On your bikes - Sunday 2 June

It's the fête du vélo this weekend so everyone get on your bikes and celebrate. On Sunday there's a bike parade that starts at the Vieux Port at 10am with musical accompaniment provided by the big band Swing Swing Souabe. There are rallying points all over the city and if you arrive by train at the Gare Saint Charles you'll be offered breakfast at 8:30am at the Square Narvik. There is entertainment all along the route. This is your chance to cycle along the Corniche without having to dodge the motobikes and cars.  Details are on the Fête du vélo website

Posted on: 1 June 2013 | 5:17 am

A night at the museums 18 May

It's European museums night on 18 May so get out there and visit that museum or art gallery you've always intended to see but never quite got around to. Today they're open late and the'yre free. What's more some of them have extra live performances around the theme of the flowers of May. At the Musée Grobet Labadié (140 Boulevard Longchamp) there is a perfomance by a flautist, Agnes Royon le Mee, and a singer/actor, Danielle Stephan, called Chante Fleurs et Chante Flûtes. At the Préau de Accoules (29 Montée des Accoules) there's a musical, Coco Neil et les Gars Gazon, by Isabelle Matthieu and Alain Bordes. At the Musée Cantini (19 Rue Grignan) there's an audio installation by Phil Specrum, Christian Berthelot, Dominique Dauchart and Amandine Buixeda.

Posted on: 18 May 2013 | 2:59 am

Dancing with Diggers 10 and 11 May

Go along to the Plages du Prado North at 3pm or 9:30pm on Friday or Saturday to see Traction, a ballet with people and JCBs. It's a production by British performance company Motionhouse, it's part of the Folle Histoire des Arts de la rue, a series of street performances taking place all over the area and it's free. What more could you ask.

Posted on: 9 May 2013 | 12:28 am

Street art and music at the Friche 25 April to 9 June

Don't be fooled by the title "This is [not] music", there is in fact music involved in this 47 day extravaganza of art, urban sports (including extreme sport demonstrations), concerts and films focusing on street culture. You can catch up with the Undertones (27 April) or Pete Docherty (3 May) at the Cabaret Aléatoire, watch skateboarding exhibitions and competitions, films and live performances, all at the Friche de la Belle de Mai. The Undertones 27 April Cabaret Aléatoire You'll find details of the programme and ticket prices (in French) on the This is [not] music website.

Posted on: 23 April 2013 | 1:51 am

International Festival of boring films 29 March to 14 April

Fed up with watching Bruce Willis save the world? Looking for something that takes a little longer to get into and understand? The international festival of boring films is for you. In the international fesitval of film chiant you will not find US blockbusters. On the opening night at Variétés cinema  for 11€ you can see films such as Please Say Something by David O'Reilly, a masterpiece of digital expression, and Enjoy Poverty by Renzo Martens, a film that flies in the face of those humanitarian documentaries that get everywhere. On 3 April at the Protestant Temple 15 rue Grignan there's a cine concert, four musicians accompany Katarina Golubeva in her wanderings around Siberia, a concert by Toboflex and radical brutist guitarist Eric Menkkinen. There's a "mise en bouche", Moondawn by Argentinian Pedro Lopez, whose electronic sounds accompany another film featuring Golubeva. All for 11€, you can reserve by e-mail here

Posted on: 26 March 2013 | 5:47 am

Babel Med World Music Concerts 21 to 23 March

Babel Med brings together music professionals, performers and the general public over three days and three nights at the Dock des Suds.  There will be four stages, 36 concerts and 190 artists from around the world. Among the 11 performances on Thursday you can see the Tajik-Israeli Alaev Family, Spanish percussion orchestra Coetus, and Du Bartas with their traditional music from the Languedoc. On Friday there are 13 acts including Afro-European Jazz from Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze, Congolese Rumba with Black Bazar and a "brilliant musical stroll along the shores of the Bosphorus" with the Turkish Taksim Trio.  On Saturday, 12 acts including Hoba Hoba Spirit "Moroccan Rage, rock from Casa", Rosapaeda from Southern Italy and Tiloun from La Réunion. Tickets cost 15€ per night or you can get a 3 night pass (exclusively from FNAC) for 35€, which we think is a bargain price for so much quality and variety. For practical information in English about tickets and how to get there visit the Dock des Suds website.

