HIS SON CHARGE

Crestignac had announced a concert. What unfolded was, in fact, a display of sonic, mechanical, sartorial and familial might.

Before a vast crowd gathered beneath midnight-blue and gold banners, Besla de Crestignac, one of La DdC’s sons and a singer by profession, delivered last night what the Ministry of Culture is already calling “a moment impossible to come down from”.

The stage remained shrouded in darkness for several seconds. At its centre, a single golden microphone waited beneath a narrow beam of blue light.

Then Besla appeared alone, advancing slowly through the smoke. Wearing his famous white rhinestone suit and his golden-warthog belt, he approached the microphone without a greeting.

He looked at the crowd.

The crowd understood that it had already been greeted.

Beneath the stage, two golden tusks barely emerged from the mist. Few spectators immediately understood what they heralded.

From the opening bars, the Beslinettes swept onto the stage from the side staircases.

The troupe brings together dancers and backing singers. Men or women, all become Beslinettes the moment they take their place behind Besla. Their white and midnight-blue costumes, embroidered in gold and adorned with tiny warthogs, raced through the first sweeps of light.

As they ran, spun and claimed the stage, Besla remained perfectly motionless at its centre.

His lack of movement was immediately interpreted as total command of the space.

The first chorus of Phaco Rock My Deal set the Beslinettes’ official choreography in motion: two steps forward, a sway of the hips, then arms raised towards the warthog.

The blue and gold followspots then left the stage to sweep across the entire auditorium. The dancers circled Besla, their fringes, jackets and hair seeming to extend the music itself.

Behind them, the Beslinettes’ chorus grew steadily more powerful.

At the second chorus, the floor opened behind the singer.

In a cloud of white smoke, a mechanical platform began to lift a monumental golden warthog. The light first revealed its tusks, then its head, its shoulders and finally its entire body.

Besla turned towards the animal and reached out his hand.

The Beslinettes stepped back, knelt or shielded their eyes according to choreography approved by the safety officials. Even the musicians broke their stillness to watch the statue rise.

The Ministry of Culture confirmed that the warthog did not actually weigh four tonnes, but that it had been lit as though it did.

Once the warthog had reached its final position, the golden lights went out.

A door opened at the top of the grand staircase. In a halo of white light, La DdC appeared, dressed in an ivory suit embroidered in gold and wearing her tall green crocodile-effect boots.

Besla had his back to her. He turned around.

The Beslinettes parted into two lines to clear a path as Her Highness descended slowly towards the stage, a golden microphone in hand.

Mother and son met at the edge of the stage to sing the chorus of Phaco Rock My Deal together.

The final chorus brought Besla, La DdC, the dancers, the backing singers and the orchestra together beneath the gaze of the now fully illuminated warthog.

Midnight-blue beams swept through the auditorium. Fountains of sparks erupted at different heights as a shower of golden confetti drifted on the currents of air across the stage.

La DdC raised her arm.

Several thousand spectators did the same without having been given any instruction. The authorities describe this as spontaneous allegiance. The Ministry of Education is already calling it a pedagogical success.

Leaning towards the crowd, Besla sang the final words with an intensity deemed compatible with Crestignac’s noise regulations.

The Beslinettes ended the performance in a variety of movements: some were still spinning, others were leaping, several had fallen to their knees. Besla and La DdC remained standing.

At the end of the song, silence attempted to return.

It was not permitted to enter.