Margaux Gazur: Collection Of Memories

Collection of Memories tells the story of where my music begins, with original recordings used in my album Blurred Memories and personal sounds that have inspired me. My Vietnamese heritage has shaped my music through the sounds of martial arts, pagodas, home cooking, dragon dances, and more. This is a collage of those memories: My grandmother arrived in France after the Indochina War with her ten children. The Vietnamese families who left Indochina at that time arrived in France by boat, and some were settled in an empty village in the center of France called Noyant. There, they recreated a little Vietnam to feel at home, keeping traditions and habits alive—women wearing silk pyjamas, grilling skewers in the garden wearing bamboo hats, listening to Vietnamese bolero all day long, and built a pagoda. As children, my cousins and I would always play there, next to the huge black statue of a sitting Buddha, with the sound of chimes hanging in the trees. Every year, our family gathers in this village on the day of my grandmother’s birthday (a random date that was assigned to her when she arrived in France). We spend the weekend cooking in enormous rice cookers and pots—caramelised pork and delicious grilled lemongrass beef skewers. My uncles light firecrackers, and then the dragon dance begins. Everyone takes part—cousins, aunts, uncles, and the little ones—playing drums, dancing under the dragon’s head and tail. The dragon dance is traditionally performed by martial arts practitioners. Viet Vo Dao (Vietnamese martial arts) holds an important place in my family and connects us all. My uncles and my father are masters and each founded their own school many years ago. Every summer, we gathered at the martial arts camp organised by one of my uncles—this was our family holiday. I recorded many sounds from these sessions, including traditional weapons and instruments. Hanoi has also been a huge source of inspiration, helping me understand the origins of certain family traditions and behaviours. While living there, I recorded many sounds from daily life: karaoke singers in the streets, celebrations I could hear from my home, women chatting, cooking, or yelling in the alleys, traditional concerts in front of pagodas, martial arts sessions...