Pamiers: the 16th edition of the Festenal opens Friday, with music and theater on the program

It is an unmissable annual meeting of Occitan culture: the 16^e Festenal, organized by the Cercle Occitan de Pamiers, is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Salle Fernan. “We have brought forward the opening of the festival by one day for scheduling reasons,” notes Daniel Pédoussat, president of the Occitan circle, which organizes the event. Saturday evening, in fact, will also take place a traditional ball in Saverdun ⁽¹⁾. We didn’t want to compete.”

On stage for the “cantada”

For this 16^e edition of the Occitan festival, “dance, singing and storytelling will be in the spotlight,” continues Daniel Pédoussat. Friday afternoon, the children of Calendreta (the Occitan school of Pamiers) are invited to participate in a singing workshop led by Arnaud Cance, from the Mbraia duo. “A restitution is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., during the traditional cantada, open to the public, invited to come on stage, alongside the choir of “Encatats” by Pascale Respaud”. Her repertoire includes songs and dances from Ariège, which Pascale Respaud has patiently resurrected from collective memory.

Games and a story

From 9 p.m. the MBraia group will be on stage ⁽²⁾a musical duo from Aveyron, which brings together Paulin Courtial (guitar, vocals) and Arnaud Cance (percussion, vocals). “They accompany themselves with their instruments, but they are also capable of leading dances with their voices alone,” explains Daniel Pédoussat. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, games are planned by the La Lauseta del pais de Pamias association (from 3 p.m.), an Occitan cultural association which aims to promote and promote the Occitan language and culture, while actively supporting the Calandreta which is celebrating its thirty years of existence this year, before a fantastic and magical show, “Lo rei de las agraulas” (The King of Ravens), taken from a Occitan tale attributed to Jean-François Bladé. Raised in Lectoure in the Gers, Jean-François Bladé was nourished by Gascon tales and legends. A lawyer by profession, he will go down in history as one of the great collectors of popular traditions in France. His major work is his collection of the oral traditions of Gascony.