mouth harp | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Aux Noctambules

PARIS – I personally have never seen such a long list of musicians showing up for the Noctambules open mic night on the Place Pigalle on Friday. Apparently there have been one or two nights with more musicians, but I wasn’t in town. This was clearly a great edition, and it was yet another surprise that it happened in the month of August, when so many other Paris venues decide to close down their open mics for want of musicians….

Very cool mouth harp playing.

In a reflection of the previous weeks, it was again a hugely eclectic evening, with even one woman who did a song a cappella in Russian. A musician with an electric guitar did a medley, another did the most amazing little act I’ve ever seen on a mouth harp – think electro – and there were some very welcome new participants from around the other Paris open mics, people who had not yet tried the Noctambules.

Woman singing song in a cappella in Russian.

And, of course, Raphaëlle’s MCing seems to be getting better every week, and it was already great to start with. And her cabaret interlude, and personal songs at the beginning and end of the night, just make the whole thing a fabulous treat for the musicians, spectators and passersby – many of whom become spectators….

Pierre singing at Noctambules.

Of course, I will not be able to say something new about the Noctambules open mic every week, I’m pretty sure of that, so even now I think I should stop and let the videos do the talking….

Les Spleens doing a Beatles song.