There are several reasons why Bastille Day in Franschhoek is better than Bastille Day in Paris. There are no squadrons of men with silly tin helmets on horses. Our mountains are higher than Montmartre. Our Huguenot Monument has more arches than the Arc de Triomphe. And no Sarkozy! The best reason is, of course, that this year the Bastille Day parade was led by Solms-Delta’s very own newest biggest marching band, the Delta Valley Entertainers, accompanied by many of the staff and management and most of the workers. In fact, the Solms-Delta delegation WAS the parade. The group was led by huge flags of many colours, followed by a banner with the name of the wine estate. Then came the people who live on the farm, from the tiniest little crèche creatures, all wide-eyed and togged up in their blue jackets, white pants and straw hats, supported by parents and anties to the Fyndraai restaurant waiters and chefs. After that came the mighty klopse band, the Delta Langbroeke, augmented by the Delta Bluestars and, fleshed out for good measure by the Pniel Brass Band. Not quite the “Seventy Six Trombones” of the Music Maker, but impressive enough with their masses of drums and trumpets. The addition of the band from Pniel, the neighbouring village in the Franschhoek Valley, is a wonderful current grassroots initiative that forms part of the Solms-Delta based Music van de Caab project’s arms reaching into the wider winelands. Pniel dates from 1836 and is the first village in South Africa where freed slaves could own land. So, when the Tourism folks say that Franschhoek Bastille Day is about freedom, then these musicians contributed to the festival’s true heart. What is a festival without a parade? What is a parade without music? What is music without the traditional sounds of the cultural heritage of the Valley? The young music makers, part of the music education programme of Solms-Delta provided the gees we have got to know from the World Cup.
By John van Zyl
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