Quite ironical to notice the difference between words on one hand and acts on the other one, as if a part of us couldn’t live otherwise than by proxy, expressing reputed good resolutions but unable to apply them speaking about themselves… And I’m not even talking about those attitudes quite illustrative of a part of our scene, which instead of providing love on a wide scale, gives to some extend the image of living for its sole self…

Funny how, when not considered as a part of the scene for a reason or another, you often end up feeling that you’re rejected. I remember a good friend of mine and, as a matter of fact, one of the world’s most respected/DJ/producers who came to spin a while ago at some spot in Paris and you know what ? You could hardly see him behind the decks from the dancefloor as he was surrounded by a whole bunch of local pairs who would have spent the night without a single smile on their faces ! It then gave me quite a strange if not sad feeling. As if not being a part of this gang was synonymous to being unable to fully understand what their members are into and subsequently the music they’re into. As if not living the same things at the same time as them was synonymous with being a plague-stricken… And it’s just an example amongst many others.

I also have in mind an anedocte which a mate of mine told me about a few months ago. He was shopping at his usual record store where a French jocks happened to work occasionally, They ended up having quite a cool conversation, he said enthusiastically. Then he went there nearly a month later and saw the same DJ at the decks, but the story was not about the same anymore… The guy in question, who’d managed to come for the very first time to U.S. inbetween, said to him there was no way to understand this music, shouldn’t you know the place it’s coming from ! And you know where this guy had gone ?  Miami ! As if that precise place had ever taken any part on the history of contemporary music apart from the so called Miami bass or from being the hometown of XXX rated hip hop as delivered by 2 Live Crew 10 years ago !

C’mon boys for f*** sake ! Is this the way you figure out to have the music you champion loved on a wider scale ? And is this what you’ve caught up from the messages of the ones you consider yourselves as your heroes such as Blaze, Mood II Swing or Frankie Feliciano ? If so, and frankly speaking, you’ve then got me quite sceptic about having this music played elsewhere than under a relative shadow for restricted audiences.

Many people do complain about the fact that it’s not happening that much in Paris and, to a wider extend, in this country as opposed to other places, although the music we happen to love is far more interesting that what’s generally displayed mediawise, but which face (if there’s any) is given to our movement on these shores ? Reputedly elitism, undoubtly selfishness and subsequently fragmentation when not division. Not to mention arrogance as a result of an obvious lack of awareness of the basic principles of life. This explaining how and why our country is currently at some 30 years after having been one of the most exciting ones in terms of nightclubbing. And you know why ? People were ironically more open minded at the time (apart from the usual exceptions) than nowadays. A reality we pretty well should have to think about asap. MFSB