Bix & Marki　Summer 2023 Tour Report！

After almost 3 years and half of not giving concerts during the corona pandemic, we finally were able to go on our Summer Tour 2023! In the end of July, we played in Hirosaki, Hakodate and Akita, came back to Tokyo and left again in August to travel to the regions of Tokai, Hokuriku and Shinshuu. We were very happy to meet again all the people we knew from before at these venues. It meant a lot to us to see how they were doing, what had changed and not changed during the pandemic.

Sunday 23 July 2023 　　Garden OOKINA KURINO KINOSHITADE
Aomori-ken Hirakawaki-shi Machiiyamamoto 314　Tel 0172-88-5529
https://www.garden-osawa.com/
https://ameblo.jp/ebina1110/
https://www.facebook.com/opengardenookinakuri/

The garden had become even more beautiful since the last time we played here, 4 years ago. New flower beds and trees had been planted, and even in the heat (37 degrees Celsius) lots of people were enjoying it. We played close to the big old chestnut tree, under a parasol. So good to be outdoors in these sorroundings.





The concert space was set on a very very nice green lawn. Thank you to all of you who came, despite the heat!


Bix gave an Abstract Drawing workshop at the Library of the University of Hirosaki. The lovely students worked on expression of emotions and shared their ideas through the drawings, in French, in English and in Japanese. Thank you so much to Makiko Kumano san for organizing this drawing workshop and the concert under the chestnut tree in Hirakawa !

Monday 24 July 2023 　Gotouken
Hakodate-shi Suehiro-cho 4-5 　Tel 0138-23-1106
http://www.gotoken.hakodate.jp/

A cultural heritage in Hakodate, the magnificent restaurant Gotoken has 140 years of history. We used to play there every year before the pandemic, for many years, but because we have entered an era of fewer and fewer banquets and big dinners, things have changed for the restaurant. Most of the staff has gone over to work on the tasty Gotoken curry menu sold in the country. We played for the last time on the stage of the main hall and had a wonderful time again with the members of the French Japanese Association of Hakodate, thanks to Mr. Nao Wakayama. The building itself will maybe become an art space, but the future will tell…



The dinner concert in the beautiful European style banquet hall at the Gotoken was our last one, but we look forward to come back again !

Tuesday 25 July 2023 　Yuki's hookah bar
Akita-shi Minami-dori Kameno-cho 1-5 2F　Tel 050-1257-7948
https://www.facebook.com/hookahbarakita/

There had been terrible floods in Akita City. When we arrived, there were broken drawers, chairs, furniture piled up in the streets, to be thrown away. Many shops and offices on the ground floor had gotten big damage. The owner Yuki san had had his motorbike and car both broken, as well as the first floor of his house flooded, but he wanted us to come and play anyway. The bar was on the 2nd floor, not damaged. Only one customer came, who listened carefully to our songs. We spoke with him and he told us how much the covid and then the floods had destroyed businesses in the city… People have started to stay home more, so we really felt the beginning of a new era, a need to rebound, thumbs up for Yuki and his bar, and for all the people who struggle to find new paths in Akita, in Japan, and in the world !

Saturday 5 August 2023 　Pain SINGE
Shizuoka-shi Aoi-ku Hitoyado-cho 2-5-26　Tel 054-204-0331

Our journey continued to Shizuoka, where we played at a bakery with a mysterious name: the monkey bread. The audience enjoyed bread, cheese and wine during our concert and as Bix, between two songs, talked about her experiences as a child with pains au chocolat in Paris, everybody received a freshly baked – right from the oven – pain au chocolat as a dessert. We were happy to be part of the collaboration between Pain Singe and the French Japanese Association of Shizuoka.Thank you so much to Hitomi Yamamoto san and her team !!

Sunday 6 August 2023 　BAR DUFI
Nagoya-shi Nishi-ku Nakono 1-20-1　Tel 052-485-7581

Café Dufi where we used to play in Nagoya had sadly closed, but the same owners have opened Bar Dufi in the old covered shopping arcade of Endoji. In spite of the heat, still around 38 degrees Celsius, we spent a wonderful afternoon together with our friends from Nagoya. Conversations about art, music, drawing, this time too we all reflected about life and the changes occurring nowadays in society. Thank you to you all in Nagoya !

Monday 7 August 2023 　CHEZ SAKAI
Fukui-shi Hinode 1-18-1
http://fukui-france.seesaa.net/

Four years had passed since we last performed at a dinner party of the French Japanese Association of Fukui. In between the songs, we enjoyed an exquisite meal and wine. Thank you so much to the organizer Mr. Tsubota, who is always so kind with us. We had a deep conversation with him about how foreigners living in Japan feel about it.


The next day, thanks to Mr. Tsubota and his cousin, Bix gave an Abstract Drawing workshop to a group of painters, at the Prefectural Museum of Fukui. We had a great time, because they were so expressive and knew how to enjoy sliding slowly from representational art to abstraction (from drawing still life to expressing inner feelings and opening to interpretation, etc.).

Wednesday 9 August 2023 　TIME
Toyama-ken Nyuzen-cho 5230-1　Tel 0765-72-0051
https://www.jazztime.info/

This café is specialized in music, especially Jazz music, and there are lots of vinyl records, cds and some live concerts. The audience listened to us with their eyes closed, and every little sound became important to them and to us. It was impressive and very agreeable. People in the little town were not going out so much anymore, since the pandemic, and the streets were really empty. We took one of the last trains back to Toyama, and felt the great value the owner puts into music and this place where music lovers meet…

Thursday 10 August 2023 　Au Crieur de Vin
Nagano-ken Matsumto-shi Fukashi 1-2-11
Tel 02 63 37 19 66   http://crieur-japon.com/

Luckily, the surface of the restaurant had been halved by his owners just before the covid, and that was certainly a helping hand to be able to survive. On that evening, the space was taken by a group of people from the same company. They listened gently to our music and integrated our concert into their evening out. They even bought CDs from us (we sell them in order to finance our tours) and that was quite exceptional, because in Japan a group of people working together have special rules and can’t do individual things when with the others. Thank you so much to the Crieur and the good dinner you gave us!

Friday 11 August 2023 　Café TAC
Nagano-ken Shimosuwa-cho Mita-machi 3158   Tel 0266-75-5315

We were very happy to meet again the owner and the customers of the café. During these 3 years and half, businesses and people had had a lot to deal with. In this little town in the mountains of Nagano, there had been people who wanted to be in contact with travelers (Tokyo people were especially banned in the countryside during the covid) and others who criticized them for doing that … unfortunately this was the case almost everywhere around Japan… Now the lovely audience were warmhearted as always, and listened to us from outside, even from the windows of the buildings around.

Just before we left Tokyo, a TV team from the BS channel TV Tokyo had contacted Bix to have her in a program about how it is to live in Japan as a foreigner (due on October 2023 entitled ワタシが日本に住む理由). They came to film our concert at Café Tac that evening !

We played in venues we already knew from before the pandemic, and we were very happy to meet everyone again, feeling very good about playing our new songs for everyone, songs that we had composed and arranged during these 4 years. Some people and places had recovered, some not, some were not coming back to their life before, most had suffered… But helping each other, trying new ways, and connecting together was something we felt to be so important … Thank you very much to all of you ! And we are greatful to you for reading our tour report. Let's meet soon again!

27. Summer tour 2023