Celebrate le Fête Nationale in SaintRemy de Provence

In July 2022, La Table des Amis de Provence offered “Celebrate le Fête Nationale in SaintRemy de Provence” to members and friends.

Celebrate le Fête Nationale in Saint Remy de Provence 14 July 2022 Le Bar Tabac des Alpilles 20h00 Bastille Day as it is commonly known is well celebrated all over France. Too many choices, hard to decide. Normally we go to the Old Port in Marseille. This year we are going to stay close to home, right here in Saint Remy de Provence. The boulevards would be closed off and at 19h00 there would be an Apéritif street concert to kick things off. By 20h00 we would be be at a table with friends at the Bar Tabac des Alpilles for a dinner/concert with music by our home grown band, CoCo Briaval. They are not just any band. The three brothers, led by Henri (CoCo) are of Hungarian gypsy heritage and have been recording music and performing since the 1960’s. All live in or near Saint Remy with their extended families some of whom may also be on stage. They made their first recording in Paris in 1965 on the Philips label with a jazz manouche style of gypsy music. It is quite different from the “Bamboleo” type of gypsy music popularized by the Gypsy Kings which has its roots in Spanish rhumba. Jazz manouche has contributions from gypsy and Central European music as well as the French jazz of the 1930’s. Snippets of their music are on YouTube Our regular hangout in Saint Remy, le Bar Tabac des Alpilles specializes in gigot d’agenau with all the trimmings. Patrick has not yet confirmed whether it would be a special menu or a la carte. We’ll save your seat if you wish to leave to see the display and return to the table.

Historical account reconstructed from La Table’s archived event materials.