Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: "Hevenu Shalom Aleichem" at Condom Band Festival in France

The Festival de Bandas, a band festival, has been taking place in the city of Condom, in the Gers region of southwest France on the second weekend of May for 44 years. It's the largest gathering of brass and percussion marching bands from southwest France, held in a convivial atmosphere.

This year's festival featured a band called Les Bundy's playing Hevenu Shalom Aleichem. The group's membership is about 20 musicians whose average age is 20 years (some friends are pleased to lend a hand too!). 

Their repertoire includes traditional banda tunes, pasodobles, but also music of the Blues Brothers, Louie Louie, Joe Dassin, Elvis Presley, with Latin accents (Caravan, Tequila, Yolanda, La Belle Image, sambas , Slavic (kasatchok, Shalom Aleichem), disco (ABBA, Flashdance, Full monty), and even ska.  

The band mainly performs in the Gers on special occasions, but they sometimes venture out of Gascogne and even go as far as Catalan country and the capital (International Salon of Agriculture). They also performed at the Shanghai World Expo 2011 in the French Pavilion.

Enjoy! 

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