From Bella Ciao to the Orchestre Debout: how broadening the musical styles in social movements becomes a political repertoire ; De Bella ciao à l'Orchestre debout : l'extension de l'espace des styles musicaux pour programme d'action politique
International audience ; The occupation movement Nuit Debout, in France, was a confusing political object for researchers, as well as for the media. To understand what this means, nothing beats considering its orchestra, Orchestre Debout. Music and social movements have come together many times in the past, but public protests and occupations have rarely been occasions for the participation of symphonic orchestras. It is this original experience that is studied here. The paper first examines the development of musical forms on the Place de la République in Paris, to see how the Orchestre Debout, an unlikely political and symphonic orchestra, emerges there. The paper points to an apparent paradox: indeed, the integration of musical forms that are foreign to traditional activist repertoires within Nuit Debout does not signal an opening up, but rather the movement's recession and the divisions among participants. At the centre of this struggle is the unified representation the Nuit Debout movement seeks to display, underlining discrepancies between discourse and practices. Studying the changing musical practices on the public square during this period, and thus framing the understanding of Nuit Debout through music production, allows us to better understand the complex and sometimes contradictory social and political issues that forged this protest's features over the days. ; Pour comprendre en quoi Nuit Debout fut un objet politique déroutant pour les chercheur-es (comme pour les médias), rien de tel que de considérer ce que fut l'Orchestre Debout. Si par le passé musique et politique ont pu faire chemin ensemble, les mouvements sociaux ont plus rarement vu des manifestant-es assemblé-es sur des places s'organiser en formation symphonique. C'est cette expérience originale qui est étudiée ici. On examine d'abord la démultiplication des formes musicales sur la place, avant de revenir sur les conditions d'émergence de cet ensemble musical et politique improbable, l'Orchestre Debout. Ce travail souligne combien cette ...