For the third time, the Ajal organizes, Sunday afternoon in Naucelle, a springboard to win two local groups support towards professionalism.
This is an unexpected opportunity for young artists. For the third time, Ajal, which organizes three of the main festivals in Aveyron (Soft’R festival, Fête & Détours de la Lumière or Roots’Ergue) will offer its Hundred Valleys springboard on Sunday in Naucelle. An appointment which this year will not offer the stage to three groups, but to five. The organizers have indeed decided to change this meeting with two categories. On the one hand the “hopeful” groups, which in previous editions had little chance of being chosen, not always well accustomed to the scene but promising. And on the other, more “seasoned” groups who have a little more experience. There will be a winner in each of the two categories and the stakes are high for the five finalist groups. Indeed, the two winners will win a year of support from Ajal, including the possibility of doing a residency in order to develop their stage presence. They will also be followed to, if they wish, engage in a professionalizing dynamic (administrative, legal, communication, booking support, etc.), but above all, they will be able to play during one of the next Ajal meetings and therefore benefit from this scenic exhibition and rub shoulders with the big names who come regularly to the Ségala. Sunday, the day all in music will therefore begin with the category “hopes” and the concert, at 3:20 p.m., of the Psycho Belettes, at the Café le Ferrand. This group is made up of two keyboards, an electric guitar, a bass, two saxophones, and a few machines…, but all played by only two musicians. This means all the dexterity you need to get on stage. In the process, New Pop Machine will perform at 4:25 p.m. at the Voyageurs restaurant. In the program : “A melodious pop music, sometimes edgy, but always with its influences coming mainly from Brit pop horizons across the Channel.” With texts in English… and French.
Very different styles
After these first two appetizers, the three groups in the “seasoned” category will perform on the Place du Ségala. The Crooked Nails (Gages) will open the ball at 5:30 p.m. The two musicians (guitar and double bass) have concocted a show that tells stories, bits of life on old tunes of blues, folk, rock… Like the intimate reunion of two long-separated accomplices. They will then give way to La Beluga (6:20 p.m.) which promises “the shock of the encounter between acoustic and electro music”. An explosive fireworks display with two musicians who mix instruments from around the world with electro music and a singer with a brassy voice who makes the words dance between declamation, chant and lyrical vibration. Finally, the Tarnais de Dolya will go on stage at 7:10 p.m. They offer “a repertoire of instrumental compositions, in which several universes, several influences are mixed: post-rock, alternative and electro/industrial rock, progressive metal, thus bringing together the tastes and influences of each member of the group.”
The drums of the Bronx to conclude in style
The band is over 30 years old. And he speaks to everyone… or almost. The drums of the Bronx, a formation coming from Nièvre and bringing together 16 musicians, have agreed to be the sponsors of the third edition of the Cent Vallées springboard. They will perform in the wake of the performance of the five finalist groups, at 9:15 p.m. on the Place du Ségala, in Naucelle. Since 1987, this massive percussion group has made a name for itself around the world. On stage we find “the energy, the flow, the very life that emanates from the playing of this 16-head band which, far from leaving marble, fascinates and overwhelms.”