Balkanic eruption by Alors, on le fait...?!

For the last four years, AOLF has been working closely with musicians. But this year, we wished to expand into new fields, so we asked Christophe Andrieu (STPo) to create a travel diary which would illustrate the AOLF 2007 tour. Carte blanche? Or even grey, blue or orange? Christophe expresses his perception of the “Exchange Tour #3 - Beyond the Borders” on 80 pages and across scores of drawings. We’d like to use these few lines to thank all the people who made this “Exchange Tour” possible. Let’s keep listening to life. Hope a beautiful road awaits you. Colline Henry, AOLF coordination

Translation from french by Emilie Janvrin, Henriette Baker, Ceveryne, Tom and Julien

“A voyage doesn’t actually begin when you hit the road and it does not end when you reach destination. In fact, he begins way earlier and almost never stops because the memory reel keeps on running even though you stopped moving for a long time. The voyager is indeed contaminated by the voyage, an almost incurable illness.” Ryszard KAPUŚCIŃSKI, Travels with Herodotus

“I had been taught the right to free circulation of goods and men. I have learned that those rights and freedom only concern people who own goods.” François MASPERO, Balkans-Transit

“Give me a number where I can reach you.” My mother

AOLF and me I met Yann about ten years ago now and Colline a little later through the bustling social network of the southern suburbs of Paris. I proudly watched them create AOLF in 2005 (‘Alors, On Le Fait?’ ‘So, Let’s Do It?’), then a new seed on the network but one that has now shot up thanks to the indefatigable energy of numerous supporters. For my part I can say that the organisation has been consistently active and well attended since launching and I have been invited to take part on several projects. I have more often than not accepted these invitations because the said projects were rich, bold, adventurous and self motivated. The core members of the organisation have always been conscientious, alert and dedicated which is all too often far from the case in most voluntary organisations (believe me!). This

dedication is married with a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, almost like a big family. Being the designer has allowed me to travel by proxy to towns I would otherwise never have seen and to collate the recordings of groups of musicians from all four corners of Europeâ&#x20AC;Ś but since Colline would not stop hassling people until I accepted to come for real it was impossible to resist!

I was nonetheless a little surprised when a year ago I was asked to come on the 2007 Balkan Tour with around forty musicians and other travelling entertainers. I normally quite like my home comforts and have no taste for adventure at all - when it comes to cultural knowledge of even my own region I am pretty abysmal! To top it all I am not the most sociably inclined, I have poor health and a hectic schedule. Despite my reticent reservations I said yes. This was perhaps also due to the fact that I was quite jealous not to have shared the experiences of previous tours, to have remained a spectator. It was a REAL trip that smelt of sweat and rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;n

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roll – essentially it was a purely selfish decision!

The tour The tour in question called ‘Beyond the Borders – Exchange Tour no. 3’ happened in July 2007. It followed an initial Balkan tour with French groups that went as far as Kosovo in 2005 and a second Balkan tour in France with groups from Eastern Europe and North Africa in 2006. The 2007 medley consisted of the French groups Joke (rock-reggaepunk), Stéréodrawings (electro) and FMR (fanfare) as well as the Slovenian group Red Five Point Star (ska) and finally two mime artists. For financial and logistical reasons the Algerian musicians Djmawi Africa were unable to take part in the trip - it was a great shame. The adventure comprised a list of

around fifteen concerts peppered around different Balkan countries (including a first concert in Budapest, Hungary). The idea was to offer a complete day of performance. The fanfare would play in town during the day to announce the evening concert and would promenade the audience to the venue. The clown mimes would launch the show with a 20 minute set. The groups would play one after another, in an order that varied depending on the dates. The fanfare performed amongst the audience in the interludes during the set changes and music would be performed well into the night.

03/12 Preparatory gathering at â&#x20AC;&#x153;Les 3 frĂ¨resâ&#x20AC;? in Paris.

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As well as this programme there were also a few extra events, for example, theatre workshops run by our mimes, guest artists and organisers speaking from different countries and shared musical experiences and collaborations with new-found musicians.

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My role And how did I fit into all of that? My official title was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;illustratorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. In the same way that the video team that accompanied us recorded instant snippets of life, I also recorded these moments: the concert, the encounters and exchanges that were made, thoughts on the trip and I kept this diary of the trip too. Re-reading these notes, I realise that I spent a lot of time complaining (on paper). The memory I retain of it today is much more serene: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve forgotten all the disagreements that were more often than not due to physical exhaustion against which I moaned constantly to begin with. In this purged version I only keep the positive aspects and only the significant disasters. I wondered for a while what angle I should adopt when I wrote. Should I focus on the travelling? The concerts? The

cohesion and the evolution of the group? The cultural exchanges between the group and local communities? The history of the places we would travel to? At “Jardin du Luxembourg”, just before leaving

I finally decided to stop trying to theorise everything and adopted the style of a personal diary without any particular editorial direction – no doubt the most honest way of sharing what we had lived on this trip. It is inevitably subjective and overtly dramatic at times. If you ask another participant to give an account of their journey you would get quite a different story! So, you will find no journalistic presumptions or geopolitical expertise in this diary, just a few modest thoughts from a Parisian IT technician on a trip with a group of friends.

