Meeting at the Dour Festival
In July, the magazine "Pioche!" contacted the Zen Centre of Walloon Brabant to organise a meeting at the Dour Festival, which took place from the 13th to the 17th of the same month. Futei went there to talk about the subjects that Jacques, the guest artist of the moment, was keen to broach.
For the record, Dour is one of the most important music festivals in Europe: open to all musical styles, it has taken place every summer since 1989 in Dour, near Mons, Belgium. During five days, festival-goers come and listen to alternative, independent and multicultural music, on a 170-hectare plain with eight stages. Community life and awareness of current issues are also an integral part of the festival landscape. This is why this year, for the first time, the organisers set up meetings with artists conscious of certain sustainable development issues, in the form of discussions around a table surrounded by the public, in a specially dedicated relaxation area of the plain. In our case, it was the Teaching of Buddha that was particularly targeted, because to make a long story short, Jacques had carried out two 10-day Vipassana retreats before going into exile in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and producing his album "LIMPORTANCEDUVIDE" in 2022.
So, during this talk, five of us exchanged ideas with the people interested … "What a serious idea for a festival", you might say. Indeed, festival-goers mainly go to Dour to dance and party, but, for the first try of this type of interview, the people present were very receptive and, in the end, the moment was a real success. Another person was there, as well as the two journalists: Elsa Godart, a philosopher attracted by the ancient Greece sages, from which she draws references for contemplative practice and meditation. The discussion broached the subjects of the artist's journey through her musical and personal life, questions about life choices, and the importance of silence and its expression. Each of them spoke about their experience with what we call "emptiness" and how they put it into practice in their lives. Jacques, for example, expresses it on stage: he takes an object and discovers the sound of it, then makes music with it. It's very interesting and wonderful at the same time. Elsa Godart writes books and Futei practices zazen.
A beautiful melting pot of electro music, Zen and philosophy made the meeting an exceptional moment of sharing, where one could truly say that a spark was produced. Friendships were formed, teachings were transmitted before everybody went on his separate path away.
Florent Futei Monderer
14 July 2022
For information :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhlBEFrrCqc
https://elsagodart.jimdo.com/
https://www.zenchaumont.be/
https://piochemag.fr/
Tags: NL36