8 p.m., Sunday, June 30. In Quimper, L’Irréductible festival was in full swing. On stage, Soldat Louis set the Kerourien plain alight when many phones began to vibrate with mobile notifications. Like the one from Le Télégramme: “RN largely in the lead in the first round of legislative elections”. For a fraction of a second, several festival-goers’ eyes were then detached from the present moment to take note of the political news. But it really only lasted a few seconds. “At L’Irréductible festival, there is a dome that prevents people from thinking about the elections”, smiled one of the 400 volunteers present.
“We don’t do politics”
As soon as the festival doors opened on Friday evening, the tone had been set. During an inaugural speech, the socialist mayor of Quimper, Isabelle Assih, made a point of mentioning a platform signed by many artists: “The world of arts and culture is in direct contact with society and its developments. It exists through the encounter with others, the discovery of their differences, the expression of the intimate, while respecting identities and diversity. It participates in the collective construction of a sustainable, livable, desirable, fairer future,” she read.
For his part, the president of the festival, Mathieu Gourmelen, was a little more reserved because “we don’t do politics here”. No politics, of course, but the Quimper resident was well aware, in the back of his mind, of the importance of the current context which came to collide head-on with the last day of his festival.
“A little lightness”
This is also why the organizers had set up an original initiative by offering a free sausage pancake to festival-goers who voted. “It’s our way of bringing a little lightness to a complicated moment. We are fighting for culture and we will continue to fight, whatever the result,” said Mathieu Gourmelen. And, very clearly, culture won over the weekend, which brought together nearly 13,000 festival-goers from all walks of life who came to party and escape.
“We voted this morning and it’s pretty good because thanks to that, we got our galette saucisse,” smiled Valérie, 54, who came to take her mind off things with her cousin, Cyrille, 54. Two women who just wanted to “completely switch off because life goes on and maybe tomorrow we won’t be able to party like we did today.”
“Life should be a party”
“Now we can change our minds. We’ll see all that tomorrow and in the next round. Each day is enough of its punishment,” said Rodolphe, a young father. “It’s important to come and celebrate because the current climate is stressful. We are here to cut and enjoy. We forget everything. Politics, government, laws,” added Audrey and Arnaud, a couple in their thirties. “I think it’s very important to come and celebrate at times like this. Life should be a celebration every day,” said Hervé, 61 years old. “We will only look at the results tomorrow. For now, we prefer to enjoy the concerts,” added his wife, Florence, 54 years old.
“We feel it, there is a heavy climate”
“Here, we completely disconnect. It’s a change from the somewhat gloomy daily life. Here, we don’t want to talk about politics, just enjoy ourselves. We’ll see the results when we get back,” added a retired couple, Daniel, 71, and Patricia, 68. But, behind all these smiles, helped by the energetic concerts of the BRETONS collective, Dïe Morg and Komodrag & The Mounodor, no one was fooled.
“We’ve been here since Friday evening and we see that it’s still very present in people’s minds. We feel it, there is a heavy climate,” confided Marion, 27 years old. “Just talking about it makes me a little anxious,” added one of his friends, Manu, 32 years old. “To be completely honest, I thought about it this morning. I wondered how it was going to happen at the festival depending on the results because, yesterday, we met some rather extreme people,” reported Maryse, 55, waiting, like many, for a bright tomorrow.
