In October 2024 the director of the médiathèque told me there is still some money left in the budget and encouraged me to use some to organize a concert in December 2024. We chose Sunday 14th December 2024, just before the winter holidays, to warm up the hearts of the people. We invited the group The Gypsy Jazz Band, who is playing gypsy jazz music. They gladly accepted!
The band is a quartet - Jonathan (drums), Guillaume (electric guitar), Christophe (bass guitar) and Doïna (violin). They play instrumentals of the great standards of gypsy jazz music, like Django Reinhardt et Stéphane Grappelli and they were awesome! For this concert I asked them to play some Christmas songs in gypsy jazz version, and they did it! They played songs "Silent night" and "All I want for Christmas is you". It was super!
The concert was a resounding success! We had a lot of visitors coming to the concert - 70 to be exact! The audience was wonderfully diverse, with intergenerational spectators ranging from babies and children to adults and seniors in wheelchairs. The visitors loved the performance, applauding and enjoying every moment. We filled the Espace Musique et Cinéma beyond our expectations. The atmosphere was electric, with people even singing "Happy Birthday" to celebrate the drummer's birthday and the band's second anniversary. An enthusiastic spectator even wanted to buy an album! We were thrilled to see 21 people leave their emails to stay informed about future events. The band animated the public - they talked about each song, who is the artist, why did they choose it, little anecdotes like that. They had a great sound, even if they didn't have a lot of time to do sound check.
The group encountered a slight setback by performing after the storytelling show, which didn't leave them much time for a soundcheck. Then, they had to remove their equipment to allow the storytelling show to take place. After the storytelling show, they had to set everything up again. But they managed, they are real stars! For the future, it is important that the concert be independent in the room.
It was my first gypsy jazz concert and I loved every single moment of it. I wrote a small speech to present the band and really enjoyed doing it! Music was awesome and I danced and was feeling the energy! It felt good to be alive! :)