Dance, photography, concerts, opera and street arts will punctuate the weekend of May 8 to 10 in Montpellier, with a series of cultural events distributed between the Domaine d’O, the Rockstore, the Pavillon Populaire, the Opéra Comédie and the Figuerolles district.
Saperlipopette
Saperlipopette, a festival dedicated to young audiences, is still a victim of its success. Shows are already sold out, but there are still opportunities to enjoy great moments with family, whether with meetings in the O amphitheater or with free access to the park.
This year, two big shows. On the one hand, What day owes to nightshow by Hervé Koubi with the Epsedanse dancers, at 11:30 a.m. On the other hand, Little Brotherat 6:30 p.m., a contemporary circus show between acrobatics, dance and visual theater. We can also add Dark Circus (2 p.m. and 5 p.m.), cozy at the Jean-Claude Carrière theater, which offers a live animated film.
As for free shows in the pine forest, we find Pour Hêtre (12 p.m. and 3 p.m.), a duet with a tree, La Boîtea musical play (5:15 p.m.), or the clown fable Tandem (14 h 15 et 16 h 30).
Birthday of the Shipwrecked
Les Naufragés, a surviving group from the French alternative rock wave of the 1980s, are celebrating their 40th anniversary at Rockstore. A place that suits the Montpellier band born in the wake of OTH, already led by Spi, from the time when Bérurier Noir, Mano Negra and even Wampas injected political and social commitment or fantasy into French rock.
If, with its punk rage, OTH left its mark on a whole generation of rockers, Les Naufragés left the tortured South for Brittany, the country of SpiÂ: theirs were the ports, the sea shanties, the pop balls and the tales of wandering. In summary, where OTH embodied urgency with the help of electric guitars, Les Naufragés were born from a desire to breathe a different air, with harmonica, accordion and ska or rockabilly rhythms. Between studios, lives and compilations, around fifteen albums have emerged during these forty years during which the group has favored the stage. The group’s atypical identity was so appealing that France Culture came to record a concert at Rockstore in the 1990s.
This anniversary concert takes on a symbolic and historical dimension since the home port is the Rockstore, a venue which, like Les Naufragés, is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. For those who would like to hear OTH again, it will be possible thanks to L’École de la rue, a Rennes group which covers pieces of it. We also find the next generation with Les Tardigrades, a young group from Montpellier.
The Boutographies
The Boutographies festival, dedicated to young European photography, returns for its 26th edition by taking over the spaces of the Popular Pavilion. Between the official selection with the photos hung and the projections, the artists explore contemporary issues: intimate memory, collective trauma, social norms or environmental crisis. Throughout the city, parallel selections and tours outside the walls extend this visual dialogue. Among the notable proposals, Ice Builders by Julien Fumard documente des solutions face à la sécheresse, Sixteen and a half by Alexandre Bagdassarian shows incarcerated youth, while Beyond Coral White by Marie Lukasiewicz questions our destructive relationship with nature.
Magdalena
Magdalenaa rare work by Heitor Villa-Lobos, is presented at the Montpellier Opera in a version adapted for the Junior Opera bringing together adolescents and young adults. Created in 1948, this “musical adventure” combines opera, musical comedy and influences South American, in a rich score carried by Brazilian rhythms and rich orchestration. The plot is set in Colombia and combines social drama, satire and love story against a backdrop of workers’ revolt and religious tensions. This version is reduced and reimagined for young performers. Magdalena appears today as a singular object, between a popular spectacle and an ambitious musical fresco.
La Grande Parade Métèque
Meet in the Figuerolles district for the Grande Parade Métèque. Friday, from 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Parc de la Guirlande, time for the “Decolonize our imaginations” day with creative projects, performances and concerts. On Saturday, we enjoy circus shows, a concert for children and a musical finale combining the flamenco of Manuela Diaz and the maloya of Maya Kamaty. Before that, the large, colorful and noisy cavalcade will stroll through the streets of the neighborhood.
