Music festival at Clairvaux  jail

The music festival Ombres et lumières (Shadows and Lights) is staged every year inside the prison buildings at Clairvaux.  The festival was created in 2004 by Anne-Marie Sallé,  former administrator of the Radio-France choir, and Jean-François Leroux Dhuys, founder of the association Clairvaux Abbey Renaissance.  The purpose of the festival is to give voice to inmates of the prison, which has existed since the end of the Revolution on the site of a 12th century Cistercian abbey. One of the best-known prisons in France, it has been a fully-fledged ‘state penitentiary’ since 1970.  The abbey still has a community of monks, though unlike the prisoners they are there of their own accord.  Ombres et lumières is supposed to be a bridge between these two worlds of ‘silence’. The first musician in residence was the famed pianist François-René Duchâble, and he has now handed over to Thierry Machuel, 46,  who sets to music texts composed by prisoners in their writing workshops.  « We were all pretty shy at the start, » Franck P. told Le Monde newspaper in September 2009. « But then suddenly I got this urge to let it all out.  We are all here because we have done some stupid things, and we are paying the price.  Writing is like a safety valve.  We may supposedly have hearts of stone, but we can still feel emotions. »  On September 27 2009,  a composition entitled Nocturnes de Clairvaux was performed, combining texts by Cistercian monks and by prisoners.   These sung texts will shortly (January 2010) be released as a CD boxed set by Harmonia Mundi. A documentary film – Or, les murs – is also being made by Julien Salé.  Le Monde gave a foretaste of what will be on offer. Here for example is a verse by Jacky S, inspired by his encounter with the monks :  « In the spiral of our two lives/ Where your prayers and songs ascend/ Can I recall if a monk smiles/ in the company of a miscreant/ Your mercy tells me yes ! »