Un oasis dans le désert de la chanson française

Jean-Louis Murat creuse le sol profond et en extrait une immense poésie charnelle et tellurique. Avec toute ma subjectivité j'affirme tout de même qu'il est, à ce jour, l'auteur-interprète le plus talentueux de France. Là où prolifère le benêt politique qui clame (chante ?) avec fierté le vide de ses opinions systématiquement "engagées", Murat, lui, touche l'universel au coeur. Merci, Monsieur, de me (nous) réconcilier avec ma (notre) langue chantée.

Art, armes et armure(s)

Champ de bataille



I.
C’est voir dans l’à l’envers des choses
Le grand soleil mourant qui murmure nos noms
Ô se recouvrir l’ensemble du corps espéré
D’un doux amuïssement des sens
Se fermer à jamais s’endormir dans l’épais
Champ de blés noirs et pesants

II.
C’est voir dans l’à l’envers des choses
Le grand éblouissement des mots en flamme
Qui se tordent avant de choir
En cendre
(Ô comme l’enfance à l’insecte
Arracher des signifiances aux corps du langage
Et les offrir à la charge des fantassins.)

cher brigitte bardot

felicitations pour votre anniversire.B.B demande a sophia loren la meme age de donner un petit cadeau-de ne plus porter de la ferrunne,j'espere que sophia donnera ce petit cadeau a brigitte

globe theatre

globe theatre south bank

the globe is an open air attempt to re-create an Elizabethan theatre. the current production of Shakespeare's loves labours lost is lively and intense.it has a young cast and is one of Shakespeare's most complex plays with an open ended finale that leaves everything in abeyance .the costumes and presentation work well, and the auditorium is compact some of the spectators are standing in front of a stage that dominates the whole building .however make sure you get seated on the lowest deck the top Deck isn't too good for anyone with hearing difficulties ,not me as it happens ,also some of the action can be obscured by the the angle of the building maybe mikeing the performers would help. purists would say that's not Elizabethan but neither are the low lying air craft that often drown out the dialogue.the court Yard out side is interesting as it is made up slabs that note the names of donors to the building -look you'll find names from ex prime minsters to Marlene Dietrich. to be avoided however the theatre bar inside the adjacent building ruinously expensive £25 for what looked like 4 half glasses of rose and pomegranate juice. also the seats were uncomfortable like the ones in the globe itself except there's an excuse there as it supposed to be elizabethan and youcan hire a cushion. adjacent is the Tate modern the most visited modern art building in the world and there are terrific views of st Paul's the city and the totally uninspiring millennium bridge spanning the Thames .any one on the tourist trail from France must not miss this example of English theatre at its best and also most eccentric

beyond politics

perhaps we are beyond politics and politicians, maybe we need a new system where honesty and real democratic pragmatism exists, a political camelot instead what have we got. in france sarkozy and de villepin are struggling like two school boys as the raft goes over niagra. with a war raging in afghanistan what is sad gordon brown worried about not lack of helicopters, bad body armour not likely , its does obama love me , if he has any sense no, you just ain't lovable gordie, a man who thinks its ok to hug bono has a serious problem,in times of crisis what is harriet harperson proposing a tax on pole dancers ,and baroness scotland is hung by her own petard but who goes no the mouthy lady herself ,but the poor old immigrant cleaner ,is it any wonder no one wants to vote and now nick clegg thinks he's going to be prime minister well ole to you too , in both countries we deserve better than this pathetic bunch of self obsessed no hopers

What life should be

"Immobile sous

Immobile sous un arbre en fleur
Dans le ciel à travers qui bleuit
Silencieux l’on attend le désir
Moissonnant
Immobiles sous un arbre en fleur
Tes cheveux sur ton dos dénudé
De sommeil lumières du soir
Dans nos corps assoupis
Immobiles sous un arbre en fleur"

Bagarre dans la cour de récré

Je pense à mon pays et je me dis que face aux tourments qui l'assaillent aujourd'hui une représentation politique forte est nécessaire pas une jalousie de cour de récréation en haute définition médiatique.Le résultat sera quoiqu'il advienne désastreux pour l'image politique et peut-être même démocratique de la France. C'est, je crois, une balle dans le pied de chaque citoyen.

happenings in france

1 de villepin goes on trial,sarkozy's revenge peut etre on a man who is taller better looking and apparently intellectual and an expert on napoleon, perhaps this will give him insight into pyschology of small men .onimously this aristo is being tried in the court where marie antionette faced her accusers.as we this side of the channel haven't clue what this is all about there is an added fascination.in the south apparently the summer has vanished already,i cant believe the time to eat out side is over,the great electrical storm of the 27th august was the signal that summer was ending .alas now all i have is my sketch books and my photos as i try to invoke the south on canvas, to add to the gloom the pound is now equal to the euro making the excuse for a foray to calaise to shop and dip a toe into french culture no longer valid.

