A weekly Occitan dictionary arrives on Béziers social networks

Avec son petit dico du Pays d’Oc, Joanda est au centre des vidéos de la série. Mathilde Alcala

L’auteur-compositeur occitan Joanda s’associe avec le compte Instagram La vie Biterroise pour lancer "1 000 ans de langue", une série de vidéos courtes qui explorent les expressions occitanes.

Escamper, poutou, closqua… Occitan words are everywhere around the people of Béziers and beyond. However, it is often difficult to give them the right definitions. This is the challenge that the Instagram account La vie Biterroise, managed by Mathilde Alcala, has decided to take up with Joanda, an Occitan singer-songwriter.

"Every Sunday, at 10am, a video of about a minute will revisit an Occitan expression or word. After a short man-in-the-street interview to test passers-by, I intervene in the video to decline and explain the term “, explains the musician, at the center of the videos directed and edited by Mathilde Alcala. For the 15 videos of the first season, filming was done in Béziers, during the summer. Many visitors to the region will therefore be featured in the videos.

Occitan beyond borders

“We met a lot of French and foreign tourists. It gave rise to quite a few funny situations! It must be said that Occitan exports well. When we ask the meaning of “Aqui es Besièrs”, we only get positive answers. It's nice to see our language crossing the borders of Occitania”, smiles Joanda, who is delighted to reach a new audience with the series. After his many songs and the publication of his Petit dico du Pays d’Oc, the singer challenged himself with a new, more innovative medium. "It's not easy to cover a subject in one minute. But with Mathilde's very dynamic editing, it makes for very enjoyable videos to watch."

"Occitan is an art of living"

For Joanda, this project follows the artistic lines of her career: the transmission of Occitan customs. "We want to honor our traditions and our language which are cultural markers of the region", passionately tells the musician. "Occitan is an art of living that characterizes our region and has influenced many languages. French of course, but also English, with the word "toast" which is  "tosta" in Occitan for "tartine"."

The Béziers duo will soon be filming a new season in the streets of the Cité de Paul-Riquet. The opportunity for some Béziers residents to become the heroes of the next street interviews, only if they have revised well…

Every Sunday at 10am, starting September 1st. Instagram account @laviebiterroise and @joandaoc.