On July 6, the Bussière-Dunoise Bonnat band (BDB) is organizing the third edition of its Festiv’banda festival. Around a hundred musicians gathered in four different groups will play all evening in front of spectators expected in the thousands.
Far from the image of the traditional brass band of yesteryear, the bandas have been able to renew the genre. Today, when village festivals have regained a certain appeal, the bandas associated with them are more popular with the general public. “I think there is a real trend at the moment, it’s true, it’s coming back into fashion,” notes Adrien Moreau, trumpeter with the BDB band for over 15 years. His Creuse group is also preparing to organize the third edition of its band festival. Building on its success, the event managed to attract around 3,500 spectators last year. The forty musicians from Creuse hope to do the same this summer.
Four training courses united
To accompany them, three other bands from other departments will take part in the event. The Supersonic Fanfare of Toulouse, Les Couak’Onjoue of Deux-Sèvres, and the Châtelaine of Rochechouart. Around a hundred musicians will play 30-minute sets from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m., non-stop. A real celebration which will begin at Bonnat and which will continue at the town stadium.
Throughout the evening, the four musical groups will play a repertoire composed of current and traditional music. Military music historically associated with brass bands seems a long way away. “When I was a child, that’s what it was,” says Serge Moreau, the president of the BDB band. From the 1990s, we began to vary the repertoire. »
It is partly thanks to this expanded repertoire that the band manages to reach a wider audience. From Soprano to Sia or Avicii through traditional songs such as Bayonne rowing, there is something for all musical tastes. “Our group forms a real family and we are really aimed at all families,” Angèle Lafaye, a young flautist from the Creuse group, likes to explain. In addition, bandas really came back into fashion at the same time as all the ferias in the south. »
premium Why are bandas becoming fashionable again in Creuse?
A family spirit
Intergenerational music that brings together all audiences around festive music, this is the credo to which the BDB band adheres. By meeting at least three times a month, in autumn and winter to rehearse, the members of this training resulting from the meeting of the Harmonies of Bussière-Dunoise and Bonnat in 1987, are often in demand. From sporting events to village festivals, they are on deck almost every weekend. They also play throughout Limousin and sometimes in other, more distant departments.
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Enough to maintain this conviviality which is specific to bandas. “What is perhaps different from other groups is that we are part of the public, we play in the street with them,” explains Laurent Lafaye, trumpeter from the start within the BDB group. A proximity claimed by the musicians and definitely appreciated by the public. On July 6, children and adults are expected in Bonnat to experience a third Festiv’banda as rhythmic as the two previous ones.
Next dates : Weekend of June 9. Felletin patronal festival. June 15. Saint John’s Day in Colondannes. June 21st. Music festival at the Express bar in Guéret
Vincent Faure
