Ensemble UN
Méandre(s): An experience in spontaneous, collective creating
France LE CHANT DU MOINEAU ISBN : 978-2-9559475-7-9 Book, CD & DVD (2023)
Here is a beautiful, fabulous thing. “Le UN, an ensemble of seasoned improvisors, was invited to think collectively, embarking on canoes, playing and paddling, singing and swimming, in the water and its environment, for 3 days.” What a fabulous idea! And here is a book, cd and dvd documenting the activities of 25 musicians plus technical crew during those three days in June 2021 – superb! The location is the Perigord section of the river Dordogne between Carzac and Vezac. The “experimental documentary” film was made by Camille Auburtin with music concrete by Lionel Marchetti. The audio is recorded very well – some of the improvisors who participated include Pascal Battus, Michel Doneda, Nina Garcia, Jerome Noetinger and Dominique Regef. Writers and academics who contributed to the book include Anne Steiner, Vincent Fleury, Eric Chavance and Benjamin Bondonneau; invited with the challenge to find “…links, passageways, between their respective fields of research and the situations lived by the orchestra”. Their writings are as beautiful as the rest of the project; by turns exploratory, documentary and personal.
The Dordogne was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2012. This makes it an ideal site for this kind of activity, but perhaps masks the true situation – similar to ours here in the UK where, according to The Rivers Trust website, “…just 15% of English, 31% of Northern Irish and 50% of Irish river stretches reach good ecological health standards.” – that according to le Monde there is a May 2024 report describing “widespread contamination” of waterways in Europe by trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a “forever chemical” as little known as it is regulated, resulting in particular from the degradation of pesticides belonging to the large family of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).”
A beautiful package celebrating an amazing place, a fascinating practice created with care and an obvious love for the subjects of its interrogations.