Description :
This episode of Orality and Humanity, broadcast by Radio Pais, is part of the European Tramontana Network (Réseau Tramontana) project, co-funded by the European Union. Through interviews with artists and tradition bearers, the programme explores Europe’s oral heritage, regional languages, and the transmission of cultural knowledge. In this edition, musician Alain Larivette reflects on how songs, family memories, and linguistic creativity become powerful vehicles for emotion and cultural continuity.
Larivette explains that many of the themes in his performances originate from his own childhood and family life. Nicknames given by his father inspired characters in his children’s shows, while his daughter now joins him on stage, singing in Béarnais, the language of her grandmother. For Larivette, encouraging younger generations to sing in regional languages is not about preserving them as museum pieces, but about keeping them alive through affection, creativity, and shared experiences. He also presents a lullaby inspired by childhood memories, illustrating how simple stories and melodies can carry deep emotional meaning.
The interview also focuses on Larivette’s artistic innovation: an invented “language of emotions” inspired by the sounds and rhythms of the many languages he encountered during his travels. Rather than reproducing existing languages, he combines their musical qualities to create songs that listeners from different cultures can interpret through their own experiences. Rejecting the idea of being an “ambassador of emotions,” he argues instead that emotion emerges through human exchange, whether in music, craftsmanship, farming, or everyday acts of generosity. The programme concludes with a live performance that exemplifies this intimate relationship between oral tradition, music, and shared humanity.