[Article to read in the special cabaret dossier of the têtu· winter issue, available at newsstands or by subscription.] Now without a fixed venue to perform, the La Bouche cabaret reinvents itself effortlessly thanks to the creativity of its four impertinent members. Bili Bellegarde, Mascare, Grand Soir and Soa de Muse offering queers a show in the shape of a bubble of sweetness, revolt, and poetry.
Fifty seats, three microphones and two speakers bought on Le Bon Coin. That was La Bouche, a queer cabaret installed in the basement of Le Co bar, in Paris’s 18th arrondissement. On stage, two lesbians with golden voices, an irate drag queen and a pianist who’s a little crazy: it’s Berghain embracing France Culture with a red neon glow. But after three years of partying, the basement had to close its doors to live performances, in July of last year, by prefectural order. Bili Bellegarde, Mascare, Grand Soir and Soa de Muse lost their walls, but certainly not their voice.
The four share childhood memories that fed their love of stage and music: Mascare, through her mother who dances in a djellaba to eurodance; Soa de Muse, through her father who adored Depeche Mode; Grand Soir, introduced to the piano by his mother at age 4; Bili Bellegarde, weaned on Chérie FM. If legend has it that the quartet met during a group encounter, their paths actually crossed backstage at the cabaret Madame Arthur, just before the lockdown. “With Soa, we met on a mashup of Sexy Sushi, and since then we’ve never let go,” recalls Bili. “I met her because she needed a replacement pianist for the Club Dorothy night,” adds Grand Soir.
The Mouth-to-Ear
After the post-Covid lockdown, it’s a thirst for celebration and a taste for underground culture that brings them together. Bonds tighten and hearts connect at L’Œil, a club tucked away in Paris’s 1st arrondissement, run by Grand Soir until 2023. “I had just opened, the girls helped me even though we didn’t know each other, and the energies clicked right away,” he recalls. From party to afterparties, the gang ultimately officially founded La Bouche, “the first self-managed queer cabaret”, in 2021. “La Bouche is mainly made from the heart and rests on the life-pulse after the covid; we needed to come together and create new things,” Mascare explains.
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Sophie Brennan