Going Provincial: Moussu T e Lei Jovents and "Embarcatz!"

In less than a year, we are thinking of going with some friends to France. I have never been to France - well, let me clarify. I've been in France, but I've never been to France. I was traveling on an itinerary and took a train from Austria through France, stopping in Paris to change train stations, and then on another train to the coast where I set sail for Ireland. So while I've been in France and seen some pastoral countryside and experienced the Metro in Paris while changing train stations, I didn't really spend any time there. In hindsight, that was stupid. I should have spent a few days in Paris at least. But I was young, on my first trip to Europe, and didn't have any sense that I could just make my own schedule and do my own thing.

I'm hoping to rectify that now. Some friends are planning to rent a place in Provence, and the plan is to fly into Paris and spend a week, and then spend another week in the countryside in Provence. We will join them for the trip. And what I am hoping for, besides seeing the sights that I need to see, is to hear some music. France has a wonderful music scene, with so many different kinds of musicians and groups from many genres, including North African, and I find myself really enjoying a lot of the French music I hear.

One of those groups that would be great to see is the provider of our random tune for today. Moussu T e Lei Jovents is a band that splits its time between Marseilles, a French commune called La Ciotat, and Recife, Brazil. They are inspired by the music of Marseilles between 1920 and 1930 and the melting pot that the city was and remains. They range musically from the blues to reggae to Brazilian music to music hall, and they are very comfortable singing in Occitan, the regional language of the southern third of France. They have released eight albums. Embarcatz! (All Aboard!), your tune for the day, is a really fun tune that you can turn up. The song is about traveling once bridges are burned and heading toward new adventure. As the refrain says:

In the world's great salad bowl

We'll add our pinch of salt

Here we are when the music starts

Let the ship sail away!

To the planet's great hymn

We want to bring our energy

Like a never ending groundswell

We will visit every port.

Embarcatz! can be found on their 2013 CD Artemis. The video starts out with a little movie with the music beginning about a minute into the video.