The Mayor That Was Me

 It's sometimes surprising to realise that today's Occitan music is as "popular" as any other, it is not always serious, it is played for the people of today, in concerts, fêtes, café's and bars.
  My friend Ben Gross is a Londoner now living near Perpignan.  He sings in English and French as well as Occitan and Catalan and is a talented musician.
 
This film was taken in June in my home village where Ben did an impromptu concert for my local friends in the Salle des Fêtes.  He played "Muntera" a very popular song, and then changed to something specially for me.  Entertaining?  Naturally.  You will be entertained by this film, I guarantee!   Click here to watch Ben in action.
  A good musician is always a good entertainer and the concept of "troubadour" springs to mind.
  Thanks so much Ben.

People say that the entire Occitan music and culture began in Carcassonne. 

  Here's another film that is quite different.   It is the music of the Cathars of Carcassonne, played as they would have played it, 800 years ago, with instruments constructed from instructions in the old manuscripts, at Carcassonne, where they reminisce for those great soirées in the castles when all the talk was of music and dance and love . . . click here.