Le Jazz des Cigales

Mural painting made during the Coul'Heures d'Automne Festival, on the School Museum wall.

The Côte d'Azur and Jazz have been living a love story for more than 70 years. On this mural I wanted to do a reference of Ella Fitzgerald. While she was singing on stage, she was interrupted by the song of the Cicadas. The great lady decided to improvise a song: "Cricket Song", which will become a cult piece of her repertoire. It is not her in particular who is represented but all the African-American artists who have performed on the stages of Antibes Juan les Pins. At that time they suffered from segregation in the United States, they were welcomed with open arms in France. We can see the cicadas, in ceramic but also reals, flying around the singer. A singing microphone, a howling trumpet and a double bass (familiarly nicknamed "the grandmother" by the musicians) represent some codes of jazz. Due to the proximity of the mural to the port, I wanted to represent a seagull, and an inflatable crocodile buoy (to go for a splash in the sea!)