La Guinguette en Fanfares

Brass bands recapture the guinguette spirit in Cergy

In the festival landscape of the Val-d'Oise, La Guinguette en Fanfares holds a unique and warm place. This popular festival revives the tradition of the guinguettes that once animated the banks of the Seine and Oise, those places of rural celebration where people came to dance, have a drink, and listen to music under the trees. Today, it is the Cergy-Pontoise urban community that hosts this festive spirit, with brass bands as guides.

The festival's principle is simple and joyful: brass and percussion groups take over Cergy's public spaces, transforming streets, squares, and the Oise riverbanks into improvised stages. Musicians wander, play in circles in the middle of the audience, climb ephemeral platforms, or slip between tables on terraces. It's music that comes to you, with no separation between artists and the public.

An eclectic program centered on brass bands

La Guinguette en Fanfares is not confined to a single musical style. True to the spirit of modern brass bands that have reinvented themselves, the festival features groups with very diverse aesthetics. You can hear New Orleans-style street jazz, lively Balkan rhythms from Eastern European tradition, Latin cumbia and salsa, Jamaican ska revisited in large ensembles, or afrobeat and world music that get bodies moving.

Each edition hosts between 4 and 8 brass bands and brass ensembles, offering a day or a weekend of itinerant concerts in different neighborhoods of Cergy. The festival showcases local groups from Île-de-France as well as ensembles from all over France and sometimes from abroad, creating unusual and festive musical encounters.

A free and inclusive festival

One of the major assets of La Guinguette en Fanfares is its completely free access. In a context where festival costs can be a barrier to cultural participation, the event chooses openness and accessibility. Families with children, seniors, young people, Sunday strollers: everyone is welcome to share this moment of popular outdoor music.

The programming is designed to be family-friendly and accessible to all audiences. Brass bands are known for their ability to create immediate communion with the crowd, to spontaneously make even the most reluctant spectators dance, and to bring joy to urban daily life. In Cergy, a dynamic new town with many residents of diverse origins, this festival plays a role in social cohesion and the celebration of musical diversity.

The enchanting setting of the Oise riverbanks

Cergy offers an ideal natural and urban setting for an outdoor festival. The Parc de la Maison Anne et Gérard Philipe, nestled by the Oise river in a meander, is one of the event's prime locations. This green park, accessible from the center of Cergy, offers shaded lawns, landscaped riverbanks, and picnic areas that invite musical strolls. Brass bands move freely through it, transforming the walk into a truly ambulant and participatory concert.