ruby

Ruby heads to the Divan du Monde in the 18th to catch Australian singer/songerwriter Mick Hart.

Mick plays again at Divan du Monde, supporting fellow Australian Jeff Lang, on December 17 at 20hr.

www.mickhart.com.au, www.myspace.com/mickhartmusic, www.divandumonde.com

(French Version below)

(version français)

Avec Ruby on va au Divan du Monde pour assister à un concert de chanteur-compositeur australien : Mick Hart.

object width="425" height="355">

Ruby catches The Cat Empire at Le Bataclan in Paris and chats to Felix after the show.

English Version (French version further down)

The Cat Empire (version français)

On va avec Ruby à un concert d’un groupe de Melbourne, Australie: The Cat Empire. Après le concert, elle parle avec le très charmant Felix, parolier, chanteur et percussionniste du groupe.

Felix from The Cat Empire chats to Ruby about the release of So Many Nights.

*From BragMag interview as published in September, 2007

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [17:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (674)

Actor, singer and corporate entertainment producer Michael Falzon talks to Ruby about his role in The War of The Worlds, remembers his big break with We Will Rock You and looks forward to the coming release of his debut solo ep.

*Archived from www.thebragmag.com, August, 2007.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [18:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (438)

Ruby visits the cozy home studio of Australian musician Jimi Sofo to hear his thoughts on Paris as a musical melting pot, discover his current African meets Western music project, Abakuya, and find out why he believes in music as a tool for heeling.

Words: Ruby Boukabou    Pic: Patrick Danino

Flying 23 hours to do a one night performance may not be logical for some. But then logic isn’t a base philosophy for Australian cabaret performer and tap dancer Jazmin Baret. For her it’s all about vibe. And she seems to be on a good one.  The Gentry de Paris Burlesque show at the Divan du Monde was a good excuse to return to the city of stage lights. The same evening, with Swiss performance partner Sweet Saphar, she encountered and performed with a hot new Parisian electro manouch band. On 21^st and 22^nd November, Jazmin and Saphar will rejoin Caravan Palace for their concerts at the Café de la Dance in Bastille.  Jazmin talks to Ruby.

“We love performing Paris,” she says from Geneva after performing in ‘I Love Burlesk’ at the Chat Noir. “Saphar and I often do impulsive tap dance performances in bars around the 20^e and the punters are just thrilled. Afterwards everyone wants to chat and dances, drinks and cheers; the bar owners are delighted and we’ve met now close friends and colleagues along the way.”

But also, a concert atmosphere is great, she says. And she’s looking forward to performing again with Caravan Palace. “When Gentry asked me to do a number in her burlesque, she also said she secretly wanted Saphar and I to join the band for a couple of numbers. However, slightly intimidated by their manager, she asked me to approach them during the tech run …” She did and the impromptu collaboration was a hit. Backstage after the show, the band invited the duo to join them for their next Paris concert.

“Performing often in burlesque and cabaret environments, we often use a music mix on cd,” says Baret. “So playing with a band is really a treat. Especially these guys- they’re not just consummate musicians, but they really swing and have great stage charisma. We’ve played with djs in clubs and soirees and Caravan Palace is the best of both worlds- band and dj. Also, they’re great guys and are starting to just explode around Europe and elsewhere, so that positive anticipation, focus and energy is great to work with.”

Jazmin, originally from Sydney, has performed throughout Europe, Australia and India for several years with a few regular and other occasional performance partners and holds a Masters degree in Theatre. The Jazmin & Saphar duo debuted in Geneva 2001 and reunites regularly. Together they’ve performed tap cabaret at Glastonbury Festival, London’s The Whoopee Club, Geneva and Parisian burlesques; cabarets, bars and in video clips and short films. But despite the list of venues and events, the Café de la Dance show will be their debut music concert in Paris. They’re just hoping there are trains from Geneva before Wednesday. Though, with their history and enthusiasm, a national strike is hardly going to stop them.  