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Day 1 : 4th July GERMANY Munich Paris FRANCE

The fanfare is set to leave Saclay, remote southern suburbia, at 7am. I realise at around :30am that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve left my passport at home in the north of Paris so I leg it there and back on the RER to fetch the precious document. We finally leave Paris behind us at 10:30am. The mood is not the best. 07/04 - 3:10pm On Road A4 to Reims Nicoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legs

This first day is spent on the motorway; we need to reach Slovenia by the following day to join up with the Red Five Point Star who will be accompanying for us for the rest of the tour. This is an opportunity to meet my 40

travel companions who for the most part are unknown to me. The company is quite varied. The eldest, soon to be a father, is about to turn 36 and the youngest is just 1 . I’m in middle with my 25 years. It’s also an opportunity to familiarise ourselves with our transport vehicle, an old 70s school bus that I’ve seen several times in photos on various CD covers I’ve designed from previous tours, but it is the first time I see for “real”. There is a lot chitchat, the video crew start filming much to the mock annoyance of the other passengers.

07/04 - 7:10pm German speedways _ At the back in the bus, some seats had been taken off, we put our things there - or sometimes people! (Here, it’s 17Julien.)

We pass a colourless and odourless German border and dine on a truck-fumed motorway. It’s horrendous weather: rain, cold, wind, Brittany in November.

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“We said only rotgut in the bus, because beer helds us up” (Vincent)

Day 2 : 5th July Munich

AUSTRIA

Ljubljana

After breakfast, Simon runs a little taichi relaxation session in the playground of our motorway stop. He does this quite frequently apparently (but not always in playgrounds), sometimes before concerts, to relax. We reach the Austrian border after 1pm approximately.

07/05 - 3:45pm Colline asleep

On the road I chat with Jérémie one of the drivers who shares this duty with Stephanie, his girlfriend. Our vehicle is a 1 76 Saviem that is gently reaching 350.000km. It belongs to the charity “Planet in Danger” and in its youth it transported children to and from school.

07/05 - 6:20pm A quick fix

Fuf making the sounds. Nico is filming but he moves too much!

The musical instruments and material are transported in an Iveco truck that looks like it’s also been through a lot. It’s owner Benjamin, a troglodyte from Angers, frequently passes the wheel to Antoine and Laurence, our Breton mechanic couple. At the Slovenian border: a clumsy manoeuvre and the bus and the Iveco truck collide destroying the truck’s radiator. We end up travelling with all the material in the bus up to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital city. Metelkova is the squat that greets us in the heart of Ljubljana. The buildings wind round the block with bars, concert rooms, internet access, artist’s workshops, offices, library – it’s a true concentrate of cultural life and life itself, as it should be…

The cooling liquid spread on the bitumen.

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Tonight a hard-core American band is playing. Their audience is a huge crowd of young people, looking much the same as young people back home with the

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exception that they are all white. Our FMR fanfare catches them as they exit the concert; the party begins for us and continues for them. Slovenian beer (Union) mixed with shots of very sweet local beverage flows generously and I become pleasantly inebriated. The musicians move about, jamming with the local DJs and dancing with the audience. I get out my laborious English and chat with all those who cross my path… it’s a festive and relaxed mood and a very late night – we’ve officially begun our exotic adventure.

07/05 - 3:20pm Jeremie, the bus driver. Stephanie also drove sometimes, I’ll draw her later if I can...

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07/06 - 4pm Ljubljana, capital city of Slovenia. Jennifer on the terrace.

Day 3 : 6th July Budapest Ljubljana HUNGARY

Touristic day in Ljubljana while we await the arrival of the Red Five Point Star who will be taking the road this evening to Budapest. (The journey will be approx 11 hours? 15 hours?) The Slovenian capital is very clean, a mixture between Disneyland and the Truman Show, which also reminds me of the city centres of BĂ˘le and Amsterdam. At last the weather is good, with the fanfare we go off and busk in the centre of town. I find myself on the other side, as the busker, usually I watch as an audience member â&#x20AC;&#x201C; another new experience! The Red Five arrive at the end of the

07/06 - 0:10am Bino on the bus to Budapest.

07/06 - 0:30am Still on the bus...

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day with fracas and plenty of smiles. Lots of accolades and we load the truck with its new radiator. There is a quick meeting to discuss organisation, the itinerary, life on board, passport control… We leave for Budapest towards .30pm, louder and more compressed inside the bus. The RFPS have a healthy stock of alcohol on board and they aren’t thrifty. Their new French travel companions don’t hesitate to join the merry-making! At the border, Sony, the Red Five trumpeter gets stopped because his passport has expired. The tension rises, a few members of Five Star get out of the bus to talk with the officers. Our organisers Colline, Yann, Vincent and Laurence also try to mediate with the officials – there is electricity in the air. There is nothing to be done however, Sony is not allowed to go through and the truck drives him back to the closest border town in Slovenia from where he will be able to get back to Ljubljana. He doesn’t take part in the tour. The mood softens. We cross the border…

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Day 4 : 7th July Budapest HUNGARY

We arrive in Budapest mid-morning.

07/07 - 7:45pm Before the gig.

The concert room where we are playing tonight is situated in a basement, under a water basin that we can actually see because the ceiling is made of glass â&#x20AC;&#x201C; sunlight floods into the room. It is a magical place (and very trendy) in a capital blessed with abundant architecture. We chat and do a bit of tourism. I have a brilliant idea for a name to give to a mime artist company: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Les mimes antipersonnelsâ&#x20AC;?! (The antipersonal mimes!) In the afternoon we sound check and the first mime performance begins out-

side â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they are not helped by the poor lighting and the sparse audience. The fanfare follows and has more success in bringing in the audience leading them into the concert room where Red Five begin to play (with a very reduced brass section â&#x20AC;&#x201C; minus Sony, the trumpeter, and the saxophonist who did not come). The fanfare plays during the scene chance and Joke goes on stage. 07/07 - 10:30am The bus and the truck in front of the gig venue.

