There is a street corner right in the center of Nice, at the crossroads of Rue de Suisse and Rue d’Angleterre, that makes the people of Nice shiver! Taxi drivers and bar owners warn their customers that they’re in the middle of “Saudi Arabia” (and why not Dubai? or Qatar?), municipal police officers (who prudently desert the area in the evening and on weekends) talk about a “throat-cutting place,” and others regularly hold identity rallies there.
Despite this, La Griotte, who lives just a stone’s throw away, ventures there almost every day and never gets assaulted by the groups of very peaceful gentlemen who calmly gather there to drink coffee (sacrilege!) on the sidewalks and chat, or even join their prayer room. For an ex-Parisian La Griotte, the Nice Bronx looks like Wisteria Lane. And then, on the same street, just a short walk away, is La Cave Romagnan, a hot spot for jazz in Nice, which also encourages good-natured cosmopolitan gatherings on its sidewalk, especially on Saturday nights for its jazz aperitifs.
Every Saturday evening, La Griotte only has to open her windows to enjoy the jazz aperitif concerts, slam, philosophy, or theater evenings organized by Manu and witness the good festive atmosphere that gathers there (the place is tiny) on the sidewalk, glass in hand (the place isn’t called a cave for nothing!) come rain or shine, in mink or jeans.
Today, it’s the Diwan Trio’s turn, featuring Jean-Baptiste Boussougou and Serge Pesce. La Griotte will hear the land of England give birth to jazzy double bass, bowl, gwoni, bendir, udu (but please don’t ask me what that is, I have no idea!). In Breton, Diwan means to sprout, and in Persian, it signifies a place where music, poetry, and literature are discussed, isn’t that a beautiful melting pot?
Okay, so let’s recap: a stone’s throw from Avenue Jean-Médecin, in an extremely dangerous neighborhood where the menacing Swedish H&M, the formidable Pathé cinema, the pernicious FNAC, the distressing Malongo Café, and the terrifying McDonald’s and Subway thrive, not to mention the aggressive parishioners of Notre-Dame church, the grim BD Fugue bookstore with its ominous Tintin figurines, and a La Griotte more malicious than she appears, there remains a place where life is good and live music can be heard: La Cave Romagnan.
Thankfully, music soothes the savage beast!
