Interesting Instruments and Great Music.

I don’t know how the small towns round here manage to get hold of such quality musicians, but they do. The jazz festival at Trivy (a town of only 278 inhabitants, containing a beautiful church) was the very first Burgundian music festival we attended a concert at - way back in 2005. At the time, we were still working in The Netherlands and had come for a holiday to make our newly purchased house liveable.

We saw a poster announcing that Biréli Lagrène (a world-famous Manouche guitarist) was playing in this tiddly village, not too far from here and tickets could be bought from a chemist’s shop near Mâcon. So off we went to get the tickets. That was our first experience of the many music festivals this area has to offer each summer and that's why the jazz festival at Trivy has a special place in our hearts. Every year, when the new brochure comes out, we sift through the concerts to see what world-class musicians they have managed to bag. This year we saw the name of Richard Galliano and we knew we had to go.

Richard Galliano is an accordion player who manages to fit many styles into his repertoire and make them all his own. Our experience of the dreadful bands that play at parties around here, where one accordion player managed to play a waltz to a beat box tango rhythm and didn’t spot it until he had been going for about two minutes, has reduced my liking for the accordion, but just a few seconds of Richard Galliano restored my faith. He is a master, it is like he brings the instrument to life and gives it a personality of its own.

The concert started with “Tango pour Claude”, a well known tune that he wrote as homage to singer Claude Nougaro, which is a particular favourite of mine. That set the tone and we were away. During the concert, he also played an instrument called an accordina, which is a cross between an accordion and a harmonica. The concert went from strength to strength and in one piece he managed to form the sound of the sea as the accordion “breathed” - quite incredible.

The two hours, of spellbinding music, just zipped past and it was a sad moment when it was time to go home.

La Tuilerie Website