[EVENT RECAP] Macki Music Festival
Photo: Heryte Tefery
Macki Music Festival stayed true to the character of the Paris music/festival/fun scene where good things come to those who already know about those good things. After more than an hour of travelling (during which time we journeyed by foot, metro, commuter train and even briefly hitchhiked), we finally arrived at the festival in the elusive Parc de Carrières-sur-Seine to find a relatively small number of cool kids that made up the festival cache.
Photo: Heryte Tefery
The first edition of Macki bodes well for future collaborative efforts between two Paris organizing teams — Cracki Records, a label known for organizing events in unique locations, and La Mamie’s Crew. The consciously DIY festival was complete with compost outhouses, pallet seating, chill out couches and a face painting booth. Add in uber-hip Parisian youths smack dab in the middle of a 7,000 m2 park-cum-private backyard on the cleanest section of the Seine River I have ever seen, and you get a festival that feels like one of those exclusive backyard parties that hipster children of millionaires throw for their friends: low-key and high quality.
Photo: Heryte Tefery
Though the rain and distance kept us from a number of the acts I was most anticipating (silent tears for the missed Blue Hawaii set), we still managed to catch a few that made the trip out of town worthwhile. We arrived on Sunday afternoon just in time to see the incredible Fatima & the Eglo Live Band hit the stage. Lead vocalist and Stockholm native, Fatima, backed by a more than equipped band, brought down the proverbial house (or field, or whatever) with a voice worthy of comparison to neo-soul greats like Erykah Badu and Jill Scott. The live version of the track, “La Neta,” featured everything you could ask for in a live R&B performance — the perfect combination of up-tempo R&B grooves with rich, slowed down vocal interludes and bass line. It’s safe to say that Fatima and the crew made more than a few fans that evening.
Photo: Heryte Tefery
Also worth mentioning is the French pop outfit, Isaac Delusion. The group is signed to organizing team, Macki Records, and seemed to boast a strong fan base on Sunday evening. After a brief period of cognitive dissonance after which I accepted that, yes, indeed those airy vocals were coming from head bro and lead vocalist, Loic Fleury, I found myself really enjoying the dreamy musical vibrations of Isaac Delusion. Their live set included a few disco pop tracks that I was unable to find on the interwebs, and I must admit that I preferred this live version of the group to some of their more introspective inclinations featured on their SoundCloud.
Photo: Heryte Tefery
The evening ended with Detroit natives, Kyle Hall and Jay Daniel, and London-based producer, Funkineven, spinning a back-to-back set of delectable Detroit house tracks and silky smooth beats that primed me for the long journey back to Paris, bass still thumping in my chest.
Nice work, Macki.
Photo: Heryte Tefery