“Me, the baby side lying around in the lodges and plays with beer capsules, I didn’t really want that.” On Instagram, the singer and giedré artist does not hesitate to show her daily life as a mother: train trips, the child on stage during installation, etc. But to be able to ensure his life as an artist on tour, with two children, Giedré had to organize.
“I resumed my tour when my first child was 4 months old. He had not chosen to sleep in five different cities per week, so he had to give him a frame “she recalls. Call each room upstream to ask them for a baby seat in the car that brings them instead of the concert, favor the train, think about a daycare during the concerts … “It is an extreme exhaustion and an more organization, but these are great memories”recalls the singer.
Sucking concert halls and festivals is not always compatible with parenting. Especially because most artists without children have a well -established organization when it comes to being on tour: they know the dates for several months (or even years) in advance, move by train, van or turbus, must have a station transported to the room, take the time of the scales, wait, play and then set off again.
The superstar Taylor Swift evoked him in the documentary that Netflix had dedicated to him: to a producer who questioned her for his desires for having children or not, she had answered “I don’t have the luxury of learning about the heap because my life is planned two years in advance”. At this level of notoriety, getting pregnant in full tour seems impossible. But, even when one is not called Taylor Swift, to announce his pregnancy to her professional entourage when one is an artist is sometimes perilous.
Anticipate … when possible
Rebecca, leader of the Kolinga group and professional musician for ten years, remembers it very well: “When I reported my baby project, a person around me made me understand that it would be good for it to happen at such a period. Once pregnant, the remarks did not stop. For example, I was suggested that it was better to suggest that it was an accident, not to offend anyone. ”
At the birth of the child, it still had to adapt to carry out the twenty dates scheduled all over France, Kolinga being the musical project of Rebecca. Without her, no tour. Leaving her son at home was impossible with breastfeeding and planning one more person on a tour to keep him requires an increase in the tour budget – already tight – the dad also being a member of the group.
“My stepfather came with us, often at his expense. We left with my husband in van several hours before the rest of the team to have time to take breaks if necessary. I went before going on stage, then my stepfather brought the baby to the hotel. I returned directly after to breastfeed her again ”she says. No relaxation possible and, above all, “It was our problem, in the eyes of others”.
If each artist does not have the same memories – more or less joyful according to some -, the fact remains that not all of them evolve under the same conditions either. Fathers, already. An artist contacted finds that it is often mothers who keep children at home during the concerts. One of the reasons (beyond the patriarchy): the intermittents of the show men only have four days of paternity leave.
For mothers and fathers, it is such an obstacle course that fifteen years ago, the collective Les Mattermittes was created so that everyone and everyone knows their rights. “We realized that regulations or calculations when it comes to intermittent workers are very poorly thought. As soon as you are not in a traditional setting, with discontinuous professions, there are dysfunctions. However, social protection does exist ”underlines Amandine Thiriet, the president, who claims to receive a dozen emails per day of intermittent questions. “Some employers are responsible for maternity. They will put a pregnant woman in ban while she already has few protections ”she accuses.
“I can hardly adapt my schedule by being a musician for others, otherwise I would lose my place quickly.”
Not all artists are housed in the same brand. If Rebecca and Giedré are the main figures of their projects, Charlène is a keyboardist for others. With her spouse, Joseph – also a musician -, she had to adapt her daily life to that of the artists for whom she works. “I asked myself the question of changing my profession when my child was born, she admits. When I was offered to work on a tour, my child was 7 months old. I felt unable to leave. I had to refuse and it put me in pain. ”
But once back on the roads, a year and a half after the birth of their child, both parents are unanimous: “We are fortunate to have family who can take over if necessary when we are both in concert. It requires juggling our jobs and it’s a lot of organization! We get there, but it’s not easy every day. ”
Especially when the profession requires being available “Almost all the time”:: “I can hardly adapt my schedule by being a musician for others, otherwise I would lose my place quickly”illustrious Charlène. And if the subject to bring your child to work sometimes is essential, then remains to be able to accommodate the constraints of concert halls, not always or even rarely adapted to parents.
Adapt the rooms and festivals
“It happened to me to have to pull my milk in the toilet or to be forced to find a restaurant to breastfeed”recalls the keyboardist. The labor code is however clear on this subject: “Any employer employing more than a hundred employees can be put in notice to install in their establishment or close to premises dedicated to breastfeeding.” This is for the law. In fact, it depends on the rooms, the number of employees and the reception conditions. A manager and manager of the spectacle rooms interviewed, for example, found herself to pull her milk in small lodges without water point. Another professional remembers that the room dedicated to breastfeeding was that of storage of computer servers.
Make sure that the rooms can receive breastfeeding women already seem to be a first step. Should we also integrate a nanny budget for each artist tour? In any case, the sector begins to consider the issue. Several conferences were organized on the subject at the Mama Festival, a major meeting for music professionals. David Jolly participated. With his box of “Booking” Mediatone, in support of emerging artists from the Lyon region, he admits that he had achieved after these exchanges that nothing was set up for his artists. He therefore intends to develop information sheets at least.
Amandine Thiriet, from the collective Les Mattermittes, sees more and more couples passing on their rights, and no longer only mothers. Would the solution finally pass by forcing the distribution places to be able to welcome artists-parents? Establish “transformation criteria” for companies and projects to financially encourage dissemination places or producers to seize the file? In any case, in the government administration of the National Music Center, the subject is on the table.