Posted on: 15 March 2013 | 9:52 am

More contemporary circus - Orit Nevo 22-24 February

If you're a fan of contemporary circus, if you're curious, if you saw Knitting Peace, or if you regret not having seen it, here is another event that you should not miss. It's called Somewhere and Nowhere and it's about immigration. This production is a collaboration between Marseille based Archaos and Orit Nevo, an Israeli circus performer. It's a combination of theatre, circus and dance. Highly recommended. It's at CREAC at 8:30pm on 22nd and 23rd and 4pm on 24th and it costs 16€. You can book via the MP2013 website or take a chance and pay when you get there. If you're using public transport, there's a bus leaving outside CREAC ten minutes after the performance to take you back to Bougainville metro.

Posted on: 22 February 2013 | 3:03 am

A night at the opera. Elektra 13 and 16 February

Spend an evening at Marseille's wonderful opera house and enjoy Strauss's Elektra performed by Marseille's opera company. Elektra is the daughter of Agamemnon and when her father is killed by her mother's lover Elektra quits the country swearing to avenge the death. It's a story of death and vengeance, perfect opera material, all in one act. It's at 8pm on 13 and 16 February and seats cost between 13€ and 77€

Posted on: 12 February 2013 | 3:40 am

More Modern Circus - take a circus tour 1 and 2 February

After seeing that marvellous performance about knitting peace you will no doubt be looking for some more circus. The theatre Le Merlan is offering a circus tour in central Marseille with three different forms of circus performance in three unexpected places. The tour costs 25€ (for the three performances and soup or tea) and the itinerary goes like this: 5:30 - 6:00pm Saint Charles campus, a welcoming vin chaud 6:00 - 7:00pm The company l'Immediat will entertain and challenge you with "Jubilation" 7:00 - 8:00pm Guided walk (30 mins), with a stop off for soup or tea, to the next destination 8:00 - 8:30pm Opus Corpus by trapeze artist Chloé Moglia at the Protestant Temple in rue Grignan 8:30 - 9:30pm Guided walk (5mins) with a pause to enjoy food provided by La Boite a Sardine 9:30 - 10:30pm De l'autre côté by Cirquons Flex at Société Marseillais de Crédit, Estrangin If you dont want to do the whole tour you can go to see the performances separately (prices between 5 and 20€).

Posted on: 30 January 2013 | 11:41 am

The start of a season of modern circus - Knitting for Peace 24 January

On 24 January the festival 'Cirque en corps" begins with a performance by the internationally renowned Swedish company Cirkus Cirkör. Is it possible to change the world by knitting? Can a world knitting movement make a difference and bring peace?  Performers use their bodies in apparently impossible ways to bring us a unique circus act that is not to be missed. It costs 16€ and there are performances at CREAC 22 Boulevard de Méditerrannée, Thursday, Friday and Saturday starting at 8:30pm. If you're travelling from central Marseille, for the cost of a metro ticket there's a bus 10 minutes after the end of of the performance to the metro Bougainville or the Centre Bourse. The festival continues for a month so watch this space.

Posted on: 24 January 2013 | 5:12 am

A Weekend of music with Malik Ziad 18 - 20 January

La Meson has given carte blanche to Malik Ziad this weekend. He will perform Friday, Saturday and Sunday with different groups of musicians and different instruments. Malik Ziad was born in Algeria and likes to share his passion for traditional music using traditional instruments. He manages to mix music from North Africa, Brittany and Provence to produce his own particular style. To get you moving, the first part of each evening is hosted by Big Buddha, a fine artist/DJ with an ear for creating great music mixes. For a weekend of world music, this is the place to be. Each concert starts at 8pm and costs 10€

Posted on: 17 January 2013 | 11:41 am

GO! - Capital of Culture Opening Weekend 12/13 January

The moment you've been waiting for! If you can't make it to Aix for the Air Force Flying display, go into Marseille and take a look at work in progress on the new buildings. On 12 January you can go into the old Station Sanitaire and see what is planned for the new Regards de Provence gallery as well as admiring the work of Georges Rousse, Dominik Barbier and Anne Van Steen. There are also exhibitions in J1 in the docks area. You can download a programme from the site. On 13 January you can visit the MUCEM building, due to open in June. J1 La joliette If you're after sound and light go to the upper car park of the Grand Littoral at 5:30pm on 12th to see the start of the light parade the march of the machines, mechanical diggers and agricultural machinery as you have never seen them.

