WOMAD

Lo Còr De La Plana

From France

Chances are that you've never heard of - let alone heard - the Occitan language. The keen-eared would have snatched its distinctive sound at previous WOMAD gatherings where either Massilia Sound System or Moussu T e lei Jovents have performed - it's a language unique to France's Provence region, cultivated by immigrants from former French colonies in the Caribbean and across Africa. So pin back your lugholes for your first Occitan lesson, delivered by half a dozen young polyphonic singers from Marseille accompanied solely by handclaps and the occasional piece of percussion. Their work in reviving the Occitan heritage might reach into the heart of their community ("they are not just a band," Andy Kershaw once observed, "they are a philosophy"), but Lo Còr De La Plana aren't concerned with the mere resurrection of a past, half-dead culture. They have a discernible iconoclastic streak, eager to appropriate whatever they need from what's gone and apply it to the modern Occitan lifestyle. And their commitment to the cause is unflinching - as Le Monde rightly called it, they sing "fervent chants reinvested with a mad energy and a singular, heady power".

Biog by Nige Tassell 2008

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