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Fete de la Musique, Liberation area, Nice, 2013

by Ted Welch Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 06:17:20 AM EST

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I'm sure there were some other live acts and music at non ear-damaging levels during the Fete de la Musique, but most of the local bars and restaurants had egomaniacal DJs who think louder is better.



"Do you want noise with that ?"

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"Why make dancing easy when you can be even taller too?"

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Mmmmm - usique

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"200 decibels ? We're cool, we're French."

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An older DJ played relaxed Latin-American music at easy on the ear level - the kids liked it.

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"It says here he got people moving"

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The original ethos of the Fête de la Musique was people making music, not DJs belting stuff through sound systems.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 09:06:20 AM EST

Ah, those good old days :-) But the French do seem to have a bit less of a generation gap - judging by all those progs on TV with older singers joined by younger ones and very mixed age audiences.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 09:55:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
How true. Strolling round my quarter, I came to a public square with a poster listing half a dozen names with time slots. I noted that there was a guy twiddling knobs on the stage as some recorded music blared out, and assumed he was filling in between the musicians. Then he started blah-blahing into his microphone, and the truth dawned.

Other than that, there was a band at a bar near my place playing prog-ish rock that I didn't recognise, another that I could hear from my terrace playing anglo-american standards from the 70s, pleasantly unremarkable. I like the fact that for a lot of amateur groups, this is their big annual concert. But not much turnover in the repertoire.

Oh, and my choir, which traditionally sings in a public place on this date, didn't get awarded a slot this year by the municipality. Not enough places, you see.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Mon Jun 24th, 2013 at 05:40:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That was my impression as well.

By the way, I was in Nice for the first time last night. I wasn't impressed. But I suspect that Ted will agree that 25 minutes at the train station late at night isn't the best way to see the city.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Mon Jun 24th, 2013 at 11:23:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The quality of your new camera is evident.

Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
by LEP on Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 12:49:18 PM EST

Thanks Len. Some are with the Samyang 85mm f1.4 - great for low-light, others with a new Sony 30 mm (equivalent to a 50mm on a trad 35mm camera) 2.8 - which is very light, a mere 150gm (really appreciated after having a really painful side after carrying a rather heavy bag on one shoulder).

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 01:58:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
DJs are like every other form of western music over the past centuries.

It's a Bell Curve, and only the stuff on the very right of the curve counts anywhere anyway.

Including Loud, which (at discrete times) can be an antidote to the black swamp madness infusing our former civilization.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 03:15:47 PM EST

62% of regular clubbers and 72% of regular concert goers report problems with their hearing.

Concerts and nightclubs produce sounds that can register up to 120 decibels, louder than a pneumatic drill. In the workplace employees are required to wear hearing protection when levels exceed 85 decibels.

Reports of tinnitus - ringing in the ears - experienced by young people exposed to loud music have increased threefold since the early 1980s.

The report found that 6.8% of people not regularly exposed to loud music of 85 decibels or over suffer from tinnitus compared to 20% of people who are.

Symptoms in some cases last only a few hours, but they are a sign that damage to hearing has occurred.

The damage is cumulative and permanent, and the risk increases with greater volume and longer exposure.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/409987.stm



Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Sun Jun 23rd, 2013 at 05:42:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You've correctly pointed out that the danger is in the loudness (even more for concert-goers), identifying the culprit being sound pressure capability of modern systems.

Which is not the same as slagging DJ music, which is just as much music as any other genre.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Tue Jun 25th, 2013 at 06:46:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sure, but specifically, the idea of the Fête de la Musique is that it's the day when non-pros can do their stuff. DJs, albeit amateurs, twiddling knobs and playing records doesn't meet the criteria.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Tue Jun 25th, 2013 at 10:45:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That's what i thought when my then 17 year old son told me, "Pop, i want to be a composer. But i don't think i'll ever make money doing that. So i want my day job to be in music. I will be a damn good DJ."

My answer, "You ass. You're so damn talented, what are you going to do, play records other people made?"

It took me about 8 months to realize that DJ'ing was a new instrument, with all the possibilities that entails. I'm forever glad i came to that realization without wasting years being an old fogey.


DJs, albeit amateurs, twiddling knobs and playing records doesn't meet the criteria.

PS. In an interview for a music mag, after his pioneering success in being one of the earliest house DJ's making the Frisco scene famous (and after him being the first western DJ to play Beijing), he was asked to comment on the effect of some of his best work. His answer: "There's some kid (twiddling knobs) in his bedroom somewhere tonight, who will blow us all away in a few months." or something to that effect.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Tue Jun 25th, 2013 at 04:16:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I didn't make any judgment about the quality of DJ music - your "lawn" - so wasn't on it. What I said was:

most of the local bars and restaurants had egomaniacal DJs who think louder is better

I was referring specifically to the problem of loudness - and some local places on this night. However I think the problem of loudness is widespread, amongst DJs - in my limited experience - but also in live concerts and music in pubs - hence the general increase in hearing damage in recent decades as reported by the BBC.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Tue Jun 25th, 2013 at 02:27:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
since i agree on the effects of loudness, to which i suffer, i apologize for thinking you were slagging electronic music or house music, 10% of which i find truly amazing.

And i was using "lawn" with a smile, Ted. (even if i didn't put the thingey there.)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Tue Jun 25th, 2013 at 04:07:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I've learned to keep earplugs in my pocket or purse at all times. It's sad how often I need them.

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher
by Wife of Bath (kareninaustin at g mail dot com) on Sat Jul 20th, 2013 at 02:32:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]


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