Fanfares, bandas, brass bands… far from being out of fashion, street orchestras set village festivals alight

Frédéric Lansac has a busy schedule. On Sunday, August 25, he played at the Flower Festival in Bagnères-de-Luchon (Haute-Garonne), nearly three hours from his home in Layrac (Lot-et-Garonne). The following Friday, he followed up with a concert in a restaurant not far from his home, then the next day, a village festival in Montaigu-de-Quercy (Tarn-et-Garonne), a forty-five-minute drive away.

“From May to the end of September, we don’t stop,” confides the trumpeter of A Bisto de Nas, manager of a supermarket in civilian life. “Twenty-five to thirty dates are scheduled and we refuse one hundred and fifty per year. Since the end of the Covid restrictions, it’s been crazy!”

Should we see this as the effect of the Ministry of Culture’s fanfare plan? Since 2021, it has allocated funds – 1.7 million euros in 2024 – to help train the supervisors of these groups and to help amateur musicians practice. An initiative originally supported by the former deputy of the North Anne-Laure Cattelot (LREM) who, following the yellow vest crisis, looked for structures that promote living together over the long term. And that is the art of fanfares. To liven up a village festival, a flea market, a craft fair, a parade, a wedding, an inauguration, fanfares – which include the bandas of the South-West such as that of Frédéric Lansac – are increasingly in demand. Because these light and dynamic groups have a knack for giving pep to local events.

A 19th century legacy

Many of them bring together only amateurs and are the more or less direct heirs of the musical societies of the 19th century. At the time, municipalities, mining company bosses and ironmasters encouraged their creation as part of a popular education approach. Several hundred thousand French people played in a brass band at the time! In the second half of the 20th century, even if they resisted better in certain regions such as the north of France than in others, they suffered from a somewhat outdated image. The proliferation of leisure activities and the arrival of new musical styles and instruments such as the electric guitar made them “old-fashioned”, while the widespread use of conservatories and music schools dried up their traditional recruitment pool and the new mobility of the French, who moved more often, did not help to stabilize the numbers… As a result, today, there are only 3,000 to 4,000 brass bands left in France. The one in Quelaines-Saint-Gault (Mayenne), 156 years old, illustrates these “oscillations” well, confides Stéphane Renard, who plays the euphonium – or tenor tuba – there after forty-five years on the trumpet. “In 1962, we had 61 members. Five to six new members joined each year, then it became one every five years… The numbers shrank until they were down to 15 musicians in 2021.”

To last over time, it was a question of varying the pleasures. Stéphane Renard created a brass band in parallel, a more demanding formation dedicated to concerts, with the ulterior motive of occasionally repatriating a few new recruits to the historic fanfare which is experiencing a resurgence in requests to play. Drum and fanfare orchestras, such as that of Hangenbieten (Bas-Rhin), continue to perform their traditional scores during ceremonies, while offering a more modern repertoire for other local events “with hits like Thrift Shop Or Despacito “, explains Estelle Robin Muller, on the euphonium. “To attract young people, we have also renewed the outfits, more comfortable than the classic uniform, which nevertheless remains used for solemn occasions.” In the movement of the bandas of the South-West, all over France, other ensembles opt for very festive and popular pieces. With their catchy side, In Emilie’s eyes by Joe Dassin, Tata Yo-Yo by Annie Cordy, Take me away by Charles Aznavour, Seven Nation Army from the group The White Stripes, the credits of Magnum Or Captain Flam speak to everyone and create the atmosphere from the first notes.

The breath of transmission

The Band’AOP fanfare band, an offshoot of the Pont-l’Évêque Municipal Harmony (Calvados) since 2023, is part of this spirit. “We had requests from surrounding municipalities to liven up their events,” recalls Sylvère Cassé, who plays the sousaphone there. With the harmony, there are a lot of us, a concert requires a hall, space… The lighter form of the fanfare band allows us to play everywhere. It is also a more “fun” formation, which allows the musicians to let loose.” The twenty or so fanfare players have swapped their black harmony outfits for a mix of black and fluorescent green, big glasses and wigs.

These concessions at the time did not prevent the brass bands from cultivating their unique character. Their members willingly compare them to a second family, when they do not belong to the same one! In Mayenne, transmission is in full swing: “I started at 12 years old,” says Stéphane Renard. “My father was in the brass band, my maternal grandfather too. In the next generation, my two children joined it. Delphine, my daughter, plays the saxophone while her brother, who had to leave the band due to professional distance, continues to support it on a logistical level.”

In Layrac, Frédéric Lansac’s banda often includes the musicians’ spouses. This is all the easier to get into as many brass bands accept different levels of practice: “We adapt the score for those who follow less, by having them play fewer notes,” says Sylvère Cassé in Pont-l’Évêque. In addition to transmitting a collective artistic memory, these ensembles remain, particularly in rural areas, a real place for learning music. For everyone, without dissonance of age or social class. Here, a 10-year-old child can rub shoulders with an octogenarian, in the same practice. It’s difficult to play so intergenerationally – this word is a real mantra among brass bandsmen – or mixed within a football team!

However, this world remains fragile. Making the groups progress over time, the objective of the fanfare plan, is essential for the national collective of fanfares, an articulation of four musical federations. The groups that “stand out are often those that have been able to have a strong identity, whether festive or concert, and surround themselves with skills”, underlines the collective. On November 27, they will benefit from a new spotlight: In fanfare is released in cinemas*. Emmanuel Courcol’s film tells the story of an internationally renowned orchestra conductor who discovers the existence of a brother who plays the trombone in a brass band in the North. For the occasion, amateur brass band players from all over the country are invited to host the previews…

* In theaters November 27.

The good pistons of student bands

In the fanfare family, we ask for students! Since the creation of an ensemble within the School of Fine Arts in Paris in 1948, they have multiplied in higher education establishments. The Café calva Caennexion, which brings together health students in… Caen, is one of the latest.

“The band was created in 2018, and today it already has around fifty members,” confides Emma Mezerette, one of the brass band members. “But we’re not closed: half of our musicians come from other schools or universities in the city.” With their names that are often offbeat and sometimes very evocative (the medical student spirit is in full swing among the medical students who have opted for GangRennes, in Rennes, or Les trompettes de Fallope, in Nantes), these bands put on a lot of concerts: one or two per month for the Caennais, who also take a week’s vacation together in the summer. On the menu for their latest escapade around Granville and Mont-Saint-Michel: concerts, of course! Joining these groups is open to almost everyone, confirms Victor Gerontet, in the Band’as, from the Insa engineering school in Lyon. ” In Emilie’s eyes Or Midnight Demons are simple pieces to play.

The new members who arrive at the beginning of the year learn on the job, by ear, even if we can give a lesson every week in addition to rehearsals.” And the new brass band members thus participate in concerts from the first few months. Being part of a student brass band offers a moment of respite in demanding studies, gives the new members the opportunity to develop a network with the older ones (former students who have entered the workforce can be part of it) and to acquire useful skills for the future (budget management, communication, etc.).