Dancing In France

July 14, 2024, at home

Happy Bastille Day !!! (basically: independence day in France)

During the summer of 1984, when I was 23 years old, I studied the French language (six university credits of conversation and composition in three weeks) with many other students from Villanova University along with a group of senior citizens from the United States. We all lived in a high-rise school/dormitory with students from China and northern Africa in Massy, France. We only took the half-hour bus ride to Paris on Saturdays and Sundays, and that was mainly to attend supervised gatherings at museums.

(I took a total of 18 university credits of the French language for a minor to go with my major: bachelor of arts in communications.)

During our last evening there, we had a large, farewell party in the main room of our dormitory with all of the students attending, including the students from China and Africa. Several of the senior citizens were there, too. We danced to an entire album by a group called La Compagnie Créole. The link below is to the first song from that album. (The audio is slightly different than the album version; I chose it to show you them in video form, albeit lip-synching.)

Our French teacher showed us the album cover, so before we returned home, many of us, including me, purchased the album on vinyl. I still sometimes listen to the record to summon those fond memories.

In the mid-1990s, at my request (and cost), a co-worker who was visiting France brought me a different album by this group, but on CD. It's quite good, but it doesn't carry such powerful memories as that vinyl record does.

In celebration today, on YouTube, I am listening to many of their songs from that memorable album, as well as songs from the CD, and as well as songs by this group I haven't heard ... until now.

https://youtu.be/m4OV8__VA-c?si=oR2CXDWm-NXk3gUt