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The audience seem to follow and the musicians who have been deprived of their music for a few days are visibly happy! The fanfare plays again, followed by StereoDrawings until 2 or 3am in the morning. We put instruments and gear away and sleep symbolically for a few hours since we are scheduled to leave for Serbia at 7am in the morningâ&#x20AC;Ś

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Day 5 : th July Budapest HUNGARY

“Ca jouuuuuue !” (everyone plastered in the bus)

Sombor SERBIA

We arrive at the Serbian border at around noon, passport control check our passports one by one in the bus (this will happen now at every border crossing). We arrive in the quiet town of Sombor 70 kilometres later - this is where we are playing this evening. The “Ladas” and the “Yugos” hustle and bustle, the military and the police as well. The open air space of the communal sport’s centre where we are playing seems far removed from the ultra modern concert room in Budapest – here, things are more homely and rural. The police do the rounds as our organisers debrief and the fanfare goes over

07/0 - 5:30pm Gal and Jennifer at Sombor

the new arrangement for this evening’s set (yesterday’s was cobbled together rather hastily!)… The dressing rooms in Sombor make me think a bit too much of prison cells: metal doors with huge locks, “cell” numbers, iron bars constituting the changing rooms of the stadium. It is a sharp reminder of Serbia’s recent tortured history. The local organisers deny anything to do with this but it doesn’t stop me from thinking all along evening about how many people had died under torture in this very building. The fanfare launch the ceremonies and bring on the mime artists efficiently – the audience is more responsive this evening, particularly the many children. The local band (“Waking Dub”) follow suit, all pretty cool despite a caricatured remake of Bob Marley!

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Joke are not in such good form and their music is all over the place. The Red Five, however, are in great shape this evening. Joke and FMR have invited

| 2 07/0 - 7:45pm Playing the fool at a reharsal in Sombor

a few guest artists and they get on stage too by the end of the evening â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this kicks off a series of artistic collaborations that will continue throughout the run on and off stage. The Serbians speak possibly even worse English than us which does not help with communication, however, our hosts and audience seem thrilled by the evening and the musicians get talkingâ&#x20AC;Ś apparently audiences in Sombor never sing during concerts, tonight they did!

07/0 - 11:10pm The Sombor stage

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Day 6 : th July Sombor

ROMANIA

SERBIA BULGARIA

An attempt with Laurence’s watercolors. Timeless artwork.

Day spent travelling with the bus across Serbia. The musicians take the opportunity to play in the space at the back of the bus – guitars, accordions improvise and rehearse. We stop in the countryside in the evening to sleep. A few Serbian passers-by come and join us at the happy Rakija House. The police arrive shortly after to check everyone’s papers but without causing any trouble. I go to bed early but some are more hard-core and are invited back to the local’s homes to end the evening to the sound of the accordion and clinking glasses.

Janez wants a tatoo (his astrological sign rus) and a beer (his But I don’t know how bulls...

of a bull is Taupassion). to draw

(here’s the proof!)

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Some investigations into the travel journal’s page setting...

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Day 7 : 10th July Some musicians jokes... “The 3 lies of the guitar player: - I tuned up - I turned my distortion pedal down - I won’t solo on the next song” “How do you call the guy always hanging out with the musicians? - The drummer” “How can you make a guitar player shut up? - By giving him a score” “How can you make a Saxophone player shut up? - By taking his score away!” “How many saxophone players do you need to change a lightbulb? - Ten. One to do it and nine wondering how Coltrane would have done it”

Prilep

We leave bright and early at around 4:00am to cover the 270km that separate us from Macedonia. Half an hour in, the bus breaks down on the motorway. Yet another mechanical mission and our planning goes to pot! The Serbian police doesn’t take long to arrive and flag down a truck to pull us over to a more appropriate location. We end the night at a rest point while our decidedly invaluable mechanics labour over the damage. The bus is repaired at approximately 10:30pm and we leave with a good five hours delay. We arrive at the Macedonian border

07/10 - :50pm Prilep. The brass band surrounded by kids in the city square (and in the dark).

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by 11:30pm and get out to satisfy our thirst with shooters but are quickly forced back onto the bus by passport control who sermon us in English by saying: “This is the border here. Do you do that in your country?” The old tower (700 years old). “Turkish” period.

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Once in Prilep, a small town in Macedonia the cultural shock is huge. We pass lots of modest pavilions in construction (ruin?) and a more modern central square. Horses with carts trot by along with packs of wild dogs. Children are everywhere. The atmosphere is very laid back with the local organisers and the locals themselves. In the afternoon the fanfare begins the festivities in the central square where I draw surrounded by curious kids with whom it is difficult to communicate seeing as they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak English. A few adults come over and tell me a bit of (occasionally rather absurd!) local history about the buildings Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m drawing - theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re knowing eyes also encourage me to add certain details I might have missed.

Tarek sipping a chilled drink.