Colours of the streets at night

Rouge est le bruit dans la nuit

Hier dans la nuit profonde et sonore de la féria des Vendanges de Nîmes, je me suis souvenu de ce texte un peu usé. Car le bruit est rouge sang et la lumière douce.

Comme un grand cercle de soleil
Égal à ton regard sur moi lorsque
Vient le soir mourant
Une traversée dans les dunes

Sur les cimes de la foule on voit
Un périmètre de pierre large au moins
D’un mètre n’y cours pas mon Amour
Tu tomberais du ciel
Te prends-tu pour un fruit ?

Immobile dans la blessure sonore

art tourism

one of the curses of galleries is the art tourist .someone who has been told by a guidebook to go look at something mainly because it is the thing to say that you've seen it- . a profound example of this is the mona lisa in the louvre .both of the solar polar partnership at different times have reacted the same way when viewing this quite small painting.the imbalance of the back ground the ambiguity and the super celebrity satus of the artist give it fame beyond fame. there is huge jostle no space to really look- understand contemplate. the main compulsion is to say youve seen it. in the same room is the colossal painting the marriage at cana by Veronese .hardly anyone looks at it yet this is a technical achievement of titanic proportions .life size figures each one minutely observed both physically psychologically fill a huge canvas giving it great vigour. yet its largely ignored in the furore. the only way to really appreciate art is to pause before the pictures that speak to you ,not all will ,but some of the ones that do wont be the most famous pictures .for me and solar , the marriage at cana is the more interesting of the two. mona lisa is an enigma the marriage has the stuff of life within it . next time your in the louvre by all means view the mona lisa ,but at he same time give pause before the marriage painting or any others that may whisper something the more noisy famous paintings don't get a chance to.

lifts without real elevation

why do our politicians feel their appearance matters as much as their policies.sarkozy obsessed with his lack of stature wears cuban heels,(lifts,) stands on a box to deliver speeches and then surrounds himself with small people. would anyone have thought twice about his size if he hadn't drawn attention to it . is it a coincidence that the tall patrician de villepin is facing a trial and its not possible that height envy might have some thing to do with it .then we have gordon brown his teeth fixed to produce the worst smile in the world plus the curious changes in his figure. one minute all heaved up like butch the bulldog, next moment a sack of potatoes, there is some thing mysterious going here and its probably known as body shaper or corset to me and you. the antithesis of this nonsense was winston churchill bald, over weight, small, did he care -not at all. force of personality , policies and the ability to deliver them is all that counts. unfortunately nothing has been learned from history by this vainglorious pair

chirac's greatest sin

chirac's new biography may have to face delayed publication because there is a picture of him smoking on the cover which could contravene french anti smoking laws. if this is his greatest sin then this book is going to be a dull read .there is a suggestion he is being picked on by his enemies , as posters of audrey tautou smoking in bed (shocking) were displayed on the posters for the chanel movie everywhere .maybe its easier in france to get away with things if your young and beautiful rather than a grizzled burnt out politician

bardot at 74

il y a actuellement a londres un grande exposition sur brigitte bardot le grande vedette de cinema francais.il s'agit d'une collection de photos concernant sa vie privee egalment sa vie d'artiste. cette exposition temoigne du fait que bardot s'inscrit dans un style au naturel radiclement oppose au style a 'l americaine dont les emblemes artificiels les plus evidents sont la chirurgie esthetique et les brushings aeriens.en angleterre bardot est un icone une legende extraordinaire car elle meme un vie simple et naturel.cette exposition salu en ce sens davantage une personne humaine, que une vedette

bardot at 74 unretouched regretting rien

A l'heure d'automne, gloire presque morte au soleil

Soleil
Poignard des moissons

Tu as grandi
Le regard du ciel

Pourquoi te devine-t-on
Davantage dans le volet
Abaissé qu’en te fixant ?

