, the caravan sets up for a week in the heart of a residential area around Strasbourg. And it primarily targets working-class neighborhoods. Megaphones announce its arrival. “At first, the kids thought we were ice cream vendors. We would say, ‘No, my friend, we don’t sell ice cream, we sell free music.'”smiles the director of the association.
Professional musicians and volunteers introduce the curious to the piano, violin, guitar, Indian flute, oud or balafon. The caravan unearths young talents and sometimes inspires vocations. A little piano genius came to the Musikérium [surnom de la caravane]. But the following year, his mother forbade him to come back, because she equated music with a thug thing. She was finally convinced to bring her son back.”story Thierry Zo’Okomo Ndinda. “The kids think there’s only rap. They ask us for Jul [rappeur marseillais]. But we also want to introduce them to Mozart, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.”
Distrust of local residents
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