Violins and accordions, the instruments of the Alps
It's a little-known fact that the Alps, a land of cultural exchange between France and Italy in particular, have a veritable musical history based on the sound of an instrument that regularly comes back into fashion: the violin. In the past, in the Dauphiné region, violin-playing minstrels were the main architects of the soundscape of the "little provinces" of the Alps. Present at official festivals, vogues and wakes, these musicians developed an original music closely associated with the rigodon dance. Today, a number of groups such as Arco Alpino and Rigodon continue to play the music that made so many Alpine villages dance.
Berlioz, genius at the height of the Alps
If ever there was an Alpine genius, it's Hector Berlioz. Born in Isère in 1803, he spent the first 18 years of his life in La Côte Saint-André. This absolute genius of classical music, a complete artist - composer, conductor and writer - and one of the greatest exponents of the Romantic movement, was inspired by the vision of the Alps. The author of the Symphonie fantastique, like other composers of the same period (Mahler in Austria, Grieg in Norway), loved the romantic atmosphere of the Alps. Among the works you can listen to on a trip to the Alps with Berlioz are Harold en Italie, La Marche des pèlerins and Sur les monts les plus sauvages.
Mechanical music: a festive air, a clockwork precision
First of all, what is mechanical music and why did it develop in the Northern Alps? The so-called mechanical music is made from instruments - mainly organs (limonaire, barrel organ), the mechanical piano, music boxes... - capable of playing a tune autonomously by reading a support such as perforated tapes. Mechanical music took off in the 19th century, with the democratization of popular balls where it was not always possible to assemble an orchestra. And why particularly in the Alps? Probably because the first music box was invented in 1796 by a Swiss watchmaker and because, thereafter, many mechanical parts were made by the farmers who became "décolleteurs" in the Arve valley. A magnificent Museum of Mechanical Music is located in the resort of Les Gets in Haute-Savoie.
Folk Songs of the Alps
The most famous song of the Northern Alps - if we except Étoile des Neiges (written in German by an Austrian in 1944, this song arrived in France only in 1950, sung by Line Renaud) that some people still sing on the chairlifts of our ski resorts... -, it is undoubtedly Le Petit Savoyard by Alexandre Guiraud. This popular song from the beginning of the 20th century expressed the unhappiness of a mother who sees her son leave because the Alps can no longer feed him. Indeed, many Alpines left for other French regions because of the poverty and harshness of the mountains. Most of them became the famous chimney sweeps who walked the streets of Paris.
The national stages of the Alps, cultural decentralization and creative spaces
As creative venues par excellence, they are the point of expression for many art forms: scènes nationales. Bringing together the former Maisons de la Culture created by André Malraux, the scènes nationales network was created in 1991. There are 76 in France, 5 of which are in the Alps: Bonlieu in Annecy, MC2 in Grenoble, Hexagone in Meylan, Malraux in Chambéry and La Passerelle in Gap. The most emblematic is undoubtedly Grenoble's MC2, inaugurated by Malraux in 1968, and one of the flagship structures of cultural decentralization. Each of these venues offers multi-disciplinary programming in the field of performing arts: music, dance, theater... Venues to be experienced and visited with the greatest curiosity.
Jazz and the Alps, blue notes on the mountains
The Alps have that effect of making us contemplate the most beautiful landscapes. A deep feeling, mixing happiness and melancholy, shared by many jazz artists who are particularly fond of the Alps. Often considered a music reserved for the elite, jazz arrived in the Alps very early on, notably in the major spas to entertain curists, or in the grand hotels of high-altitude villages and resorts such as Chamonix. It's no coincidence that one of the world's biggest jazz festivals, the Montreux Jazz Festival, is held on the shores of Lake Geneva, facing the Alps. What's also remarkable is the number of jazz festivals, each more popular than the last, that take place throughout the year in the massif. Among the most important are the CosmoJazz Festival in Chamonix, home to the famous pianist André Manoukian; Jazz' Alp, the festival at Alpe du Grand Serre, a family resort in Isère; the Altitude Jazz Festival in Briançon and Serre Chevalier Vallée in the Hautes-Alpes or Les Enfants du jazz in Barcelonnette, one of the most important festivals in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
Festivals and independent scenes, the Alps that vibrate
Romantic and melancholic, the Alps - a well known source of youth - also know how to be festive and danceable on stages where modern music is played. There is no shortage of quality venues with an eclectic programme - from rock to electro to metal - throughout the Alps. Let's mention the Brise Glace and the Arcadium in Annecy, the Belle Electrique, the Ampérage or the Bobine in Grenoble, the city of the Alps which is the most active in terms of current music. Other places frequented by music lovers are the festivals of the Alps: Musilac, the biggest pop-rock festival in France on the shores of the Bourget lake; Rock'n Poche, a very nice festival in Habère-Poche; the incredible Tomorrow Land Winter version in Alpe d'Huez or the Outdoormix Festival mixing extreme sports and music in Embrun in the Hautes-Alpes. And if you want to discover a good electro sound, soft and dancing at the same time, evoking the charm of the French Alps, listen to the track Annecy by Kazy Lambist.