Vois: te voilà par énergie
L’égal de la poésie

dominique de villepin

contest of the ridiculous

i don't think it could happen in angleterre ,sarkozy is-- after the blood aristocratic ex prime minister de villepin his response is to call sarkosy a dwarf.ex presidents, ex wives etc are being dragged in to this,why because sarkozy feels he had dirty tricks played on him in the last election - but isn't that what politicians do. this spectacle will amuse if not enlighten,how it shapes up is going to be fascinating

the calanques

when i arrived in france this summer ,i expected to find the calanques heaving with discontent at he proposal to make it a national park.it all seemed very peaceful and normal with no sign in the press or the firebrand lady leading the opposition .no one seemed to have heard anything and there was me preparing to march. as was pointed out if the national park prohibits the spread of the scourge that is pizza and irish pubs it can be no bad thing.this seems to have been an invention of the silly season ,like the article that appeared about apt. a den of thieves and gangsters congregating around a cafe where every type of deal from drugs to white slavery was being done.the gangsters always drove cars with the dreaded number thirteen number plate.the cafe concerned is a decent Establishment last time i was there two old men and granny were having a drink and the 13 number plate is the one that signals bouches du rhone. reporters get bored in the summer and i should have learned by now not to believe everything i read

Une Grippe fort opportune,

Je méprise la modernité. Un long cortège de vie sous plastique, une négation de la mort, de la maladie et inversement une avidité pour le morbide. Les médias et les gouvernements ont trouvé le marteau pour enfoncer la peur des nouveaux temps: ce marteau, c'est la grippe A. Et soudainement le mot crise, lui-même habilement et théâtralement utilisé, a disparu, volatilisé, démembré, en pièces. Voilà maintenant le spectacle médiatique a une nouvelle tête d'affiche, brandissant la peur de chacun, au pas ne nos portes, tremble citoyen, ton avenir incertain, ton virus potentiel, ton vaccin salvateur, non, ton vaccin peut-être dangereux, une litanie d'informations se niant les unes les autres, se noyant réciproquement dans le délire incandescent d'une société hystérique. Alors voilà, je préfère afficher mon mépris de tout cela, mais ausi ma peur car le vrai virus c'est l'information qui a muté en spectacle. Honte à cela !

worse still

farrell the reporter this deadly debacle was probably travelling on an Irish passport but relied on the british to rescue him, worse still he was told by the afghan police not to go where he went then, he was told by an elder to get out as the taliban were coming ,he ignored both warnings got captured and 4people died. all this so he can get a lousy story ,the sickness in this is press defending him and then gordon brown dodging responsibility for a rescue that went wrong by dumping on poor bob ainsworth and milliband, even more sinister as it is an attempt to discredit a potential rival .anyone who believes brown is competent or is running this country for anything but his own benefit needs\a reality check

deadly reporting

twice the same reporter has got himself captured by enemy forces, once in iraq once aghanistan .incompetent, or stupid,stupid and selfish i'd say .this time a soldier several civilians and his afghan colleague are dead in freeing him .is any story worth this, such thoughtlessness is inexcusable -next time let him stay put

duplicity thy clour is brown

the british army under equipped under manned ,is sent to afghanistan to keep terror from our streets, i quote our unelected pm yet,at the same time in order not to upset libya the supplier of semtex to the ira ,he refuses to back injury claimants in the uk, therefore libyan terrorists and the ira are ok ,but the taliban etc are not .nor does the argument that terror is kept off the streets by a military presence hold water ,it is home grown and a military presence will be no more effective than it was in in northern ireland. remember, guilford ,birminghanm ,canary wharf etc . bob ainsworth brown appointee, is scarcely adequate, i make no apologies for despising someone with no education, who crawls his way to the top through trade union committee's. this whole debacle is scandal and is typical of someone who wants a job ,i mean brown ,and hasn't a clue what to do with it when he gets it . his performance is rotting away the soul of the socialist movement in this country .we all deserve better than having to prop up one mans vanity

