Her sweet face appears on the cover of the record, which she holds in her hands like a treasure. “For me, it’s huge and it will remain engraved in my heart,” confides Leslie Cantin, one of the singers of the project “We are voices without mouth(s). » Aged 32, the young woman co-chairs the mutual aid group (GEM) Remue-Méninges in Rezé, near Nantes, which brings together brain-damaged people wishing to break their isolation. In 2019, they were able to participate in a musical creation project intended for people with disabilities. An extraordinary experience which gives rise to a concert and the launch of a record this Tuesday, January 21.
Also in the adventure, the actors with disabilities from the company Le Cercle Karré and the Atelier Sonore, an association created by two artists which offers adapted music workshops. “Today we have many digital instruments that allow people with very poor motor skills to produce music,” explains Benjamin Durand, singer and musician at the Atelier Sonore, citing in particular the Soundbeam, a sort of remote control equipped with sensors which allows you to create sounds from a movement, even small ones.
Cross-creation with several artists
Several local artists have joined the initiative, such as Hugues Pluviôse or Manon Claude (from the Simone d’Opale group), but also Dominique A, who lives on the banks of the Loire near Nantes and had already worked with people in very precarious circumstances.. “At the beginning, I tiptoed because I didn’t know much about disability, confides the artist. One of the participants told me that I would miss out on something if I didn’t go. And he was right…” For a year, people with disabilities practiced writing and composing songs, sending him snippets of texts, which Dominique A was responsible for remodeling and putting to music.
A crossover creation to which the Covid crisis has given a very particular tone. “Disabled people were the first to be confined and the last to come out,” recalls Benjamin Durand, who also composed several titles. The lyrics of the songs, titled We had faces, Take our masks patiently or The glass of renewalbear witness to this with great poetry.
“You might think that releasing a record today about this health crisis is dated, but this one captures a defining moment in our lives that could one day happen again, comments Dominique A. It is a testimony to the way in which things were experienced, which vary enormously depending on the living conditions of each person. » Deprived of her physiotherapy sessions during confinement, Leslie, for example, lost the ability to walk in three weeks, before her follow-up could resume at home.
Concert series
The songs then gave rise to a show, where professional and amateur artists, all dressed in black, took the stage several times. One of the most memorable concerts was held in a Stereolux performance hall in Nantes, in front of nearly 500 people. “I didn’t think I would be able to sing in front of so many people,” smiled Leslie.
Same pleasure for Cilia Carlitos, 25 years old and member of Remue-Méninges, who became more and more comfortable on stage as the concerts progressed. “My dream is to continue singing, dancing and sharing these moments with others,” confides the young woman, that this experience made “more attentive, more focused and more confident”.
She, who is not comfortable with writing, prepares with joy to sign dedications on the disc, where we can hear twelve tracks, including three unreleased ones by Dominique A. “What I learned is that in some way we all have disabilitiesconfides the singer. In particular the disability of empathy, from which our society suffers greatly…”
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Music for everyone
The European project Change2Regard » was carried out with Belgium, Portugal and Canada by the Nantes collective T’Cap, which defends the social participation of people with disabilities. It made it possible to launch a shared musical creation activity, test instruments and publish a guide to good practices. Website: change2regard.eu/
Tuesday January 21, the team gives a last concert in the presence of Dominique A at La Barakason de Rezé. The record will be sold upon release (€10) and in local record stores. It is also available online: helloasso.com/associations/l-atelier-sonore