Festen Oc

Backblipped after a late night at our annual Fête du Terroir. I was spoilt for choice today; I took about 200 photos (and deleted over half of them). Up early to put out chairs and tables for 450 people for the meal in the evening. By 11 o' clock it was already about 35C. An intronisation into the Confrérie des Corbières in the shade of the plane trees on the square was followed (of course) by an apéritif and grilled sausages. Then a siesta before the performance by Castanha e vinovel. It was a bit hot for dancing, but lots of people did anyway.

Pour l'apéritif du soir, une fanfare pas comme les autres. Everyone from toddlers to old ladies loves les Goulamas; they are brilliant, and get everyone's feet tapping. It's the only brass band I know that has a thrash metal guitarist. The ampilifer and the grosse caisse are on a clever trolley so they can wheel it around. The trumpeters are unique. And they are all obviously having enormous fun, radiating good humour wherever they go. Turn up your speakers and have a listen!

By 8 pm all was ready to serve 450 people a very simple meal; we have a professional caterer for the main course, and for the rest we rapidly dish out trays with saucisson, tomatoes, bread, cheese, and peaches. After dinner we had the latest show from local group Oc, a recounting (sort of) of the history of the Cathars. They were preceded by a considerable reputation which we thought they didn't quite live up to; the show and music just weren't that interesting. I took a lot of photos but they came out with a weird red cast because of the son-et-lumière projections. I could have fixed them, but les Goulamas were the highlight of my day, and they are very photogenic :) I may upload a Flickr set later.