On Saturday, August 22nd, starting at 18pm, the quays of the Boat Builders will take on the atmosphere of old Paris. Accordion, java, realistic songs and pub refrains will be on the program with the northern group Tournez l'Apache, for a free concert in the spirit of a guinguette and a "little Saturday night dance".
For one evening, we put the time machine away in the 1930s. A few lanterns, an accordion, songs that we sometimes thought were forgotten and suddenly popular dances, smoky zinc bars, the streets of Belleville and Ménilmontant and a whole little world of bad boys, seaside girls, pimps and jeweled girls reappear.
It is this whole universe that Tournez l'Apache will bring back to life on the quays of the Boat Builders on Saturday, August 22.
Realistic songs in the style of the musette waltz
The group draws from the immense repertoire of French popular song from the interwar period and the decades surrounding it: that of Fréhel, Mistinguett, Berthe Sylva and all those performers who told stories of love, bistros, misery, parties and bad boys in three minutes.
Among the songs included will be the essential La Java bleue , which has become one of Fréhel's emblematic songs, as well as Où sont tous mes amants?, which she performed from 1935. Mon homme , a huge success associated with Mistinguett since 1920, will also be part of it.
But Tournez l'Apache isn't here to give a recital to be listened to while sitting quietly in a chair. Here, we dance.
Java, musette waltz, tango and sing-along refrains make up a funny, sometimes cheeky and often tender program. Throughout the evening, hits will include Du gris , C'est un mauvais garçon , La plus bath des javas , Le Dénicheur , Tel qu'il est , Viens poupoule , Paris la nuit and Belleville Ménilmontant.
"Turn the Apache around!"
The group's name itself sets the tone.
In early 20th-century Paris, the press dubbed the young thugs and gang members who populated its imagination in the working-class neighborhoods "Apaches ." Today, the word evokes a whole idealized Paris of caps, toll barriers, dances, prostitutes, and loud-mouthed pimps.
A universe that perfectly matches the songs chosen by Tournez l'Apache: a bit of cheekiness, a lot of love stories and just the right amount of bad spirit.
Following in the footsteps of Renaud and his "P'tit Bal"
Fans of Renaud will immediately recognize part of the repertoire.
Long before Mistral gagnant , the singer had also revived these popular songs in Le P'tit Bal du samedi soir et autres chansons réalistes . Recorded at Bobino and released in 1981, this show featured Renaud performing songs such as C'est un mauvais garçon , Du gris , Tel qu'il est , C'est un mâle , La Java, and La Plus Bath des javas.
Those who like this side of Renaud will therefore immediately recognize the spirit of the evening: that of a popular, cheeky and sentimental Paris where the accordion is never far away and where a few bars are enough to make you want to push the tables and dance.
A real little Saturday night dance on our quays
For the occasion, the concert will take place directly on the quays of the Boat Builders , at 43 route de Clairmarais in Saint-Omer.
No grand, impersonal stage or ceremony: we wanted to recapture the spirit of a guinguette , a neighborhood dance, or an old Parisian bistro. People come to have a drink, grab a bite to eat, listen to the musicians, hear a familiar tune... and then, why not, let themselves be swept away for a few dance steps.
Tournez l'Apache en concert
Saturday 22 August at 18h
The Boat Builders – 43 route de Clairmarais, Saint-Omer
️ Free admission
Bar and restaurant on site
So get out your caps, brush up on your java steps and come dance with us.
