What marks the uniqueness of LA CREOLE evenings?

Us: It is absolutely an experience to be lived. From a musical point of view, it mixes influences from the Sound System, electronic cultures, carnival, the Ballroom or even festive events like the Midi Minuit dance parties in the Antilles. It is also the eclecticism of the audience, coming from very diverse horizons, which enters into communion. A magic begins to develop, all in a dynamic of benevolent unity. People really let go, we come to express ourselves, to meet, and the energy really circulates through dance. Dancers such as Snake, Patricia Badin, Ziickos or Mariana Benenge have also naturally come to join our team over time. Their presence is a catalyst, they are a kind of bridge connecting DJs to the public.


Behind this collective and these evenings, is there this desire to make known not the Creole culture – usually depicted as a pretty postcard – but the Creole cultures in the plural?

With regard to these cultures, we more often seek to see only the environmental benefits, lush and exotic, than to question their socio-historical complexities. Creole culture is, in essence, a mixture of several cultures and by definition, the word “Creole” includes meetings. The history of Creole societies is very specific since it was born out of the terrible context of colonisation and slavery. However, from this genesis, or rather from this “digenesis”, with all the layers and levels of complexity that it involves – uprooting being a central element – cultures specific to the mixture of these populations from Africa, Europe, Asia or even indigenous peoples of the Caribbean area appeared. There are, for example, several Creole languages. The regions of the world in which they exist are multiple and they all have their singularities. However, they have this common base which is the history of their development linked to their belonging to several territories, from the model of creation specific to Creole societies, born from the bringing together of atavistic and composite societies in the spaces of colonisation. Martinican writer Edouard Glissant theorised the concept of “creolisation”. It is about “the bringing into contact of several cultures or at least of several elements of distinct cultures, in one part of the world, resulting in a new figure, totally unpredictable in relation to the sum or the synthesis of these elements”. When we speak of a miscegenation, we refer to a process of consensual mixing, but colonial times are not times of miscegenation in the voluntary, joyful and rewarding sense of the term that we know today. This happened by force of circumstance: however, the result is Creole societies, rich in the convergence and the multiplicity of all the elements that constitute them, through “the meeting, the interference, the shock, the harmonies and disharmonies between cultures, in the realised totality of the earth-world”. This creolisation phenomenon can be applied to other things: it was an extremely visionary way to understand the world today.

‘We have chosen a unique positioning in LA CREOLE’s imagery by playing against evening flyers with so-called “tropical” atmospheres highlighting ultra-gendered female bodies in a saturated chromatic atmosphere.’

Did you feel that you had a role to play and a place to take in the nightlife?

Things happened quite naturally. We did not try to take a particular place. Rather, we tried to create a space in which we would feel good. This is articulated around several central points such as dance above all, but also other parameters. A fairly new musical programme in the world of Parisian clubbing, in which sound currents of Afro-Latin Caribbean influence are mixed with electronic, carnival and queer cultures stemming from the Ballroom (voguing). Another very important aspect for us was to involve the traditionally discriminated LGBTQI + communities in parties representing these musical trends. However, even if Afro-Caribbean and LGBTQI + identities have a very central place, LA CREOLE is deliberately not a single-sex night. This is also what characterises the members of the collective. It’s an inclusive evening that advocates the mixing of genres in every sense of the word. On our dancefloor, communities meet that would not necessarily mix normally. Until now, the combination of all these elements did not actually exist in Paris. It was the recognition of our peers and the enthusiasm of the public that made us understand that we had refreshed the Parisian nightlife scene. Although when we started out, we had difficulty motivating Parisians to travel to Montreuil, over time and with the crowds that we saw when the doors opened, we understood that our events went far beyond the local sphere.

In 2018, the London magazine Dazed and Confused even quoted your evenings in one of its articles on Parisian nights celebrating musical styles for all tastes: dancehall, techno … Here, again, we find this idea of mixing genres. What are the key words of your evenings?

This mixture of musical genres is one of our signatures. “Fusion” could be one of our key words. We see this evening as an immersive laboratory. An eclectic mix creating a dialogue between genres that had previously been distant, embracing popular and traditional sounds contrasting with more daring BPMs. We seek musical risk-taking: each set is a unique proposition. The sound creations of the artists we book complement each other organically during each evening to create a unique experience. Each evening brings its share of surprises with each DJ’s unique interpretation of LA CREOLE through their own universe.

‘With the strength of the Internet in being to be able to cross borders, it was an opportunity not only to bring together an international line-up, but also to rediscover the energy of dance. Even though it was behind screens, people were there! It was very nice to see that even in this format, the ties still existed.’

The imagery of your evenings is very polished, retro and yet very contemporary …

Vincent Frédéric-Colombo: LA CREOLE has its origins in a photo project, so it’s true that this is also a key point we try to get across as we communicate. Each evening is accompanied by a photo shoot, directed by Fanny, she shares artistic direction with me, as I manage styling and casting. It is still a portrait. These images are a way of offering a large panel of faces and various identities that may be part of what Creolity can be. The idea is always to mix folk or traditional codes with modern and current elements. The black and white which has characterised the project as a whole since its genesis also tends to give it a timelessness: this was intentional on our part. And we draw a lot of inspiration from archive visuals. We have chosen a unique positioning in LA CREOLE’s imagery by playing against evening flyers with so-called “tropical” atmospheres highlighting ultra-gendered female bodies in a saturated chromatic atmosphere.
Fanny Viguier: We both come from the fashion world and we wanted to use our experience to offer strong visuals. The photos of the evening, strictly speaking, are also an integral part of the project. They are the most documentary and palpable part of the energy that circulates in the evenings. This is the other, more journalistic, side of my work. What’s more, they are taken with a disposable film camera, which is a tool coherent with the atmosphere of the evening, insofar as its practicality allows me to deploy it instinctively without being encumbered, and to keep the moment alive, while also maintaining the additional element of surprise until development. These are the only colour photos of this project, a visual testimony of the festive energy and the dancing bodies in the promiscuity of the Le Chinois club in Montreuil.

With the current pandemic, have these exuberant evenings have become “digital parties”? How did you rethink the festive side?

In our evenings, the energy of the audience and the way this human flow connects is paramount. So we haven’t invested a lot in the Internet since “everything stopped”. However each time we did it, it made sense to us. On 9 and 10 May, just before the end of the first lockdown, we celebrated the “National Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade, Slavery and their Abolition”. We therefore organised a “Zoom Party” with 24 DJs from Paris, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Canada, the US, Mexico, Switzerland and more. All over the course of nearly 20 hours of live music.
With the strength of the Internet in being to be able to cross borders, it was an opportunity not only to bring together an international line-up, but also to rediscover the energy of dance. Even though it was behind screens, people were there! It was very nice to see that even in this format, the ties still existed. What’s more, through this event, the profits for which were donated to the fight for reparations related to chlordecone (a harmful insecticide), we were able to raise awareness at our level, on this subject specific to Martinique and Guadeloupe. Today we are about to organise a second 2.0 evening, this time on the occasion of LA CREOLE’s third birthday and in collaboration with the Camille Camille sessions. For this edition, we decided to bring together 11 DJs at La Machine du Moulin Rouge, along with the team’s dancers, and rebroadcast this event on Twitch. 7 hours of set on the horizon! Save the date: Sunday, 7 February!*
Interview in February 2021