The fanfare bring on the back-up to the square where later a local DJ will play followed by our own mime artists and musicians. The spectators are cold and distant at first but slowly warm up and in the end everyone is dancing. The organisers join them and the fanfare concludes what will be a never-ending

07/10 - 10:30pm Red Five at Prilep, Macedonia

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party by playing long into the hours of the night! A 200 year old wall, a local monument

The evening ends in the small chalet that is hosting us, where we find comfortable beds and warm showers. A few local girls follow the general movement and the musicians rival each other to spend the night with one of themâ&#x20AC;Ś and certain people succeed without too much difficulty. I get back to the room that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sharing with Tim and Jules without knowing how to switch on the bathroom light and have a shower in pitch darknessâ&#x20AC;Ś to top it all, apparently I snore!

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Day : 11th July MACEDONIA Prilep Bitola ALBANIA

GREECE

We get up at noon, with 40km separating us from Bitola, still in Macedonia, where we are playing tonight. A short bus journey, almost too short considering the distances we are now used to covering. We arrive at our hostel that is also full of random students from here and there. The sound check is set for 7:00pm along with dinner. The few hours left of the afternoon are spent rehearsing and there is more musical collaborating between Joke and Red Five in view of tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concert. Another Tai-Chi session is organised by Simon in the spacious courtyard of the student re-

sidence. We discuss a potential live CD recording of Joke, what the case would look like etc… 07/11 - 0:45am People are dancing. The wind is crazy.

We wander down on foot to the concert space in the centre of town. On the way, Vincent evokes the very first Kosovar Tour organised by AOLF two years ago and the way in which groups of people come together without even knowing each other. This year, the fusion of the group has been instantaneous, by the third concert everyone was on stage dancing (even the more introverted of which I am the best example!). The travelling conditions are rather better than two years ago (a shower once every two days and occasionally a bed), which leaves Yann perplexed by the (relative) “poshing up” of the adventure… The concert takes place on a stage on a pedestrian street. There’s a lot of wind, we freeze slightly after the heat wave of the last few day.

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07/11 - 11:45pm Red Five Point Star at Bitola. A young girl writes down the name of the steeples for me. Saat Kula : orthodox church (on the left) Dzamija : mosque (on the right)

In the middle of Joke’s concert where Julien’s words are, to put it mildly, strongly left-wing, a group of young neo-Nazis arrive creating havoc carrying tee-shirts as banners with “White Power” written all over them.

They don’t stay for long but the tone is set. The concert quickly finishes and everyone returns home on foot in a disorderly fashion. On the way the FAF’s catch Julien on their turf, where Nazi graffiti plaster the walls (swastika signs and “Hitler was right”, etc). The leader takes Julien by the shoulders and says “You and me we’ve got to talk”. The local fascists did not appreciate Joke’s general statement against racism. The argument is quickly concluded, however, by the considerable size of our group compared to the courageous defenders of the white race. Bitola über alles

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Day : 12th July Peja

Bitola

After a six hour journey, we finally arrive at the rather complex Kosovo border around midday. We are subject to a macedonian passport check, then a serbian one followed by an international check by the UN who are still present in the province since its status has still hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been defined. There are barbed wires, military trucks and machine guns to welcome us. A bemused American administrator takes a photo of our bus. We are also given a kind welcoming speech in English by a border control official; the first we have received so far. We drive towards Peja. The Kosovo region is without doubt the poorest region

we have crossed so far. There are ruins everywhere, a few construction sites with occasionally a few finished buildings, often quite big. The KFOR and the serbian police is everywhere. As we get off the bus, we are approached by 3 french policemen on an intelligence mission, and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re delighted to meet some fellow Frenchmen to speak to!

07/12 - 7:15pm Preparatory gathering in Peja, Kosovo. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a wedding at the hotel, we are sandwiched between the Albanian music from the invited local entertainer and the music coming from the stage 30 metres away.

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The headquarters of our Kosovan organisers is in the local Hard Rock Cafe where a huge yankee flag hangs outside and where the walls inside are covered with photos of English and American heavy metal bands. The Royal Hotel, where the whole of the third floor has been reserved for us, is right in the city centre. It is a huge building with obvious hints of a glorious past but after the ravagings of the recent war, its interior is closer to that of a post-apocalyptic video

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game than of the grandiose Concorde Lafayette hotel in Paris. Although it is back in business, there is certainly no great obvious boost in tourism here in Peja. Among old bangers, we cross massive 4x4s and even a Ferrari... Would these belong to the Mafia? to Apparatchiks? Foreign Dignitaries? The setting up of the stage takes place amongst herds of curious kids. The concert will take place over two days: tonight StereoDrawings and the FMR will play, only to be followed tomorrow by Joke and the Red Fiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show along with other local bands. The night ends in the Hard Rock Cafe to the sound of Iron Maiden and Deep Purple.

Nat and Sophie, our mime clowns doing their show.

Day 10 : 13th July BOSNIA AND HERZEGOViNA

MONTENEGRO ALBANIA

The local film team

07/13 - 5:50pm At Peja with the Theater Team for a lesson with the mimes

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SERBIA Peja KOSOVO

BULGARIA

MACEDONIA

I get up late and go round the market to run a few errands. People look at us as if we we’re aliens but with no hostility. I realise that I have misplaced my glasses which is a serious handicap for my daily life and for my drawing. You might not care but it certainly does piss me off! Peja is a small town made of brick within the mountain. On the wall of some of the bars, there are signs saying “Weapons forbidden” as if we we’re in the mid-west. I follow the workshops given by the mimes at the Municipal Theatre for the

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07/13 - 7pm Theatre class. A Swiss from the area plays the translator, which proved to be a necessity...

students of Peja. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re followed by the a local filming unit along with ours. The workshop goes well and the improvisation excercise is very successful and very impressive. It is clear by the end of the session that our mime artists would love to come back and develop the relation they have built with the students. There is obvious disappointment however later that evening when the audience for the concert is a lot lower than expected - Peja had been the best date of the tour two years ago. A belgian guy tells us that on hearing about our concert, the locals organised a last minute concert of traditional music which would explain the low turn-out. Jealousy? Anti-slovenic racism? It seems unlikely according to Uros, the singer of the Red Five, who received a good feeback from the audience. Perhaps the belgian made the whole story up? Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never really know...