exhibitions

exhibitions were varied around la ciotat, there is an excellent gallery in st cyr which seems to exhibit big name artists . verdhilan is featured at present. he is a painter with a primative yet structured apoproach to provence and the water front at marseille. he is impressive in his consistency .the marine painters exhibition in the beaux art building is a marvellous representation of the coast and marseille everyone from orthon freiz to zeim is reprsented, taking a amisty eyed look at old marseille , transporter bridge and all before the germans ripped the heart out of the city in world war 2 ,the beaux art building is very beautiful but the clutter and mess in the forecourt is a disgrace ,like wise the interior, a maginficent staircase ruined by wallpaper actually peeling off as you watch it,come on fork out some money and get the decorators in. the chapel of the penitants bleu in la ciotat has an exhibition by a local group calling themseleves the artist of the chantier. engergetic and lively they also presented them selves to discuss their work, ther is lot of exprimentation in this group which however has yet to pruduce a star performer or real individuality. the gallery on the port is normally not of this standard and usuallly presents works that seem to throughly misunderstand expressionism and fauvism .however the latest exhibition photos recording the life of the shipyard not only had some powerful images but also contains a nostalgic element which reminded us that la coitat was once a grat ship building centre

vacances

south of france what more can you ask for, la coitat is my second home,this year partly en famille.la coitat is very southern french with a long history and what was a shipyard close to some of the most spectacular scenery on any coast any where ,its not too affected by tourism but has crowded beaches. the secret places are best. the petit mugel is a tiny bay beloved of snorkelers ,turquoise sea, over hanging pines and subtropical garden make it a special treat . get there early and leave by 2 o clock, too hot by then .other distractions this year were theiry and severins boulangerie on the road to cyreste .it is place with a Little cafe connected , the croissants are authentic heaven , the petit fors are worthy of a sultans palace, the pizza something all its own ,also there are meringues the size of foot balls and the bread is something supermarkets cant get any where near .open all week no wonder there is always a queue. st jean is on the edge of la coitat, it has many attractions less crowded beach a good hotel with very attentive staff . the rooms have air conditioning . it has access to a private beach and pizzeria , which is actually a restaurant. on the Waters edge, it does great food is run by Corsican brothers, hopefully not the tortured Dumas ones , their illes flottant are superlative.the setting is great really waters edge, and gave a ring side seat to an electrical storm that would not have been out of place in the ten comandments movie .the grand pins pizzeria unlike the one by the beach ,is mainly is what it states itself to be this establishment ,once restaurant is now a noisy bar, which seems to attract a lot of women .the explantion the pizzas are prepared by two hunks ,responding to the heat generated by a wood burning oven ,who break all the undress codes associated with health and saftey, but produce light as feather pizzas. its worth a visit if you like that sort of thing. nevertheless restaurants in france arn't what they used to be , English establishments are as good and have more variety .its interesting the two best meals i had were prepared privately one, in st remy by an english man , the other by French lady in la ciotat that tells you something. both were light lunches that lasted four hours .a good restaurant should produce something you cant achieve at home .most of the ones i visited didnt come any where near . what is better than england are the staff ,eastern europeans excepted ,who are always attentive look like they enjoy their job ,so that even the most ordinary meal becames a pleasant experience the indiana on the bech front exemplifies this .as for english cafe culture , it ain't going to happen we simply do not have the weather

return/retour

we've been on holiday,me, the south of France ,la coitat to be precise,close to Marseille- so hot there was an orange alert at medical centres ,but if you keep out of the heat between 12 and 4 ,dink lots of water and wear floppy clothes, Tuareg's do not wear shorts ,you should be OK .what do you do on holiday ,me ,i go to exhibitions try to find good restaurants, not so easy these days in France ,read, talk. next post I'm going to tell you places to go , this one is about the big Holiday stand bye the good read. i tried a coupleof books which i've forgotten already ,then read new moon again ,while trying not to get involved in a water theme park . then took up salambo by Flaubert. according to my partner blogger, one of the most controversial books in french literature ,it concerns a declining Carthage ,the priestess daughter of Hamilcar father ,of Hannibal and her calamitous meeting with matho the mercenary barbarian. somewhere between baroque and Gothic the descriptions of Carthage ,battles ,executions and daily life are literally dripping with descriptive prose .the climax is searingly tragic , matho distracted by his obsession with salambo is defeated, then given up to torture and public execution .salambo too late discovers she cant exist with out him .it should be a movie but probaly never will be .i finished it and my mouth fell open,other people on Holiday with us kept lifting it up ,putting it down again - "disgusting"- but couldn't leave it alone .salambo will haunt you ,its in penguin classic. i only wish my french was up to reading it in the original version .its message being distracted by Passion a can be a calmitous thing especially if you want to win a war or hang on to your sanity