Empty orchestra, longing for you

Imagine… You choose a song, write it down on a piece of paper. Your heart is pounding. You take the microphone offered to you, and then, in front of a crowd of strangers, you start to sing… In Orchestre vide, longing for you, five characters as eclectic as they are singular explore karaoke as a space where all outpourings are possible. In the interstices of the songs, their struggle plays out between the social body and the overflowing body, between the desire to contain oneself and the irrepressible need to tell one's story. "Karaoke" is a Japanese portmanteau word meaning "empty orchestra," referring to the performer singing alone, without musicians. For South Korean sociologist Young-ha Kim, this practice is the resurgence of a need to express our artistic desire. More than just entertainment or a simple interlude, it is a place to reveal and reinvent oneself, without judgment or the demand for perfection. At once a dream and reality, an individual and collective experience, it is also the breeding ground for memories or the nostalgia of a future to come. And what if, for the duration of an evening, we (re)discovered facets of ourselves that were unknown or forgotten, stifled by daily life and normativity? What if other stories were possible? With Orchestre vide, longing for you, Habib Ben Tanfous composes a tribute to vulnerability, envisioned as a powerful vector for connection and community. Before the show, we invite you to dive into the deep end of love songs by participating in the karaoke that will take place every evening, one hour before the performance. As part of the CRUSH festival.