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ARTIST
TITLE
Concert A Prades Le Lez Vol. 1 & 2
FORMAT
2CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
FFL 090-91CD FFL 090-91CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
4/24/2026

Concert at Prades-le-Lez marks the origins of the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra. In 1974, François Tusques and his companions (Michel Marre, Jo Maka, Adolf Winkler and Guem), in the spirit of Don Cherry or Chris McGregor, playfully dismantled all borders and all styles of creative music. The Intercommunal takes its audience from New Orleans to Brittany and on to North Africa, building unprecedented soundscapes around a song of revolt, a dance tune, and a burst of dissonance. This now-restored reissue of the two volumes of Concert at Prades-le-Lez, recorded on January 25 and 26, 1974 by François Tusques and his comrades, is an important event. In 1971, after recording a series of albums that would leave a lasting mark on French jazz, François Tusques founded the Intercommunal -- a grouping whose very name called for the fraternization of the various communities making up the country. Among the great records made by the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra, the two volumes of Concert at Prades-le-Lez come first. François Tusques and his companions performed on January 25 and 26, 1974 at the Moulin de Prades-le-Lez, a few kilometers from Montpellier. It was thus in the southern region of Occitanie that the first echoes of this musical vision of a borderless brotherhood were recorded. The energy is striking and it never lets up throughout these two recordings, from start to finish: jazz, blues, traditional music, minimalism, even funk. The musicians of the Intercommunal have heard a lot of great music and now delight in reinventing it by mixing it all together. "We want the song form to take its place as a weapon in the struggle against capitalist exploitation and all those who oppress us morally and materially," declared an Intercommunal leaflet, quoting Jean-Baptiste Clément, author of the lyrics to "Le Temps des cerises." The struggle was therefore serious -- but it did not prevent François Tusques and his group from waging it in a festive spirit: each piece on Concert at Prades-le-Lez sends out a call for love and fraternity. Fifty years later, the message remains as relevant as ever -- and once again, it is François Tusques who makes it heard.