“When Sébastien Boin suggested that I write something for Sirènes et midi net, Rimbaud’s text Démocratie came to mind and imposed itself on me as an unquestionable fact. The function of the urban siren, in addition to the sonic power it deploys, is to announce an imminent catastrophe, an association that goes without saying. But it is not quite this kind of danger that Rimbaud is talking about in Democracy. The poet quotes the violent words of what seems to be an armed group. The use of inverted commas throughout the poem leaves no doubt about this distancing. By the title, which may seem enigmatic, one can very well imagine that the mercenaries who express themselves here are the armed, brutal and bloody arm of a democracy…

Even if I wanted this musical moment to be derisory and playful, it nonetheless evokes a fear of a possible drift of our democracy, as it exists today. ”

Frédéric Pattar