Posted on: 12 January 2013 | 3:29 am

Get Set - Capital of Culture opening weekend 12/13 January

On Sunday 13 January there are treasure hunts all over the place, 112 routes in 20 Communes. Find our how much you know and learn lots more about the Marseille Povence area by taking part on one (or more) of the hunts. They are free. They take place between 10am and 3pm and there are prizes too! You can register for them on the MP2013 site. If you use the interactive map you will find some hunts in English and some accessible for people with reduced mobility and some for people with children in pushchairs.

Posted on: 11 January 2013 | 3:47 am

On your marks - Capital of Culture opening weekend 12/13 January

It's time to plan where you want to be for the grand opening of the Capital of Culture year. There are major events in Marseille, Aix and Arles and smaller ones in Aubagne and Gardanne. The Grande Clameur (the Big Noise) is at 7pm on Saturday in Marseille. There will be people performing music, dance and generally making a noise all over the city.  There's a Google Map of all the events. Try a concert of bicycle bells by the bandstand at the top of the Canebière, organised by Vélos en Ville (No. 22 on map), or a concert in sign language on the Vieux Port, organised by the Collectif Langues des Signes et Culture Sourde Marseille Provence 2013 (No. 26 on map) . The Clameur lasts five minutes. After that there are events until the early hours, in the streets and at various venues. Get out there and celebrate.

Posted on: 10 January 2013 | 5:46 am

New Year Concert 6 January 2013

Looking for some entertainment before the big Capital of Culture opening weekend? This concert will offer a varied mixture of popular and classical music to start the new year. It's at the Basilica Sacré Coeur on the Prado (No 81, near metro Perier). It starts at 4pm and it costs 10€ (free for under 13s). The performance includes extracts from Haydn's Creation, Tchaikovski's Nutcracker suite, Bach's Magnificat, The Merry Widow and West Side Story. The singers are Murielle Tomao and Jean Christophe Born, with Christophe Guida playing the organ.

Posted on: 1 January 2013 | 10:39 am

Descent of the Shepherds 24 December

Allauch, always good for Christmas atmosphere, has a live performance of the revelation of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. It's entertaining even if you dont speak Provençal. It starts at 10:15 pm in the hills above the city and ends with the shepherds herding their sheep down the street to a living creche in the church for midnight mass that starts at 11pm. Just the ticket. If you have young children aged 6-12 years, there are activities in the village on 24 December between 2 and 5pm.

Posted on: 19 December 2012 | 2:47 am

Circus Performance by Cirque Eloize 8 December

The Montreal circus troupe Cirque Eloize has a a new production, Cirkoplis, which pays tribute to Bandes Desinées (cartoons). They promise to be as impressive as ever with their spectacular choreographed acrobatic performances. They're at the Silo, an impressive venue for an impressive troupe, on Saturday 8 December at 8pm. Tickets are from 33€ to 44€, available on line from the Silo website.

Posted on: 5 December 2012 | 5:45 am

Christmas Market Allauch 8 and 9 December

Get into the mood by visiting Allauch's Provençal Christmas market, Santa will be there (of course), there are stalls selling food (marrons glacés, chocolate and local nougat) and drink and you'll find those elusive perfect Christmas presents. There will be activites for children of all ages. It starts on Saturday afternoon and is open Sunday from 10am. You can also go to the Vieux Bassin to see Gilbert Orsini's animated creche. The whole gallery is filled with images of Provençal villages inhabited by santons spinning yarn, making bread and celebrating Christmas - definitely worth a look. To get to Allauch from central Marseille take metro line 1 to La Rose and bus 144 from there.

