Enjoy high-kicking & swirling action at the Confolens Festival
This year’s annual Festival de Confolens promises to be one of the best with great performances and fabulous weather. The picturesque town of Confolens in the Charente comes alive for the week-long festival (August 10-16) that is in its 52nd year. It was started by local man Henri Coursaget, now a sprightly eightysomething, as a way of making a contribution to the world.
During the second world war Coursaget was the only member of his French Resistance group to survive. For years afterwards he tried to answer the question: ‘Why me?’ Memories of his fallen teenage friends left him determined to give his life some meaning.
He found his answer using the unlikely means of traditional music and dance. And in creating the Confolens festival Coursaget has faced down dictators and sidestepped political barriers to bring together people of different countries and cultures.
The festival is today part of a global network of events under the banner of the Conseil international des organisations de festivals de folklore et d’art traditionnel (CIOFF), that Coursaget launched in 1970. Back then he invited the Soviet Union to join and despite the strained political climate of the time a delegation travelled from Moscow to Confolens and after a day of talks became a member - its delegates declaring that they understood ‘the spirit behind the festival’.
The event, always held in the second week of August, brings in 100,000 people from all over France and overseas, who arrive to see up to 500 elaborately dressed dancers from a variety of countries. This year the line-up of 13 nations includes Belarus, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Malaysia (more festival details below). Coursaget retired as chief organiser of the festival in 2008 but can still be seen cheering the performers on.
Meanwhile the CIOFF now has 5,000 charities working with it. In 1975 the organisation became affiliated to UNESCO which charged the CIOFF with ‘guarding traditional folklore of the world and through this, the promotion of peace between people’. It is a role that Coursaget took very seriously. During the dictatorship of General Pinochet in Chile, for example, he flew to Santiago at considerable risk to protest against the imprisonment and torture of musicians. Coursaget is humble about his contribution. ‘It has never been about being superior to everyone else,’ he says. ‘Yes, I feel I have done something in my life, but everything I do, I do for my friends who died.’
FESTIVAL DE CONFOLENS PROGRAMME
This fabulous Charente festival runs from August 10-16 and is a mix of theatre performances for which you need to buy tickets, and street performances during one evening and two afternoons. This year’s participants are:
Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia
Belarus
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ivory Coast
France
Cook Islands
Solomon Islands
Malaysia
Peru
Puerto Rico
Slovakia
This year, for the first time, the festival begins with a one-off Grand Celtic Night starring performers from Brittany, France and Ireland. The performance will begin with Kevrenn Alré from Auray in Brittany, a 55-member troupe displaying traditional Breton culture and dance. Then it's over to Ireland's Ragus , a mix of musicians, singers and dancers, who will perform their exciting blend of moving, traditional Irish music, song and dance for what promises to be a wonderful 90 minutes.
This performance, like all the big events that take place each night at 9pm, is undercover in the Théâtre des Ribières. Throughout the festival there are also day-time performances every day in a variety of venues as well as dance classes where you can have a go yourself.
If the weather is fine, the Nuit en fête (August 14) is well worth going to – have a meal in one of the many restaurants that spill out onto the street during the festival (or those with river views) and then stroll around town as the different groups perform on street corners from 9pm onwards. The night ends with a firework display over the river which runs through the town.
Tickets range from €10-€25 for adults and €12 for children (different shows have different prices). The Nuit en fête costs €8 for adults and is free for children under 12. The open afternoons are slightly cheaper at €6 for adults. There are also special ticket offers covering more than on event. For a full program and tickets see the festival website: www.festivaldeconfolens.com
Monday, August 10
9pm: Grande Celtic Night with performers from Brittanty and Ireland, including the dance troupe 'Ragus'
11pm: Brittany's Grand Fest-Noz perform
Tuesday, August 11
9.45am-5pm: learn to dance the Breton way
9pm: gala opening with all the countries putting on a show
Wednesday, August 12
9.45am-5pm: learn to dance the Malaysian way
3pm: performers from Brittany, Ivory Coast, Cook Islands and Chile.
9pm: performers from Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, Belarus, Peru, Puerto Rico and Slovakia
Thursday, August 13
9.45am-5pm: learn to dance the Slovakian way
3pm: local Confolens performers join with those from Belarus, Peru and Colombia
9pm: The Ogres of Barback, a French dance troupe whose performance draws from a mix of cultures
Friday, August 14
9.45am-5pm: learn to dance the Peurto Rican way
3pm: performers from Landes, Slovakia and Malaysia
Also at 3pm: all the performers give a how except for malaysia and Puerto Rico
9pm: Festival night where all the countries perform throughout the town, ending with fireworks
Saturday, August 15
10am: church service
11.30am: aperitif concert! Just before lunch, a free concert
3pm: Festival afternoon: all the groups perform throughout the town
9pm: performers from Chile, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Cook Islands and malaysia perform
Sunday, August 16
10am: church service
11.30am: aperitif concert! Just before lunch, a free concert
3pm: Festival afternoon: all the groups perform throughout the town
9pm: The closing performance, called Panorama of Culture, the Blue Hour' featuring all the countries.