In response to the FAQ of Bitola, we’re faced with another form of nationalism on the part of certain Albanians who react with violent disgust when we tell them that we had produced a show a few days earlier in Serbia. Their reaction says a lot about the feelings the Albanians of Kosovo (who enjoy a majority in numbers) have for the glorious Serbian Mother state. Kosovo’s status is still unclear since their independence under the UN’s mandate is supported by the Americans. Would that explain the pro-US fanatism of our hosts at the Hard Rock Cafe? In a town that is partly muslim, this represents not only a culture-clash but also a huge paradox.

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07/13 - 3:50pm Colline and Yasmina. I’m drunk.

We pay particular attention to our equipment whilst clearing up as there had been a theft here a couple of years ago. The little gypsy girl who had been following us around since our arrival in Peja is attacked by some of the town’s youngsters. What a great way to end the night!

| 46 07/13 - 10:50pm Peja. From the Hotel Royalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terrace, we can see the stage. Without my glasses, everything is blurry...

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Day 11 : 14th July Budva

Peja

MONTENEGRO

We leave Peja at am for the province of Montenegro where we arrive at the border around 10.30am. I try and reread a little of Lester Bangs in the bus but i spend most of my time enjoying the beautiful scenery along the windy roads (financed by the EU) that we take through the mountains. The concert organised that evening in Podgorica in Montenegro is cancelled. It seems that there were last minute renegotiations in the Ministry of Foriegn Affairs for the allocation of budgets given to French Cultural Centres Overseas. The one in Podgorica can therefore no longer afford to welcome us.

07/14 - 10:30am Another bus day

Montenegro is an old Serbian province that is totally independent... We sleep on the beach of Budva, a resort dancing to the rhythm of Dance musique and with a general party atmosphere. It is a rather good metaphore for the patriotic festivities that are probably underway in our own country on this 14th July.

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Day 12 : 15th July BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ortijes

Budva

We continue our adventure concertless along the beaches of Montenegro: turquoise sea, plam trees, mountains drastically throwing themselves into the Adriatic see, desolated islands and many more such paradisiac views. Julien asked me what I thought about the tour now that I was involved on the inside and this allowed me to put into words some of my impressions that had remained up til now rather abstract. When the aim of a journey or tour is to give concerts, we end up not seeing much of the regions, towns and places we have crossed along the way, on the

one hand because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re limited by time but also because tourism is obviously not the priority. From there stems a certain frustration and a desire to come back and discover a little more about these sites.

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Nevertheless, experiencing a rock tour from the inside is extremely instructive, from an artistic point of view as well as from a sociological one. The artistic process is constantly at work, be it during concerts, more or less improvised rehearsals or during informal chats. Songs, airs and melodies are created literaly under our avid ears which is a fantastic feeling for a very amateur musician such as myself. I also have come to realise that my companions enjoy a huge variety of talents that totally surpass my rather limited skills. They all seem to be able to play various instruments like prodigies, they draw and act - basically they have enough artistic profiles to question the legitimacy of my mere presence on this adventure as well as to stimulate our (my) creativity!

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In sociological terms, my companions are all notorious alcoholics and are compulsive smokers of haschich. Nights spent with groupies only reinforces the cliche of the careless rocker; a stereotype some are only to happy to enact. Obviously I exagerate somewhat as everything takes place in a great atmosphere. I do wonder however where the limit lies between the game and serious realisation of this caricatural way of life. We pass the border a few times, with little difficulty and we leave the Red Fives near Dubrovnik in Croatia as they’ll be joining us again a few dates away. We end up at Dragan’s who is an old acquaintance of AOLF near Mostar in Bosnia. She own a self-managed ecocamp in Ortijes. It is a haven of peace and nature populated by hippies and tramps alike, a very plaisant place where we’d easily spend a little more time. Unfortunately we have to leave no sooner than the next morning for Imotski in Croatia.

07/15 - :50pm The Eco-camp

We do however have time to leave a box of “Dagoja Bus Culture”, the CD/DVD of the previous “Exhange Tour” for which I created the cover. Dragan and Aki are delighted with it, which in turn makes me very happy! We end the evening with an unplanned and rather crazy jamming session during which the tour’s hymn “Taftaf 2” which features most of the musicians from the various bands was first born!

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Day 13 : 16th July

07/13 Imotski Lake

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Ortijes

CROATIA Imotski

At Dragan’s place, we meat a band from Lyon (France) called “Un Swing de r’tard” who are very similar to us (even their bus looks like ours, or a twin perhaps!?). We get to know each other and organise a few concert dates together. They are still following us to this day. After a sweltering morning, we’re welcomed in Imotski by a refreshing mountain lake in a crater. I go in search of internet and when I get back to the town centre, I find our group has expanded - AKi, Dragan and Srdjan, another eco-camp lodger, have decided to accompany us.

07/16 - :55pm The Imotski stage. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m fed up with drawing the sound engineerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s materials and instruments...

