La Féline visits Martin Harris Centre for Concert and Q&A

21 Dec 2023

French indie-pop singer performs special show with University of Manchester students

French indie-pop singer La Féline recently took to the Martin Harris Centre stage for a special concert. We asked student Adriana Srsnova who participated in the performance, to give us a glimpse behind the scenes of the show:

“As part of the Walter Carrol Lunchtime Concert Series at the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, French indie pop singer La Féline performed on Thursday 23 November. The event was a cross-subject collaboration between the Music and French Studies departments. 

It turns out we should do this more often: it was a tremendous success! Over 250 people attended the concert, including final-year French Studies students on Barbara Lebrun’s course Protest Music in France, staff and students from Music and other subject areas from across the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures – plus members of the Alliance Française de Manchester and the general public. 

On bass guitar and lead vocals, accompanied by drummer François Virot, La Féline performed songs from her latest album Tarbes, released in 2022. She also invited a small choir of student volunteers to join her on stage: Me, Samantha Riley and Steffan Eldridge. Thanks to enthusiastic rehearsals that very morning, the choir’s participation really enhanced La Féline’s crisp delivery and atmospheric music, giving an epic feel to the whole performance. 

The concert was followed by a Q&A introduced by local music legend Dave Haslam, who is a fan of La Féline. Among other topics, students asked La Féline about her musical influences (Sonic Youth and Brigitte Fontaine, it turns out!), her Spanish heritage, the limitations and rewards of being a ‘smalltown girl’, her reconciliation of emotions and intellectualism (when she’s not singing as La Féline, Agnès Gayraud is a philosopher and specialist in the works of Theodor Adorno). The recording of the Q&A is now being used in Dr Lebrun’s class for students to base their essays on. 

When we were presented with the exciting opportunity to be part of the concert, Sam, Steffan and I immediately signed up – despite the fact that none of us are professional singers. Together we practised, learned how to read sheet music and built our confidence up. We even got to sing in Occitan – a rare language that was completely new to us – on the song ‘Fum’. During the rehearsals and the concert we were all nervous – but La Féline was so friendly and welcoming, we all really enjoyed the experience, and the concert was a huge success!

Overall, the way passion for music brings people together created a very special atmosphere at La Féline’s concert. We are all very grateful to La Féline and all the organisers for this opportunity, as it not only helped us improve our musical skills, but it was also an unforgettable experience which we will cherish for a long time”.