Around dusk last night I was riding my bike along the portion of the Seine that runs by the Louvre. As I approached the ataxia that is Place de la Concorde for a person on a bike, I heard strange sounds coming from the Obelisk. Stringed sounds. A whole lot of cello. I was meant to continue on past Place de la Concorde, but I decided to reroute and investigate the harmony in the air. From afar I could see large tents being put up and a huge projection screen with an image of the Brandenburg Gate blazing. Of course! The 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. As my friend Emma said, "The French know how to put on a good show." (She also added, "Like us." Emma is British). Indeed - to both points.
I got closer and I could see that there were a series of free-standing boxes decorated with graffiti - presumably graffiti like that on the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. All the music was coming directly from these boxes. It turned out that in each of these boxes was a cellist. There were 27 boxes total - 27 nations in the European Union and each had a cellist playing there.
This was their rehearsal and set up. The whole production looked and sounded truly magical.
4 comments:
This is such a beautiful tribute--five points, France! Great stumble upon too Emilie, thanks for sharing.
This looked fabulous. Wish I would have been there to enjoy it with you. Thanks for sharing.
Too cool. Lights, music, action. It's all there. Vive la France!
Oh Emilie, how great that you saw the rehearsal. We went to the event itself and didn't see much as the security and the crowd kept us back. the music was great though! I blogged about it here: http://areweinparisyet.blogspot.com/2009/11/berlin-wall-in-paris.html
Shelli
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