Today we’d like to introduce you to Clémence du Barré.
Clémence, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m originally from Paris, France, where I spent most of my life. A fiery grandmother living on the same floor gave me a taste for travel, discovering different cultures and a love for Hollywood musical movies. My mother being a dancer, it was natural for my family to bring me to a dance studio to learn tap because my dream was to dance alongside Gene Kelly. Years forward, I started my professional career as a jazz dancer and passed the French State Diploma to become a Jazz Dance Teacher. I discovered my voice after a stay in New York City in 2007. I saw the musical Wicked on Broadway and went back home with the CD, singing my heart out all the Elphaba songs without realizing yet I had a natural talent. Back in France, I found my singing coach, Alison England, who was living in Paris at the time and who helped me develop my mezzo-soprano voice technique with confidence. This brought me to perform in different French musical productions including landing the role of Frenchy in the French production of Grease.
To pursue my need of learning and for improving my skills, I came to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, following my voice teacher Alison England who was teaching there at the time. 18 months later, a fresh graduate from the school, I met the man who would become my husband in a sword fighting training group. I knew right away I wouldn’t go back to live in Paris anytime soon. What was to be a six months stay transformed itself into ten years this January!
My husband has been a stunt performer for over 20 years. We moved to Atlanta five years ago because of the movie industry and the potential it would bring to his career. Thanks to the community who welcomed us with open hearts and arms in Stone Mountain Village, for the first time since I arrived in the United States, I feel this is my home.
The idea of performing with a street organ came to me in a dream. When I arrived in Georgia, I was looking for a new artistic project. I wanted to use my singing talent, bring smiles to audiences’ faces and a sense of poetry. I also wanted to perform around town easily, in a manner of a minstrel and share my French culture. The idea of singing with a street organ became quickly evident.
For now, I’m busking outside weather pending, mainly in Spring and Fall. For private events, I’m being booked mainly through word of mouth.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
After months of research when I even considered building my own street organ with wooden flutes (blueprints can be found on an open-source online), I found a 27 key mechanical Odin street organ which was being sold online with 50 music books from Québec. Shortly after, I received three big boxes and started to perform at Café Jaya, now Stone Mountain Public House, in Stone Mountain Village, GA. That’s how I became officially a street organist.
The biggest struggle was to build the cart. I had a very precise idea of what I wanted but didn’t know how to do it. I’ve searched in every antique store for old strollers I could transform into a reliable cart. Lots of these strollers were in great shape and I didn’t have the heart to tear them down. I finally found a 1908 antique stroller made out of steel on Craigslist from a retired couple who used it for years as a flower display at their now-closed flower shop. The leather was falling apart so I didn’t feel too bad to tear it down.
My husband helped me build the box on which I can put the street organ and where I can store all the music books.
Unfortunately, once everything was assembled (the stroller, the box with the music books and the instrument), the entire thing was too heavy to allow the cart to roll. The wheels would fold under. So we had to block them. Now I use the antique cart only for private events. I set it up at a specific location and it can’t be moved until the end of the performance.
For farmer’s markets or when I busk outside, I use one of these gardening carts to get with more ease to my location. It allows me to pack up quickly and get safely out of the rain when there’s a sudden downpour. The music being made out of cardboard, even the humidity of the Georgian summer makes me nervous as for their well-being.
The other challenge is the music. I’ve chosen to continue to buy mainly French music. I believe the American audience like the French charm and don’t mind listening to songs even if they don’t understand the words. Still, I’d love one day to have my own printing machine. The first song I would print is Rainbow Connection. It’s a beautiful song which brings smiles on everyone’s faces and would work wonderfully with the sound of the instrument. For now, I buy the music books from two different providers in France. They both have hundreds of songs. The price is based on the thickness of the books. It can go from 20 euros to 150 euros (about $22 to $167).
We’d love to hear more about your work.
So far, I haven’t heard of any other French citizen singing French songs with a Street Organ in the United States. I’m actually proud of that fact and love to bring something unique to the American audience.
In 2019, due to my other entrepreneurial adventures in hemp wellness and yoga, I’ve mainly performed at private events: birthdays, a wedding, a baby shower, a business launch and Christmas parties. I’m known for the charm the whole performance brings to a party: the sound of the street organ, my French voice and flair.
I love seeing the wonder in children and adults’ eyes alike. I also found it brings a lot of questions and creates lots of discussion with people of all cultures and backgrounds. I believe the magic of the instrument resides in its simplicity. It’s a wooden box with many sounds coming out of it. Everyone gets curious and suddenly, the childhood wonder is coming back to the surface as we long for a more simple loving life nowadays.
The street organ tradition go back to the end of the Middle Age. It’s so old, no one knows where in Europe it originated exactly. It’s completely mechanical. It’s functioning is very simple and yet, it needs a lot of precision when it’s being built. This is part of the wonder too, the centuries-old tradition. Often people are surprised my instrument is only ten years old. It was built by the manufacturer ODIN in France. You can go on their beautiful website, odin.fr, and order a street organ for yourself today!
Even if I would perform in France with my street organ I would be quite unique. Not a lot of street organist have been vocally trained as I’ve been. Other street organ performers often just play the music without singing. If they sing, they’re often self-taught which can be quite charming as well.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The uniqueness of the entire event. I believe I’m the only French singer singing accompanied with a street organ in the United States. The visual (I’m always dressed to add up to the charm), the sound that is so different from what we can hear on any radio channel around, the proximity and how approachable it is to talk to the street organist, the imagination and wonder it brings in people mind and heart, I believe all those factors contribute to its success.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.clemencedubarre.com
- Phone: (323) 481-0197
- Email: 4tunefavorsllc@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/clemence_du_barre/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/clemdubarre/
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