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There we play for the locals who are all enjoying their drinks at the Brooklyn, the Bob Marley or the Adolf; the three bars of the central square which seem to be fighting a ruthless war of ideology! Imotski is a smaller town and it is therefore harder to get the locals dancing than on previous nights.

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Day 14 : 17th July BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA CROATIA Imotski

Mostar

We leave for Mostar in Bosnia where we’re playing that night. Of all the towns we have seen, this one is still the most heavily scarred following the war. The area we’re playing in was basically the old frontline. One building out of two hasn’t even been touched since the end of the fighting. We’re therefore surrounded by skeletal buildings where only the facades remain with remnants of bullets holes and grenade explosions along with more recent sprayings of graffiti ordering us “Don’t Forget”. Its a chilling view and worth every one of its commemorative plaques.

07/17 The street we played on at Mostar

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I decide to go around some of these rubles to take a few photos; it is only later that I hear someone saying that there are still landmines around and it is best not to go off the beaten track. Nevertheless, the town is slowly being re-built. It is therefore not incommon to see a construction site in between a ruin and a beautiful new building. Some of the old structures have even been restored on one level only and you can occasionally see on an old decrepid facade one new window with its air conditioning unit! The current administration in Mostar is commited to the reconstruction of the old bridge and of its toursitic surroundings in the town centre that were destroyed during the war. They are being totally re-built as they were before, with the

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same techniques and the same stone. That night we play in a club between the prison and the ruins. I go up on stage during the StereoDrawingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; show; Sophie and Nat, our two mime-artists take on the role of dancers to the psychedelic music of the band and the idea came about that I should complete their gig with a pictoral interpretation. During the concert, I paint on the girls faces a symmetrical motif alluding to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Stereoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; drawing concept. It was a very interesting experience despite a multitude of imperfections...to be continued! This was a first and brief experience of participating to the many artistic exchanges that take place within the group and through the miming, the leave behind my role of reporter/ spectator and to become an actor. 07/17 - :15pm Brass band rehearsal at Mostar

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Mostar Jail

The mountain

Some ruins riddled with bullet holes

The stage

07/17 - 5:30pm Mostar sound check

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Day 15 : 1 th July BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Mostar

Dubrovnik CROATIA

07/1 - 10:15pm Neya at Dubrovnik. The scorching heat sucked

We arrive in Dubrovnik in Croatia around midday in the most unbearable heat (C3 according to the thermostat). The club that welcomes us this evening is an old hospital that has been transformed into an alternative arts centre by a group of youngsters from the town. It is still getting over the night beforeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s party, and the night before that... The fanfare go busking around the town. Dubrovnik is a beautiful old medieval town made up of a labyrinth of small windy streets for a town centre. It is full of tourists, some of which are

French. There is a good atmosphere, despite the local priest who comes to complain that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re playing on the steps outside his church. We then go back to the club to prepare for the evening concert. The small hall is soon buzzing with people and it soon becomes almost unbearable - the concert however is a great success. The Antenat band from Zagreb took part in previous AOLF exchanges so they are also present. The fanfare ends the night as usual with a few hours of play but this time outside among the euphoric and dansing crowd. It is hot and humid...

07/1 - 7:20pm Playing in Dubrovnik

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Day 16 : 1 th July Dubrovnik CROATIA

The filming team, now known as “France 3 region” or “France Bleue Limousin” interviews Nenad, the singer from Antenat (24 years old). I assist from the top of the cliffs overlooking Dubrovnik, among pine trees and with an unbearable view on a sea that I will definitely not be swimming in.

07/1 The old town of Dubrovnik, surrounded by cats and French tourists

I then go to lose myself in the entertwining streets of the town as a minimum of tourism is due to this medieval that has been totally re-built. Having said that, if you look a little closer, you can still find walls scarred by the systematic bullets of machine gun of a not so glorious past.

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The Antenat band take part in the performance of tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concert. Unfortunately, their drummer is unable to be there as his grandmother has just passed away. Djeff from the StereoDrawings steps in at the last minute - they play and with a huge success!

07/1 - 5:50pm The video team interviewing Nenad, the Antenat singer

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Day 17 : 20th July “Tonite, I’m not drinking, I’m boinking” (Guiton) “There is an afterparty in my tummy” (Guiton again)

Split

CROATIA Dubrovnik

We have a full days travel up to Split in Croatia where we’re not playing but where we’re invited to spend the night in an old disused concert hall. The coastal road is magnificent and we have a short swimming stop, which once again I don’t take part in. Once in Split at the end of the afternoon, we discover a huge hall - it’s a shame we’re not playing tonight! We enjoy a few drinks and after midnight, I receive a few kisses from the girls as it is now officially my birthday!!

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Day 1 : 21th July Rijeka

CROATIA BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

ITALY

Split

We travel all day to Rijeka, still in Croatia, to perform that night. The Red Five are now back with us for our final 4 concert dates along with Sony who has finally managed to pass the border. The concert hall turns out to be a joke as it is totally under-equipped. It is basically a beach drinking hut full of locals who look at us a little too aggressively for our liking. The landlord makes us pay our entry fee despite the fact that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re paying for free and that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also paying for our own drinks. The concert starts around 10pm and the band do their best to get the crowd dancing.

At the height of Joke’s set (which coincides vaguely with me being at the peak of my drunkeness), the band start playing ‘Stir it up’ and get me up on stage to play a guitar solo - given my state, i believe it’s the best guitar solo ever (despite it being Bob Marley!) and I must admit that the moment will stay in my memory as one of the best birthday presents ever - thank you!

