#pulling together

I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future.**

- HM Queen Elizabeth II

Come on fellow Britons, chin up and let’s get our arse into gear. Don’t let the unfortunate incompetence of the current shambolic UK government become an excuse to take no responsibility for ourselves and our duty to our neighbours and immediate community.

Les musiciens de l'Orchestre National de France ont souhaité, malgré la distance, jouer ensemble pour offrir et partager avec chacun ce qu'ils savent le mieux faire : de la musique.

Qui n'a jamais rêvé de voir tous les musiciens d'un orchestre en première ligne? En ce moment de confinement, la musique est un lien extraordinaire qui, avec les moyens de communication actuels, tend à rapprocher les individus tout en les protégeant, ce qui est essentiel aujourd’hui. Peu importe que la réalisation de cette production ait été faite en playback puis en « recollant » les fragments visuels de cette mosaïque vivante, l’idée n’en n’est pas moins superbe et cela rappelle aussi que la version interprétée était sublime.  Il y a des instants où on pourrait se passer un peu de polémique ou d'explication et apprécier juste ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on entend. Vive la technologie qui nous permet d'apprécier une musique de très grande qualité, et qui nous apporte du baume au cœur dans cette période troublée de coronavirus.

Vive  l'Orchestre National de France!

Vive la France!

Musician Valentin Vander brought together 45 musicians and singers from their place of confinement from all over France to interpret the sublime French song ‘la tendresse’ (by Noël Roux et Hubert Giraud) that was immortalised by Bourvil in 1963.

The audio and video recordings were made with whatever means each of the singers and musicians had at their disposal. All the singers and musicians freely volunteered their contributions in support of the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging France and the world.

It’s one of my favourite French songs of all time. The song has been widely shared amongst the French who are under continued lock down during this pandemic.

I’ve never been prouder to live in Paris and marvel at the French spirit to rise above the self and think of others. Liberté and Egalité may be in bad shape in contemporary France but Fraternité seems to be in good health.

Quelle merveilleuse idée par ces temps difficiles. Magnifique chanson dont les paroles sonnent tellement juste en ce moment. Superbe réalisation qui fait du bien à tout le monde.

Memories of a Community Pulling Together

Seventeen years ago, this nation woke to a tragedy unlike anything it had seen since Pearl Harbor. Our nation was under attack. Four commercial airliners had been hijacked. Two flew into the Twin Towers in New York. Another crashed into the Pentagon and the third in a Pennsylvania field. That third crashed there because of the heroism and sacrifice of the passengers and crew onboard who refused…

Let us show Light!

Light can be the most elusive and difficult thing to look for, to project, to notice. Animals, we feel cornered by fear and lash out in anger and defensiveness; we raise our hackles in order to look bigger and more scary. We become so fixated upon the enemy that we forget to see the friend; so mesmerised by all signs of darkness that we fail to see the golden leaves on the trees, a beautiful sky…