Talents from the Réalise tes Rêves program went into the studio to record texts about their lives.
“The personal stories of one and all resonate to create a song, the fruit of a collective artistic production.” tells us Emma Baïz, project coordinator and head of the “Outreach & Pedagogy”from CRI.
This workshop is Tell your story, and it's up to CRI the Talents wrote, performed and recorded 5 tracks.
Make Your Dreams Come True (RtR) aims to contribute to the reintegration of people far from employment, helping them to dream and realize their projects through innovative workshops, methods and tools.
The program develops employment-generating, sustainable and inclusive activities, supported by learning and entrepreneurial communities. In concrete terms, RtR offers support and guidance towards a sustainable professional project for people who are far from employment or in precarious situations in three areas: Lille-Roubaix, Ile-de-France and Aix-Marseille. CRI is a member of the consortium behind the Réalise Tes Rêves project, funded by the French Ministry of Labor, Employment and Reinsertion.
The workshop Tell your story offers program beneficiaries a new way of expressing themselves, of setting their life stories to music, of telling their own stories.
Tell your story, is :
- a series of 5 writing workshops
- individual coaching sessions
- a day of rehearsal
- a day in the recording studio for the collective production
“Slowly the ideas flow
At lightning speed, promiscuity federates
Spirits regenerate
Laughter sets you free”.”
Extract from Raconte ton Vercors
OUR INTERVIEW
Emma Baïz returns to Tell your story with us.
Can you tell me about the Raconte Ton Histoire project? How did this project come about?
Emma BAÏZ: In 2014, I met rapper Pihpoh at the Printemps de Bourges festival as part of a report on urban cultures, and in particular on the place of women in Rap. Since then, Pihpoh and I have stayed in touch, and the idea of using music to support social initiatives has matured over the years, until RTR presented itself as the perfect opportunity to make this project a reality.
Initially planned as a face-to-face event, “Raconte Ton Histoire” (Tell Your Story) is finally taking place during the first confinement period. In a context conducive to introspection, we invited Talents from the three territories (Lille-Roubaix, Ile-de-France and Aix-Marseille) to take part in a cathartic exercise: through the play of spun metaphors and the learning of the flow, Words are released and chanted to the rhythm of the music. The personal narratives of one another resonate to create a song, the fruit of a collective artistic production. A series of online workshops, one-to-one coaching and deconfinement later, we finally gathered in the CRI studio for final rehearsals before recording what would become the first track on the album. Make Your Dreams Come True. In the weeks that followed, the Talents came back for more, and we organized a second national edition and a third local one in Marseille, adding two new tracks to the RTR album.
How long does a Raconte Ton Histoire workshop last?
Tell Your Story consists of a series of 5 writing workshops of 1h30 each, followed by individual coaching, rehearsal sessions and a day of studio recording of the collective production.
How did you go about identifying and motivating talent to take part?
We have integrated Tell Your Story shared online workshop programming for Talents from the three territories. Registration was voluntary.
Following the success of the first edition, and at the request of several Talents, we organized a second and third edition. Word-of-mouth has been very good!
Did the talents bond easily?
The group workshops generated strong bonds between the participants; bonds that were forged over the course of the visio workshops and strengthened on the day of the face-to-face studio recording at the CRI to create a real group of mutual support and friends⸱e⸱s, beyond the Raconte Ton Histoire adventure.
How do you feel about the talents' experience of this story?
I was extremely touched by the sensitivity of the Talents who took part in the adventure. Tell Your Story. Their songs reveal stories of lives marked by suffering, struggles and realizations, but also pride and hope for a better life. Several Talents have told us that the workshop enabled them to “realize a dream” - that of recording their voice in a studio - and to regain their self-confidence thanks to the team's sympathetic ear and the accomplishment of a collective work.
Can you tell me about some of the highlights of previous workshops?
Nawel, Talent RTR Aix-en-Provence
“I've just come to see, I can't sing myself”.” she says at the first Zoom workshop. A lively woman, full of spirit and humor, with whom I immediately connect. I came out of curiosity - “it's good because it's you and Omar who host it” - we had met her virtually on other online workshops during the lock-in. She impressed us with her assiduity and proactivity. She soon offered her assistance to Pihpoh on the Tell Your Story as a “DJ” to play the instrus to the other participants and create links between them. Later, she played a key role in mobilizing RTR Talents to launch the second edition of the workshop, then in coordinating the third edition in Marseille.
Kelen, Talent RTR Aix-en-Provence
With camera and microphone switched off, we start communicating in writing. Nawel is one of her best friends and convinces her to take part in the workshop. “I'm sure you'll like it” she reassures her. When it's her turn to read her text, she agrees to turn on her microphone, and we hear the sound of her voice for the first time. A shy voice, shattered by a difficult history that forced her to conduct the workshop from her hospital room. Pihpoh's empathetic listening creates a climate of trust and a bond of complicity. He provides individual coaching by videoconference, and then it's a revelation: “Kelen has an in-cro-yable voice. She's going to rip it up on the recording. I'm so happy! ” he exclaims to Omar and me. We finally meet her in the studio with the whole team, but she prefers to sing in small groups because she's afraid of the result. The instrumental is launched, and that's how the magic happens: an uncommon sensitivity expresses itself through this warm, groovy voice with melancholic tones that seduces us from the very first moments and moves us. A talent is revealed, a new-found confidence.
Discover the 5 tracks:
The different⸱e⸱s intervening⸱e⸱s recount the process in this video capsule.
Realize your Dreams in numbers :
- 1,500 people supported
- 500 talents by region: Lille-Roubaix, Île-de-France, Aix-Marseille
- 80 people in the project team
- 1000+ workshops (face-to-face and digital)
- 9.8 million € overall budget, 70% financed by the Ministry of Labour and operated by Caisse des Dépôts