07/21 - :20pm The view from the Rijeka stage

our bus was robbed and vandalised around there

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I go back to the bus which had stayed in the car park and it is clear straight away that it has been ransacked along with the Red Five’s car which was registered in Slovenia. A few bags and cameras have also disappeared. Our general annoyance is calmed down by our organiser’s stoicism. The croatians who organised the concert are just as annoyed as we are and make a point of never collaborating with this useless venue ever again.

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Day 1 : 22th July Pula

Rijeka

CROATIA BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

ITALY

A graffiti in Pula

We leave Rijeka with very little regrets after a mandatory visit at the local police station. We get back to Pula, still in Croatia for the SeaSplash Reggae Festival. Despite it being a 3 day event, a fourth day has been added for us and for the more resilient fans. It takes place on a island off the town and we get to it in the afternoon by a taxi-boat that crosses the bay. Pula has an impressive naval base linked with the ancient coliseum-type local building, the image of which illustrates the local currency.

22/07 - 23h Under the hangings at Pula Festival

The organisers of the Festival are impossible to get hold off. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll learn a little later that the lack of sleep over the 3 intense Festival days got the better of them. This doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop us - quite the contrary since the cohesion of the group over the past weeks allow us to control the technical installation of equipment and to prepare the show totally independently. The echos following the concert is that it was by far the best night of the festival! I have to admit that I have to go on word of month for this show as I fell asleep for half the actual concert, wiped out by my electrifying performance the night before!

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Day 20 : 23th July AUSTRIA

“Even when he sleeps, he’s breaking my balls” (Lite on Bino snoring)

Ljubljana Koper

HUNGARY CROATIA

ITALY

Pula

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

We leave Pula to go to Koper in Slovenia. We perform that night in a small family club where we’re served a royal feast under a roof of vineleaves. Robert Plant is also playing tonight in a big open air venue in town but the entry fee is 40Euros which means there will be no competition there. The concert goes well under the paternal gaze of the landlord. I get back on stage to paint the dancer’s faces - the result is better than the first time although I have less time to develop the drawings. The slovenian police decide to play cowboys at 2am, so the party is over.

07/23 - 10:30am Our dormitory. Dragan explains to me that “saviem” means “to roll joints” in Serbo-Croatian. That’s it, we were destined to do it...

Fabien, our sound engineer, leaves us to get back to Nice by plane for professional reasons. We all fall asleep in one of Metelkova’s clubs - the giant squat that first welcomed us at the beginning of our adventure. Our general state of exhaustion is slowly getting the better of us as the end of the tour approaches.

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Antoine, who’s doing a bit of DIY

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People on the fortress

Day 21 : 24th July Ljubljana

07/24 - 5:10pm Tourism in Ljubljana, near to two bitches who insisted on endlessly cackling away the river

The Nymphoniks, a fanfare who count a few of FMR and Joke as their members arrive at Metelkova to start their own tour of the Balkans. The member of both bands will therefore carry on revisiting some of the places we have been to. Yapa, the other band to which Joke’s guitarist belongs to, will equally tour in the Balkans in August. It seems that France is taking over Ex-Yugoslavia! This probably also explains some of the graffiti, ‘we’re not french’ (this is an edited version) that we saw on the walls of some of the squats we stayed in. I spend a few hours going in Ljubljana, going from pint to pint, cheap cafe to

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07/24 - 7:40pm Laurence is kindly posing for me (sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s used to it, she often does it for art classes)

cheap bar. It feels good to do nothing. Tonight is the last concert and it will take place in a club in Melelkova with a very cosy little Mezzanine. The nymphos who have just arrived from Paris and who are full of energy open the show, followed by StereoDrawings, Joke and Red Five. Everyone is exhausted but gives their best performance for this last night that delights both public and artists alike. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take part tonight to make the most of being there with everyone. We go to bed late, exhausted but delighted!

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Day 22 : 25th July Ljubljana

I get up at 2pm. The Nymphos leave us for Zagreb taking Nico, Bino and Laurence from Joke as well as Lite and Alix from the FMR. Djeff and Julien from the StereoDrawings leave by plane to various destinations for different reasons (ANPE, wedding). The goodbyes are horrible and highlight the beginning of the disintegration of our little safe nucleus. We spend the rest of the day around Ljubljana and then we pack our equipment and our bags to be ready for our final departure time of midnight.

On the return journey, a few higgledy-piggledy ideas thrown onto some paper...

Talking with Simon about a possible Joke/Red Five Point Star split album

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Doodles for a Joke T-shirt

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Day 23 : 26th July Paris FRANCE Ljubljana

Return journey by bus with a paradoxical feeling of joy at the thought of going back home and of nostalgia for an adventure which is already over and behind us. There are less of us than at the start despite the addition of our little croatian couple we’re bringing back home from Metelkova. The road isn’t too busy and we finally arrive in Saclay at midnight. We say goodbye with heartfelt embraces and promises of future collaborations and regular contact. I don’t like goodbyes so I try and get them over with

quickly and get taken home by car... first sign of the return to an all too easy and lazy parisien life. “What the hell am I doing working in this boring office?” is still the question I ask myself every day since we got back. I guess it is the scar left by an adventure that at the very least, showed me the desirable possibility of another type of existence... and that’s a start!

