Seventh ‘French Spring’/ Culinary Heritage fete / NCCA’s two-day summit

There is an old song which begins thus: "June is breaking out all over." To that line one adds: "French Spring in Manila" – the seventh! – will break out all over in June. French Ambassador Renée Veyret announced the other day at the Captain’s Bar of Mandarin Hotel that this year’s "French Spring" is geared toward popular taste and appeal.

For instance, on June 1 at the RCBC Plaza, at an invitational recital, Helene Delavault will sing popular songs in French, English, German, Italian and Spanish – these in cabaret style – though, as a graduate of the Paris Opera and the Juilliard School in New York, she originally sang classical arias (Carmen, et al).

Helene’s songs will "make relevant social comments on the French Revolution, the war between the sexes, and love – with conviction and sometimes malice." Madame Veyret added that Helene is trying to learn a Tagalog song for her program.

The French Spring theme of "Unity in Diversity" has always implied interaction among artists of various nationalities and, specifically, between French and Filipino. Consequently, accompanying Helene will be Yves Prin on the piano, Jean-Pierre Pichot on Bass, and our own Tots Tolentino on sax and Koko Bermejo on drums.

Another interaction will take place on June 3 for the Third Manila Jazz Festival sponsored by Jewelmer. Described as "a night of intense jazz music," it will feature three top local bands – Jewelmer, Subconcept and Johnny Alegre Affinity – the fourth being Jamie Oehlers’ French Quartet, and the fifth being Satya, a composite of various nationalities who met in Berklee College of Music in Boston: a Fil-Spanish pianist, an Afro-American vocalist (female), a Brazilian (tenor sax player), a Russian (alto sax player), a Spanish trumpetist, an American drummer, and an American multi-instrumentalist (bass, drums, trombone).

This should be a terrific night for jazz aficionados who will be attending the festival on the second level, Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center.

On June 4, students of the European International School will be presenting "Rock for a Reason", the reason being the country’s less privileged who will benefit from the concert. Venue: the sports field of the school’s Eurocampus.

Other performing arts presentations of popular appeal follow:

On June 11 at about 10:30 p.m. in Intramuros, and June 12 around 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, juggling and street theater will be performed by an actor, a juggler, an acrobat and a dancer, each an expert in his own field.

What the audience will see is described thus: "Discreetly planted in the local setting – impromptu, unexpectedly disturbing – the Emboites will spring to life in the streets. A book forgotten on a public bench, a hat flying over the crowd, a plastic bottle – these everyday things serve as instant props. The players give life to such common objects; suddenly, out of the ordinary, there is instant choreography to the music of an accordionist. In a sidewalk cafe, the entrance to a store, or just a street corner, you will encounter the Emboites, regular folk but extraordinary."

New, spectacular circus trends will be depicted by Camille Boitel on June 14, 8 p.m. at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center. "The audience will rock back and forth on their seats in this game of distance. Onstage, a strange combat goes on; its images, rhythms, sensations will alternately make you laugh, open your eyes wide in suspense and awe. L’Homme de Hus is risky adventure as much for the spectator who creates the poetic tension as for the actor onstage who is caught, cornered, attacked by all sorts of objects and things. The language is funny; arising from the body, it explodes."

On June 16, at the Republic of Makati, "Cabaret Night" will feature the synthesis of techniques of traditional circus with dance, music, and other artistic disciplines. It will be an evening of improvisations, adlibs, unexpected performances and encounters. French dancer Marine Broise and Filipino counterparts will be accompanied by French and Filipino musicians.

Free entrance will be on a first-come, first-served arrangement.

Since 1994, Fete de la Musique has been celebrated from Malate to Fort Bonifacio, to El Pueblo and Eastwood. On June 18, Fete will gather again over 10,000 music lovers in a street party that will close "French Spring", with more than a hundred bands playing simultaneously on ten stages the full spectrum of modern musical genres on all fronts – Greenbelt 3, Shangri-La Plaza, Eastwood, The Podium, SM Megamall.

This column will continue its report next time.

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The working committee of the ongoing Heritage Festival has researched deeply into what was served during historical events. For instance, from May 23 to 27 at the Captain’s Bar of Mandarin Hotel, visitors will discover what President Aguinaldo and his Cabinet ate in Malolos on Jan. 23, 1899, which banquet celebrated the establishment of the first Philippine Republic. Visitors will also experience a Mesa de Hacienda, The First Banquet, A Filipino Table in Paris (presumably during the time of Rizal) and the colonial regime’s Mesa de Lipa.

At the Intercon’s Cafe Jeepney, also in conjunction with the Heritage Festival, a culinary showcase of food delicacies from Pampanga is being offered up to May 31, courtesy of Mrs. Pette S. Jorolan of Everybody’s Cafe in San Fernando and Angeles cities.

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Ever since Cecile Guidote Alvarez took over as executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, it has become a dynamic center of activities involving our cultural and community life. On May 23 and 24, the NCCA will hold a summit meeting at the Clamshell 2, Intramuros, on the Power of Arts and Media in Breaking the Cycle of Corruption and Poverty.

Day one discussions will focus on arts and culture as a catalyst for change and as an anti-corruption tool, utilizing radio, TV, cinema, print, comics and information technology. Day two will center on foregoing partnerships with TV executives, cinema producers, publishers, advertisers, the business sector, civic and church-related groups to collectively deconstruct the culture of corruption.

At summit’s end, resolutions will be presented to President Gloria M. Arroyo, and they will form part of a national action plan to win the war against corruption and poverty.