00:00Now it's the summertime here in France and it's a season synonymous with festivals of all sorts,
00:05from music events to city-wide parties. Such gatherings are an integral part of France's
00:12cultural heritage. To tell us a bit about it, Solange Mougin is with us here in the studio.
00:17And Solange, there is a major event kicking off today in the southwest of the country.
00:21Yeah, it's the Fête de Bayonne, one of France's largest parties. And for the next five days,
00:27this city in the Basque Country in southwestern France, well, it becomes a huge sea of red and
00:31white. And it is essentially a massive city-wide fiesta with lots of drinking and dancing and
00:37cultural events. And last year's edition, it broke attendance records with 1.3 million people,
00:44many of them very young people as well. Now, La Fête or the party, which first started in 1932,
00:51is usually held at the end of July or early in August. But the timing this year was moved
00:56because of the Olympics. However, the tradition of ringing in the festival from the balcony of
01:02Town Hall still holds true. Under the watchful eye of the mascot King Léon, invited guests,
01:09well, they are asked to throw the city's symbolic keys into the crowd.
01:21I declare the Fête de Bayonne open.
01:27Now, this being Basque Country, there are some very specific regional rules and traditions.
01:35First, there is a dress code. You wear white and red. You have a red scarf that you can tie around
01:41your neck only once the party has started. Interestingly enough, the uniform is actually
01:47relatively new. It didn't catch on until the 1990s. Then there are terms that you need to know to
01:53blend in. The partygoers are not called partiers or fêtards in French. Rather, they're called
02:00festaires. I apologize if I'm mispronouncing this. I can't roll the R. This word originates not from
02:06the Basque language, but from estaires or party in Occitan-Gascon dialects. There are peñas as well.
02:15These are associations that create events around the city. People wander from one peña to another
02:21to go to an event, to drink, to eat, to listen to bandas or bands. There's a final term that
02:28you need to know, which is paquito. This is the tradition of sitting on the ground in front
02:34and with someone in front and someone behind you and essentially moving your body back and forth
02:39while someone crowd surfs above your head. Now, all of these traditions, they stem from the Navarre
02:44region in Spain. For the Fête de Bayonne, it's a feria or a bullfighting event, much like the one
02:51in Pamplona, which is also running until the 14th of July. It's going on right now.
02:56There will be a lot of bullfighting and running with the bulls in both Spain and France as well.
03:01Right, but bullfighting events are quite divisive, aren't they, here in France? Solange, the festival
03:07repeatedly grappling with that almost every year. But at this one, there are other issues as well.
03:12Yeah, regularly there are protests by animal rights activists in Bayonne, but also in
03:18France's other southern feria cities. Unraveling this is a segment in itself, but it is important
03:23to mention here. As for another major issue, there's the question of security and safety,
03:28especially with so many young drunk people. The city spent one million of its four million euro
03:33budget on security last year. It was also the first time that the Fête was slightly profitable
03:41as the festairies, they must now buy passes or bracelets to attend. Nonetheless, associations,
03:47while they're trying to make this massive party safer, especially for women and young women,
03:52this comes after multiple rape charges and murder charges well happened last year. There are
03:58prevention campaigns, but it remains a bit of an Achilles heel for the city as it tries to ensure
04:03that over a million people stay in this fun sort of festive bubble. And finally, Solange, the Fête
04:10de Bayonne, not the only festival actually that's starting today? No, a bit further north in La Rochelle
04:16along the Atlantic coast, this is the 40th edition of their music festival, Les Francophonie,
04:21kicks off today. And like with Bayonne, residents are in for five days of fun. Now, the Francophonie
04:27is a mid-sized music festival with a little less than 20,000 visitors, but it draws big names
04:34in the French music world, be it on the main stations,
04:38but also other artists that are part of the fringe or the off festival.
04:45I came to see Calogero because it's been a while, but otherwise I like discovering other stars.
04:50They're musicians that I know, but I also like discovering others. I stay all evening.
04:56Now, Les Francophonie is actually at 40, one of France's older music festivals. In total,
05:02there are some 7,000 festivals in France every year, and half of them are less than a decade old.
05:08So the festival circuit is growing and booming, be it in music and the arts or even in niche
05:13concepts. But what's interesting to note here is how France shines when it comes to these festivals
05:19with these 7,000 of them, that is a lot more than Italy's 2,000 or Germany and the UK's 1,000
05:25festivals. So these collective moments, they really have become an integral part of French life.
05:31And I have to say, I didn't know about either of them. So as always, Solange,
05:34with these little segments, you have taught me something.
05:35Oh, thank you very much.
05:36Solange Maugin for us there. Time for a quick break from us here in the studio.
05:41Do stay tuned though, more world news very shortly. Bye for now.
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