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0 /11 - :25pm Back to the Montmartre grapevines

“I’m tired of being happy. Gimme some trouble!” (Tarek)

This book was designed, written and drawn by Christophe ANDRIEU (STPo) between july and november 2007. It has been corrected and censored with cleverness and parsimony by the AOLF team. More info on the author : www.stpo.fr

Bands involved in the “Exchange tour 2007 – Beyond the Borders” on this compilation : French Tour, January/February 2007 : BILK (Croatia) BreakBeat, Drum&Bass, Dub French Tour, April 2007: DJMAWI AFRICA (Algeria) Gnawi Rock Fusion European Tour, July 2007: RED FIVE POINT STAR (Slovenia) Dirty Ska JOKE (France) Ragga Rock Fusion STEREODRAWINGS (France) Dub ElectroRock Ambiance FMR (France) Powerful BrassBand 01. GRASSE 4’55 FMR Recorded Live the 16th of July 2007 in Town Center (Imotski – Hrvatska) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Mathieu Deron 02. GET YOUR KWAY 4’44 FMR featuring Joke (Julien, Martial) Recorded Live the 16th of July 2007 in Town Center (Imotski – Hrvatska) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Mathieu Deron

03. GOGOL DAN 4’33 FMR Recorded Live the 16th of July 2007 in Town Center (Imotski – Hrvatska) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Mathieu Deron 04. PETK ZVEER 3’26 RED FIVE POINT STAR Recorded Live the 23rd of July 2007 at OMC Club (Koper - Slovenia) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Fabien Aubert 05. I’LL GROW OLD 3’24 RED FIVE POINT STAR featuring StéréoDrawings (David) Recorded Live the 13th of July 2007 at Pej’Alternative Festival #2 (Peja - Kosovo) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Fabien Aubert 06. OUR VAN 3’23 RED FIVE POINT STAR featuring Joke (Julien, Bino, Laurence) Recorded Live the 13th of July 2007 at Pej’Alternative Festival #2 (Peja - Kosovo) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Fabien Aubert 07. TAF TAF INTERNATIONAL REMIX 6’35 JOKE featuring BBT Crew (Antoine, Uros, Janez, Julien) Recorded Live the 24th of July 2007 at Menza Club, Metelkova (Ljubljana - Slovenia) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Fabien Aubert 08. SOMBOR FREESTYLE 3’25 JOKE featuring Waking Dub (Serbia) Recorded Live the 8th of July 2007 at The Playground (Sombor - Serbia) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Fabien Aubert

09. LE MONDE BOUGE 5’36 JOKE featuring Djmawi Africa (Fethi, Abdou, Zohir, Mehdi, M’Hamed, Jamil,Amine) Recorded Live the 30th of April 2007 at MJC Louise Michel (Fresnes - France) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Fabien Aubert 10. ZMEN 6’47 DJMAWI AFRICA featuring Joke (Julien, Laurence, Tim) Recorded during stage rehearsal the 30th of April 2007 at MJC Louise Michel (Fresnes -France) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Fabien Aubert 11. DOUBLEWAZE 6’56 STEREODRAWINGS featuring Joke (Martial) Recorded Live the 22nd of July 2007 at the Seasplash Festival (Pula - Hrvatska) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Mathieu Deron 12. SPACE LOVING DUBY 6’47 STEREODRAWINGS featuring Joke (Martial) Recorded Live the 22nd of July 2007 at Seasplash Festival (Pula - Hrvatska) and the 23rd of July 2007 at OMC Club (Koper - Slovenia) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Mathieu Deron 13. PHANTOM 5’25 BILK Recorded Live the 3rd of February 2007 at MJC Louise Michel (Fresnes - France) Recorded by David Konopnicki Mixed by Mathieu Deron Mastered by Fabien Aubert and Mathieu Deron

NO BORDERS Documentary – 26’ Realised by Nicolas Ronjat Road movie through the Balkans with cultural exchange for scenary... BONUS Diaporama photos of the “Exchange Tour 07 – Beyond the Borders” Live video of Joke and Djmawi Africa the 30th of April 2007 at MJC Louise Michel (Fresnes - France) by URBAN VISION, extract from the DVD DIBIM

CARILLON STEREODRAWINGS Recorded Live the 22nd of July 2007 at Seasplash Festival (Pula - Hrvatska) and the 7th of July 2007 at Gödör Club (Budapest - Hongrie) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Mathieu Deron BUJANJE BILK Recorded Live the 3rd of February 2007 at MJC Louise Michel (Fresnes - France) Recorded by David Konopnicki Mixed by Mathieu Deron

BONUS TRACKS : CHORIZO FMR Recorded Live the 16th of July 2007 in Town Center (Imotski – Hrvatska) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Mathieu Deron CHANGING PLANS RED FIVE POINT STAR Recorded Live the 23rd of July 2007 at OMC Club (Koper - Slovenia) Recorded by Mathieu Deron Mixed by Fabien Aubert CORBEAUX JOKE Recorded Live the 8th of July 2007 at The Playground (Sombor - Serbia) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Fabien Aubert DJBEL DJMAWI AFRICA Recorded Live the 30th of April 2007 at MJC Louise Michel (Fresnes - France) Recorded by Fabien Aubert Mixed by Fabien Aubert

Alors, On Le Fait ?! www.aolf.fr +33 6 80 85 87 97 info@aolf.fr The AOLF team is : Colline Henry, Yann Bieuzent, Vincent Combet and Laurence Vergnaud. www.joke-joke.net www.redfivepointstar.com www.bilkspace.com http://djmawi-africa.com http://www.myspace.com/stereodrawings AOLF chooses to act by putting the human being in direct relation with culture, using dialogs and exchanges.