theartsdesk in La Rochelle: Francofolies

The French national holiday of 14 July might be marked by parades and fly-pasts in Paris, but here on the Atlantic coast it’s the central date for Francofolies, the annual festival dedicated to French music. La Rochelle hosted its first Francofolies in 1985. Twenty-six years on, the festival remains the premier showcase for Francophone music. This year the bill took in David Guetta’s dance-floor cheesiness, Gotan Project's overhauled tango, actress Mélanie Laurent plugging her recent album and all points in between. A window like no other on the French mainstream, it also showcases up-and-comers. Over the five days, just under 90 acts play. A seaside setting, a beautiful city, tons of music and pretty good weather ensure that Francofolies is a memorable experience.

Not that the city itself isn’t memorable enough on its own. La Rochelle has been a harbour since the 1100s and became France’s largest medieval sea port. Evidence of its past is inescapable. Rue St-Sauveur sports half-timbered 14th-century buildings. The 15th-century Tour de la Lanterne, formerly used as a lighthouse and a prison, looms over the main outdoor Francofolies stage at Saint-Jean d’Acre site (pictured above right). It’s pretty hard to miss. The arcaded shopping streets of Rue du Palais and Rue des Merciers are spectacular too.

Sieges, wars and blockades regularly figure in the city’s history. It was even English for a while, after Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1154. England lost control in 1224, and regained it for 12 years from 1360. Since then, the city has remained French. Our Henry built a castle and its forlorn remains survive in the Place de Verdun as part of an underground car park (pictured left). There are no signs, nothing explaining what these bits of masonry are. But there they are, forgotten in the stairwell leading down to the car park.

The 80,000 population of the city has its mind on other matters. The festival attracts over 150,000. Francofolies is spread across four sites. La Coursive, a fine colonnaded theatre that looks as though it'd be at home in Bath, has three performance spaces, all seated. West of the city centre, the Casino Barrière has a small club-like room. The two outdoor stages are the massive Saint-Jean d’Acre and the smaller, free, quayside Scène Horloge Rouge stage. Day and night shows there keep the festival humming, while the other stages and spaces are ticketed.

Shows at the Casino Barrière are self-consciously billed as “Not Ze Francos”. Even though part of the festival, the tacit acknowledgment of Francofolies being uncool seems weird. One of the La Coursive auditoriums runs a festival-long series of “Premières Francos” shows – artists who have never played the festival before. Each evening at Saint-Jean d’Acre is also loosely themed.

Who or what style plays Francofolies is pretty elastic. Bad boy Buju Banton and classic reggae outfit Toots and the Maytals cropped up in 2000. This year, a fair smattering of the French acts are singing in English and visitors from Québec, Belgium and Switzerland are here. The variety of musical styles – chanson Française, rap, techno, indie rock, old stagers, folkies - means it’s impossible to use the festival to take the temperature of French music. It’s a snapshot. A massive one.

Although Francofolies’ booking policy is inward-looking, the proximity to the tourist-attracting Ile de Ré means there are some Brits wandering La Rochelle’s streets. And there are acts playing the festival who’ve been heard of outside France. David Guetta is top of that small heap. His collaborations with and productions for Akon, Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Kelly Rowland and more attest to his position. His own albums clean up, but it's impossible to tell how many non-French are in the festival’s audiences.