“The street is our theater of intervention. This is where we get our DNA.” Rap and urban cultures therefore naturally emerged at the time of the creation of the “La Nuit de la rue” festival. according to Yves Colin, communications director of the Abbé-Pierre Foundation. This event is intended to raise awareness among younger generations and contribute to financing actions against poor housing. Friday December 15 from 7 p.m. and Saturday December 16 from 6:30 p.m., rappers will perform in succession for three hours on the Bataclan stage (Paris, 11th arrondissement). During the day, a street art auction will be organized in partnership with agnès b., patron of the foundation since 2006. For the occasion, chef Adrien Cachot, from the show Top Chef, will create a specific burger in his food- truck «Savannah
“Rap is a loss leader,” recognizes Yves Colin. We are addressing an audience that is usually impervious to our usual political and social message. But we will need them in the future. We hope that these 15, 16, 20 year olds will remember this cool and festive moment and that they will come back to us when they are ready to get involved. We could talk about a form of long-term investment.”
The festival kicks off on Jean Massiet’s Twitch channel on Thursday, December 7. The foundation wants to take advantage of the streaming platform’s impact among young people. Short video clips relating to the operations carried out by the foundation will be broadcast during the concerts. Thus, “each young person will remember that there is a united cause behind the festival” explains Yves Colin. “They will see that the artists they come to applaud are committed.” All rappers participate voluntarily in this festival. Among the names who will be on stage are Black M., Doria, Hatik, Ronisia and Fianso.
The latter has been the sponsor of the foundation since 2019. He was already one of the artists solicited as part of “Abbé Road”. This initiative launched around ten years ago aimed to raise awareness during summer festivals. Every year, a closing concert organized at the Olympia or La Cigale honored French rappers.
“It’s obvious that rap suffers from a certain reputation. It is not common to call on these urban artists in the associative framework, recognizes Yves Colin. And yet we always felt comfortable with them. We have never had any difficulty in making them understand the meaning of our missions, in explaining to them what it is to live on the street, to have difficulty making ends meet… These are artists who are already aware of our cause. We understood each other straight away.” If the Foundation is attentive when choosing the artists who participate in its operations, it also likes to see in it a bold approach which recalls the energy of Abbé Pierre and his speeches without tongue in cheek.
Festival organizers expect to welcome 1,600 people each evening. But this is only the beginning. Ultimately, their objective is to fill the largest concert halls in the capital, to offer moments of more in-depth exchange between artists, volunteers and the public, and to create large-scale operations around urban culture . “We have a lot of ambition with this festival. It is intended to acquire an even greater dimension: in a few years, the festivities will begin in the afternoon and they will not end before the first metro the next day!, imagines Yves Colin. La Nuit de la rue must not remain a name or a pretty slogan, he concludes. It must become a reality that speaks to as many people as possible.”
“La Nuit de la rue” festival, from Friday December 15 to Saturday December 16 at the Bataclan.
