Soothing sounds of the West

So the next song is about a serial killer” — an applause follows and a beautiful mademoiselle proceeds to sing a song about monsters, as three Frenchmen passionately bump, pluck and strum to a electrified crowd of kids, locals and students.It was a hot night at the Alliance Francaise of Madras, a peaceful retreat tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Chennai, unfortunately the traffic of mosquitoes could not be equally avoided. But before long every itching person present forgot about their six-legged friends, with nods, taps and dance moves at the first performance of this year’s Fete de la Musique, a rich and diverse music project. Betty Argo are a progressive group that fuse a broad range of musical styles — reggae, rock and everything.The evening began with a climactic prelude of skilfully layered guitar, before dropping into a chilled out reggae number which suited the atmosphere perfectly. They toyed with the genre gracefully, lulling the audience with sweet melodies that complimented Lena’s (lead vocals) gentle voice, giving a sense of innocence to their sound. Before long, Lena produced a megaphone and sang through it, creating a tinny, retro effect found in jazz and soul records of the early 20th century. The audience loved this experimentalism and adored the blinding guitar and drum solos which electrified the air.Raj, an employee of the centre, explained that all 10 Alliance Francaise’s of India was designed by the French to “spread French culture throughout the country”, something that was clearly well received in Madras by the end of the night with a crowd begging for a third encore from the group. Betty, they’re not very big in France, just in Paris, according to French employee, Marine.