By Ruby as seen in www.parisvoice.com  

www.myspace.com/caravanpalace

www.myspace.com/jazmin_saphar www.myspace.com/jazminbaret

When it was announced that Michel Ocelot’s cult children’s film ‘Kirikou et la sorcière’ would be brought to the stage, it was kept a secret as to how the tiny, super fast running Kirikou would be brought to life. Australian Simon T Rann talks to Ruby about how it was done, with a puppet.

Rann is arguably Australia’s most renowned puppeteer. He moved to France in 2004 to perform with Compagnie Philippe Genty, and is in their current production ‘La Fin des Terres’. When the Kirikou production approached Cie Genty to work with the director, English choreographer Wayne McGregor, Rann was part of the package. 

‘Kirikou et la sorcière’ is the story of an infant boy’s journey to save his village from an evil witch who has dried up their water and is stealing their men. “The last man is on his way to meet the witch when Kirikou is born” says Rann.  “He goes to help. It’s also love story. It’s a really nice story”.

The puppet is in the Bunraku style, which Rann says is the traditional form in Japan. Three puppeteers operate Kirikou at the same time. “There are scenes where the full cast are on stage dancing but everyone’s watching Kirikou. It’s quite impressive,” he smiles. 

“My job was to teach the dancers to be puppeteers, but I also had input into the staging of Kirikou’s scenes,” says Rann. “There were interesting challenges. For example, in the film Kirikou runs very, very fast. We can’t make him run that fast on stage, so we had to find other ways of showing that.” The solution? “There’s several… the puppeteers hold him in the air and move him as though he’s running, and there’s a strobe light going. Sometimes they make him take a few steps then pull him quickly back into themselves and indicate with their heads where he’s going. Other times he runs in slow motion, which is surprisingly effective”.

“It’s not a Lion King, which is very slick, like the film” says Rann. In this production “there’s no attempt made to hide things.” For example “Kirikou steals someone’s hat then runs under it. In Philippe’s studio we created a running hat that works like an old fashion lawn mower. The public sees the mechanics of it, but they accept it and laugh. It’s more theatrical.” 

Kirikou is “directed at children, but a lot of adults enjoy it.” Which includes, the eve before this interview, Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, which chuffed the cast. 

Now the piece is running, Rann is busy training the understudies before he heads off to Japan with Cie Philippe Genty.

http://www.kirikou-et-karaba.com

Image and words by Ruby Boukabou, also seen in www.parisvoice.com

Paris based Australian film and theatre director Elise McLeod directs French actress Camille Nahum in a one woman play that tackles pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood with honesty, grit and lashings of humour.

“It started from a book that Camille’s aunty had written in the 80s and was like a guide to pregnancy and having a baby called ‘Toutes Coupables’- ‘All Guilty,’” says McLeod after a performance at the Theatre du Gymnase in the 10th. “We’ve taken the structure and basic ideas and modernised it and made it a lot more trashy and vulgar and funny!”

McLeod first travelled to Paris on exchange when she was sixteen, came back to cook for six months when she was 20 and realised that once she knew what she wanted to do with her life, she had found her town. And so in ‘97, with fresh film and theatre directing ambitions, McLeod applied to Paris VIII University, boldly stating why her work as a chef qualified her for a directing role. She was accepted in the film making course and hasn’t looked back. McLeod has since directed long running theatre shows, made a handful of successful short films and works continually in an AD role on French films and commercials as well as teaching acting at ‘Bilingual Acting’ in the centre of Paris.

While McLeod has fallen in love with Paris for “the overall appreciation of culture, the lifestyle, the French, the food, the arguments, the winter light, the staring” and much more, she believes she’s lucky to not feel trapped within a mould. “Being a foreigner allows you to do exactly what you want and blame it on your culture,” she says. “So I don't feel I need to adhere to the appropriate way to behave. I can be cheekier.”

Toutes Coupables plays till December 31, the last month running alongside McLeod’s next theatre piece- which, for contrast, is all about death…

Toutes Coupables

Starring Camille Nahum

Directed by Elise McLeod

Theatre du Gymnase

38 bd Bonne Nouvelle 75010 Paris, M Bonne Nouvelle

Until December 31, 2007 Monday- Wednesdays 19:30

0142467979 www.toutescoupables.com

by Ruby Boukabou as seen also on www.parisvoice.com