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Thirteen local bands and singers will tonight showcase a fresh set of Jèrriais 'chansons' to get more islanders speaking - and singing - the island's native tongue.
Held at the Arts Centre, the event marks the European Day of Languages and the start of the Festival of Words, which continues until Sunday with a packed programme of events for schools and families.
The concert will be the culmination of a four-month long initiative led by Jèrriais expert and musician Kit Ashton, whose Jèrriais band Badlabecques is doing its best to revitalise the island’s language through their concerts and recordings. Mr Ashton planned the event as part of his PhD research, looking at the ways in which music can help to revitalise endangered languages like Jèrriais.
Pictured: Musician Kit Ashton led the 'Jersey Song Project' as part of his PhD research.
'The Jersey Song Project' invited local musicians and speakers of the threatened Norman-French dialect to create new songs, on any theme and in any genre or language they liked. The only condition was for the song to include at least one word of Jèrriais.
Mr Ashton and L’Office du Jèrriais helped the participating bands, who also collaborated with Jèrriais speakers. The artists came from a diverse range of backgrounds and genres of music, and as far as from New Zealand.
Mr Ashton told Express: "It's gone really well! It was uch a fascinating process of collaborative inter-lingual and inter-generational songwriting. I'm super pleased with the results, even if it has been a bit of a headache to co-ordinate at times!"
He added: "This is so much more than just a research project. It is a very special live music event for a real community, and I’m really excited to present this wonderful collection of songs to our lucky audience. I was bowled over by the interest shown. I'm really grateful to The Jersey Festival of Words for programming it as the opening night of their festival, as well as ArtHouse Jersey and CHASE for supporting it financially."
Festival vice-chairman Paul Bisson, himself a musician and teacher, said: "Kit Ashton, Badlabecques and L’Office du Jèrriais have done fantastic work in recent years to reignite interest in our native language and its rich literary tradition. We are proud to be working with Kit in this new project, which will create a unique and very fitting opening event for the whole festival."
Pictured: 13 local bands and musicians will take to the stage tonight.
The show will be co-hosted by Mr Ashton, whose band will be closing the night, and local radio presenter Ashley Tracey.
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