On the edge of Canal St Martin at Point Poulmarch on this sunny Sunday afternoon a big crowd were cheering Equivox - a gay and lesbian choir who had just finished their pavement performance in the Voix sur bèrge festival. I bumped into them returning to Chez Grisette after a relaxing lunch in a friend’s garden. A whole raft of rock and pop choral groups had been entertaining the picnicers and bikers who line the canal on summer weekends, just one of the frequent – and free - “animations” that pop up all over Paris.
I thought I’d missed it all, but there was one choir left on the list. The first group of the afternoon had as its slogan “Ça chante, ça clap, ça boum”, but L'echo raleur seemed to subscribe to that policy with extra glee. They describe themselves as a rock ’n’ chorale but that’s far too staid.
Percussive acapella with synchronised handjive was just the start of it. On French numbers as well as international standards such as Heard It Through the Grapevine, California Dreaming and The Harder They Come, the choir gave it everything they had – lips, larynxes, lungs, hip swivelling, eyelash batting, jazz hands, finger-clicking – the maximum emotion, joy and jokes never stopped.
As well as the sound and movement, there was plenty of colour to look at, too. Different groups in the choir seemed to have chosen different dress themes. The blokes who went for Scottish with a twist were particularly fab. Kilts from midi to mini accessorised with orange feather boas would have made any pipe major squeak. One guy added a sequin jacket, while another hadn’t quite worked out what he should do with the hairy sporran thingy – well these chaps are French after all. So he’d dyed it orange and wore it as a shrug. It’s what the phrase je ne sais quoi was invented for.
