Exhibition at UNESCO

Paris is home to UNESCO and I have a colleague from the States who works there in the Intangible Cultural Heritage section. Last Wednesday evening, I attended the opening of an exhibit they brought from the States that showcases some of the National Heritage Fellows. These are people who have been selected because of their outstanding talents as traditional artists. The exhibit was produced by Documentary Arts in Texas and consists of 46 larger than life-size photographs of artists and short bios about them. It was done in cooperation with Flemish Belgium interests so dignitaries from that country spoke at the opening. Then Cajun fiddler, Michael Doucet, who came from Louisiana, gave a demo of his fiddling style. Afterwards, the Belgium government sponsored the very nice reception complete with Belgium beers and chocolates.

The next evening Michael Doucet had a concert after the viewing of a documentary film on Texas fiddling styles by Alan Governar of Documentary Arts. That night I left my apartment in plenty of time to get there but unfortunately I forgot to take my invitation with me. The previous evening no one had even looked at it so I didn't really think it would matter. Wrong! That night UNESCO was mobbed with people, which I thought was amazing. I wondered how many people would come out to see a Cajun fiddler? After going through the security screening, I had to wait in line to get into the concert hall. I did notice that a woman was checking tickets so I arranged French words in my mind preparing to convince her that I was worthy of entering. However, she was not interested in any of my excuses for not having a ticket and told me that under no circumstances could I enter without one. At that point another woman came over and even tried to intervene on my behalf for the first woman would hear nothing of it, I had to have a ticket, period! So, I went back out to the foyer, outside of security, and convinced the person at the information desk that I should be allowed in. She gave me a copy of an invitation, then I went back through security, cued up again and finally got past the ogre. The hall was large and at that point I was ushered to the second level where I quickly found a place to light.

By this time it was already after 6:30pm which should have been the starting time. So, I sat there for another 30 minutes wondering why it hadn't started yet. The woman next to me asked the time...it was 7:05 and I commented that it was very late in starting. But she told me it was supposed to start at 7pm. Finally, dignitaries gathered on stage and started speaking. At first, I thought it was a bit odd that one of the persons spoke Italian but I love to listen to Italian so I wasn't thinking about much. Then the second and third persons also made comments in Italian which really seemed odd. It finally occurred to me that the grand piano on stage was going to be played by an Italian artist! I was in the wrong place!!! Quietly, I got up and left, exiting outside the door past the ogre. In the lit hallway I found a flier for the concert I was supposed to be attending. By the time I got to the right place in the building, it was 7:40, I had completely missed the showing of the film and Michael only had only 2 tune left to play. When I left into the dark of night I truly felt in many ways in-the-dark.