Musical first for students

Young musicians of the French School in Busaiteen took centrestage and performed in the first music concert in their school's history.

Thirty-two students aged between 11 and 16 combined their talents on the keyboard, drums, guitars, bass, violin and vocals to deliver 18 of their favourite French, English and Dutch songs of various genres at the Alliance Francaise in Isa Town.

The weekend's show, choreographed by the school's English and music teacher Herve Coureau, was the culmination of six months of rehearsals during lunch breaks and weekends.

Among the stars were Victoire Baba, 13, from Saar, and Phoebe Rennie, 12, from Jiddafs. While for Victoire it was a debut performance, Phoebe has previously acted in local productions of Oliver and Wizard of Oz.

Described by her teacher as 'gifted with a promising voice', Phoebe said: "We like singing fun songs with catchy tunes. The entire experience from getting dressed for the evening, putting on make-up and getting on stage was very exciting."

Yannick Grandjean was the evening's rock star belting out his favourite lyrics and dancing like a seasoned professional. The 14-year-old from Janabiya said: "One day I want to sing in a big concert hall."

He has already visited a recording studio. At the age of eight he was given the opportunity to sing with a group of children on an album entitled Sautecroche in Switzerland. His brother Dylan, 16, is also an accomplished guitarist.

Delighted Mr Coureau, a musician who has taught English for 15 years in France, Asia and Africa, and is on his first assignment in the Middle East, said: "The French School has been here for 20 years and is growing but this is the first time a concert of this magnitude has been held.

"There is a lot of talent and we tried to give a chance to as many children as possible. Although it is a French School, the children, who chose their own music, are really influenced by the English language and 85 per cent of the songs were in English.

"There were love songs, rock songs and popular songs that they like to listen to on the radio.

"In general, I believe too many children are hooked on to their iPods without caring about how the music has been created. This event gave them an opportunity to play music together and learn how to work on a project. Most importantly they learned that music is not something that you can just download ... it is something that you need to create first.

"The show went well and all the students enjoyed this great moment both musically and socially, sharing music on a stage. Everybody is now turning to next year for the second show!" The musicians were supported by sound technicians Frederic Carmichael and Rami Saade, both aged 13, and Chloe Tournier, 14, on piano.