.Call for contributions for the musical and philosophical tale: Il faut venger Gervaise



2021 It has been 150 years since the Commune. Today Il faut venger Gervaise.

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The Paris Commune remains an event both known and little known, which still plows through memories.

While the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Commune is beginning with numerous and significant publications, although _Il faut venger Gervaise_ takes place during the Commune, it is a creation that mainly focuses on women and work. It is an anti‑Zola creation, because we want to restore the dignity of the Gervaise of _L'Assommoir_. Her fate does not satisfy us. She in no way deserves the degradation that Zola, a cruel author, imposes on her.

The dreams and possibilities are ours, even if we descend from washerwomen! And from many other trades held by women, belittled and mocked. This tale recounts women at work and as citizens in the 19th century. It draws both on stories passed from grandmother to granddaughter, and on identifiable references, from scholarly readings to contemporary debates… Even though it is as historically accurate as possible, it does not claim to be strictly historical. We want to pose questions, barely to answer them. We want to dream.

It is also for this reason that we imagined our story in music. The song that carried the Commune before, during and after seems to us the best way to convey the greatness of those who fought.

The texts were written by Anouk Colombani, the music was composed by Mymytchell. The songs were arranged by Théo Errichiello together with Mymytchell with the support of Elisabeth Bossero, Gaelle Amour and Baptiste. Jamila Aznague and Monique Turini lent their voices to the story. Zeta, Lise Batailler, Léa Noilhan, Naïl el am, Clément Veyssière, Gaelle Amour, Marina Touillez, Dominique Grange, Vincent... embody the heroines of the story. Around thirty women formed a choir of washerwomen. Others contributed for a sound, a note, a proofreading, an attentive opinion... The creation today brings together people who had never heard of the Commune and others who consider themselves its direct children. The discovery of the Commune and what can be made of it today is done through the songs, through walks organized by our group, through workshops, through shared readings…

While the text is written, the first songs recorded, a choir of washerwomen formed, some concert dates set, walks planned, we need solidarity to continue bringing the work to completion at the level we imagine. Through meetings, the team of three people now gathers more than twenty people located in Toulouse, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Stains, Angers, Saint-Gaudens, Montreuil, Aubervilliers and Paris…

Until now everything has been done voluntarily; that is why we are making this appeal for contributions.

_To finance the best possible printing of the CD and its booklet, which will gather the lyrics of the song-poems and illustrations by Hélène Maurel._

_To begin to finance the concert-show derived from the book in costumes, sets, travel, _…

_To enable continuation by paying and compensating part of the work carried out over the past two years… _



All our work is gathered on our site located Rue de la Commune: http://www.ruedelacommune.com

We invite you to wander around it. Sometimes it's calm there, then suddenly the storm.



All the drawings on this page are by Hélène Maurel.