Today, June 21 (summer solstice day), is the Fete de la Musique in many French towns, where the community gets together to make music. The Moissac event this year has been organised by our good friend Veronique Duffault, and she has asked Rita and I to play some pan music at the Uvarium.

Having been rehearsing some new songs (for me) for the past 10 days, we are about ready to go. But first we have to get all the instruments from the house (where we have been rehearsing) down to the Uvarium. The first trip was easy, with the soprano pan, the two baritones and the various bits of electronic gear. But then we had to get 6 bass pans down there, and we fully realised that the Scenic was much smaller than the pan bus back home. But eventually after three trips, we were set up and ready to play.

Now all we needed was an audience, since there had been some confusion in the programming about exactly when we would be playing. So we just started playing/rehearsing at the earlier advertised time, stopping to talk with people as they arrived and showing some families how the pans made music. All very informal, but enjoyable. Eventually, more barging people, community members, Australians and then the Batucada band (that were playing later) arrived and so we moved into the concert proper, with me initially playing the baritones and then switching to the more familiar six bass.

Soon after we finished, another bunch of Aussies arrived, so Rita put on another mini concert for them, while the Batacuda band finished their lunch.

After we finished playing, the Batucada band (Brazilian Drums) started playing, but stopped after the manager of the nearby cafe reminded them that they were supposed to play at 1600h, not 1400h when patrons of the cafe were trying to eat lunch in peace and quiet. By comparison, it made one realise how relatively quiet and musical the pans are compared to the drums. At 1600h when the Batacuda band started again, I decided to take my leave and make many trips back to the house to return the pans (I’m not a great fan of the Batacuda as an audience member - far too loud, monotonous, and non-musical for my liking).

In the evening, Julia’s friends (Lottie and Roger) arrived on their way back from Sicily to England. Roger is a Professor of Archeology and has been involved in archeological digs in Sicily for many years. We met up with them at the house and then went up for dinner at La Florentin, right next to the entrance to the Abbey which was of great interest to Roger (as was the even-older church of St Martins just 100m down the road from the house).

Sadly, I lost many photos over the next few days, including a beautiful night-time shot of the Abbey entrance this evening. They saved OK to iPhoto, but have now disappeared - maybe they’ll reappear one day.

PS: they haven’t reappeared, but here is a photo of the Abbey entrance that I took a few weeks later.