Les Mécanos

Les Mécanos are ten French singers bound by solid friendship who have been exploring the French and Occitan sung heritage since 2018. They are cultivating a common desire: to reclaim regional repertoires that are part and parcel of each singer’s musical universe. Thanks to the addition of percussion, the vocal polyphony of traditional music opens up to contemporary music. Indeed, Les Mécanos’ choice of instruments is definitely modern, through the use of bass drums and floor toms, and inextricably linked to the popular origins of lyrics and melodies, using misappropriated objects such as spanners, exhaust pipes or wheel rims.

On stage, they open the doors to their workshop where songs of labour and struggle, love laments, political and religious satires, songs for dancing and drinking, are all rearranged for ten voices and conveyed by the rumbling and dancing rhythm of percussion. Their ten pairs of hands make use of scrap metal and stretched skin drums to create a sincere and carefree polyphonic sound.

In keeping with its creative musical endeavour, Les Mécanos believe essential to be involved in cultural mediation and outreach projects. Indeed, their entry into traditional music stems from oral and intergenerational transmission. Therefore, the connection of both diffusion and mediation nourishes Les Mécanos’ daily questioning on the reappropriation of almost forgotten customs, languages and cultural traditions by younger generations. Les Mécanos are supported by the DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, a regional commission of the French Ministry of Culture.