Posted on: 3 December 2012 | 2:19 am

Contemporary Dance 28 November to 1 December

Michel Kelemenis, the founder of KLAP-maison pour la danse in Marseille moves across to the Ballet National de Marseille to produce his work "le sixième pas", the sixth step. It will be performed by German dancer Katharina Christi and BNM's Japanese dancer Yasuuko Endo. The music is a composition by electroacoustics creator Christian Kanési. The second performance is a piece by Yasuuko Endo himself: "Mayday, mayday this is...". he uses his experience of being in Tokyo during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to inspire this work. You can eat before or after the performance with tapas and drinks provided by La Boite a Sardine. Perfomances are: Wednesday 3:30 and 8:30pm Thursday 8:30pm Friday 8:30pm Tickets are  9€ and 12€. To book telephone 04 91 327 327.

Posted on: 28 November 2012 | 7:33 am

Design Tour Nocturne 22 November

Studio 19, along with a number of other galleries and shops, is taking part in the Design Tour this year. It runs from 21 to 24 November, with a "nocturne" on 22 November, so you can spend an evening strolling around the rues Paradis and Edmond Rostand admiring the latest in cool design. There's also an exhibition sponsored by Elle Decroation called "Génération Design" at the Docks Marseille, 10 Place de La Joliette from 22 to 24 November, entry is free.

Posted on: 21 November 2012 | 2:17 am

Festa Occitana at La Meson 10 and 11 November

Two concerts at La Meson this weekend. On Saturday 10th it's d'Aqui Dub, their website says: "Founded in 2001, D'aqui dub has had a long life, chaotic, voyaging. It drains and reincarnates, explores, experiences… even reinvents catalepsy… And is re-founded once again to propose No Specific Time." It's a sort of Balkan meets Occitan sound and that man Arnaud Froment has a fine gravelly voice. On Sunday Un Homme a Traversé le Monde In contrast to Saturday, this is a performance by Renat Sette of his composition based on the poetry of Serge Bec. He is accompanied by Diego Lubrano on guitar, Patrick Ferné on double bass and Aurélie Lombard on accordion. Both concerts start at 8pm and cost 10€ (plus 3€ seasonal membership if you haven't joined already)

Posted on: 10 November 2012 | 5:59 am

Food and Wine Festival Allauch 4 November

Go along to the village of Allauch for a Sunday treat. It's the annual festival of food and wine. It runs all day and features wine from all over France and local specialities such as tapenade, aubergine caviar and olive oil. You can also enjoy some provençal music and dancing presented by Leis Ami d'Alau. To get there take metro line 1 to La Rose and bus 144 to the terminus in Allauch village.

Posted on: 2 November 2012 | 2:39 am

Concert of Egyptian Music 26 October

The Archives and Library Gaston Defferre (18-20 rue Mirès) has exhibitions and events all about Egypt running from October to December. On 26 October there is a concert of classical and improvised Egyptian music, described as deep and meditative, with Oud and Flute. The perfomance is by Hazem Shaheen (Oud) and Naïssam Jalal (Flute). It starts at 7pm and entry is free. If you miss it, the exhibition of photographs: Egypt, clear and obscure, continues until 22 December. Photo from www.rencontresaverroes.net

Posted on: 24 October 2012 | 9:52 am

Contemporary Art Gallery Opening 12 October

At 6pm on Friday 12 October the Galerie Breteuil, 91 rue Breteuil, will open its doors with an exhibition "Regards Croisées". All three featured artists will be there: Cédric Bambini, Martine d'Olivo and Marie Riontino. The gallery is the latest addition to Marseille's contemporary art scene. The owners Caroline Floch and Serge Ravaut are artists who want to share their passion for art. They promise to exhibit accessible art that you will want to look at again and again in your own home. Martine d'Olivo The opening is 6pm to 8pm on 12 October (get an invitation from the website) and then the gallery will be open Tuesdays to Saturdays 11am to 7pm (9pm on Thursdays)

Posted on: 11 October 2012 | 7:36 am

Jazz at Cri du Port 4 October - HKBM Orchestra

It's the start of the festival Jazz sur la Ville, with 30 events in 20 venues across Marseille between 4 and 26 October. The Cri du Port starts the proceedings with a performance by the HKBM Orchestra, big band jazz. It starts at 8:30pm and costs12€ If you arive at 7pm you can particpiate in the opening of the exhibition of paintings by Brazilian Painter Fabio Cerqueira alias Binho. The exhibition lasts until 4 November.

Posted on: 4 October 2012 | 2:54 am