Shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès

Coordinates: 43°32′N 04°30′E / 43.533°N 4.5°E / 43.533; 4.5

The Camargue (Occitan: Camarga in classical norm or Camargo in Mistralian norm) is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône.

Administratively it lies within the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, the appropriately named "Mouths of the Rhône", and covers parts of the territory of the communes of Arles - the largest commune in Metropolitan France, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer - the second largest - and Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. A further expanse of marshy plain, the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), just to the west of the Petit Rhône, is in the département of Gard.

Camargue was designated a Ramsar site as a "Wetland of International Importance" on December 1, 1986. The area was also the inspiration for naming Operation Camargue during the First Indochina War.

Geography[link]

Map of the Camargue

With an area of over 930 km² (360 sq mi), the Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta. It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. These are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area.

Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. The central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds. In 2008 it was incorporated into the larger Parc naturel régional de Camargue.

Flora and fauna[link]

Flamingos in the Camargue

Horses and cattle in the Camargue

The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds; its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious mosquitos to be found anywhere in France. It is also famous for the Camargue Bull and the Camargue Horse.

The flora of the Camargue is specially adapted to cope with the saline conditions. Sea lavender and glasswort flourish, along with tamarisks and reeds.

Regional park[link]

Officially established as a regional park and nature reserve in 1970, the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue covers 820 km² that are some of the wildest and most protected in all of Europe. A roadside museum provides background on flora, fauna, and the history of the area.

Human influence[link]

Humans have lived in the Camargue for millennia, greatly affecting it with drainage schemes, dykes, rice paddies and salt pans. Much of the outer Camargue has been drained for agricultural purposes. The Camargue has its own eponymous horse breed, the famous white Camarguais ridden by the gardians, who rear the region's fighting bulls for export to Spain, as well as sheep. Many of these animals are raised in semi-feral conditions within a Manade.

A 20th-century "Gardian" home. The pole is used to climb up and oversee the animals

There are few towns of any size in the Camargue. Its "capital" is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhône forks into its two principal branches. The only other towns of note are Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, about 45 km to the southwest and the medieval fortress-town of Aigues-Mortes on the far western edge, in the Petite Camargue. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the destination of the annual Roma pilgrimage for the veneration of Saint Sarah.

The Camargue was exploited in the Middle-Ages by Cistercian and Benedictine monks. In the 16th-17th centuries, big estates, known locally as mas, were founded by rich landlords from Arles. At the end of the 18th century, the Rhône was diked up. In 1858, the building of the digue à la mer (dyke to the sea) achieved protection of the delta from erosion. The north of the Camargue is made of agricultural land. The main crops are cereals, grapevine and rice. Near the seashore, prehistoric man started extracting salt, a practice that continued. This was a source of wealth for the Cistercian "salt abbeys" of Ulmet, Franquevaux and Psalmody in the Middle Ages. The salt industry started in the 19th century, and big chemical companies such as Péchiney and Solvay, founded the 'mining' city of Salin-de-Giraud.

The boundaries of the Camargue are constantly revised by the Rhône as it transports huge quantities of mud downstream - as much as 20 million m³ annually. Some of the étangs are in fact the remnants of old arms and legs of the river. The general trend is for the coastline to move outwards. Aigues-Mortes, originally built as a port on the coast, is now some 5 km (3.1 mi) inland. The pace of change has been modified somewhat in recent years by man-made barriers, such as dams on the Rhône and sea dykes, but flooding remains a problem across the region.

Film portrayal[link]

• The 1953 children's film Crin-Blanc, known in English as White Mane, portrays the horses and region. Directed by Albert Lamorisse, the black-and-white film won the Prix Jean Vigo award and the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prize, both for short film.

• The majority of the youthful romance movie Friends (1971) takes place in the Camargue, with numerous scenes of wetlands and wildlife. "Michelle's Song," from the soundtrack by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, includes the phrase "tiny daughter of the Camargue."

• The 1963 Hammer Films thriller The Maniac was partly filmed in Camargue.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Russell, Richard Joel (1942). "Geomorphology of the Rhone Delta". ANNAL (Association of American Geographers) 32 (2): 149–255. http://books.google.com/books?id=TLMguCEPSJQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-10-09. - also in jstor (paywall)

See also[link]

• Bac du Sauvage
• Folco de Baroncelli-Javon
• Camargue red rice
• Camargue horse
• Camargue equitation
• Gardian
• Manade

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Camargue

• Nacioun Gardians (Cultural association, Camargue, France)
• The Camargue at armchairfrance.com
• Parc naturel de Camargue (in French, English and Italian)
• Tourism Office of Saintes-Maries de la Mer
• Tourism Office of Arles
• Camargue Photogallery
• IMDB Crin-Blanc

Manitas de Plata (Little Silverhands). (born Ricardo Baliardo, August 7, 1921) is a French Gitano flamenco guitarist^[1].

Personal Life[link]

He was born in a Gypsy (Gitano) caravan in Sète in southern France^[1]. He became famous by playing each year at the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Gypsy pilgrimage in Camargue, where he was recorded live by Deben Bhattacharya. Manitas de Plata only agreed to play in public ten years after the death of Django Reinhardt, unanimously considered the king of gypsy guitarists. One of his recordings earned him a letter by Jean Cocteau acclaiming him as a creator.^[2]

Upon hearing him play at Arles in 1964, Pablo Picasso is said to have exclaimed "that man is of greater worth than I am!" and proceeded to draw on the guitar.^[2]

Manitas de Plata became really famous only after a photography exhibition in New York, organized by his friend Lucien Clergue. He had recorded his first official album in the chapel of Arles in France, in 1963, for the Phillips label. It was also later re-released, in 1967, by the Connoisseur Society Label and sold through the Book of the Month Club. This was a popular LP that brought him to the attention of an American audience. An American manager obtained a booking for him to play a concert in Carnegie Hall in New York in December 1965.^[2]

In New York, Manitas de Plata, who was illiterate, represented Europe at the yearly gala of the United Nations.

Since 1967 Manitas de Plata has been touring the whole world and recording discs. He played with the dancer Nina Corti.^[2] In 1968 he played at the Royal Variety Performance in London.

Despite the fact that Manitas de Plata was famous, he was also known for disrespecting certain rhythmic rules (compás) that are essential in flamenco.

Manitas de Plata is the father of Jacques, Maurice, and Tonino Baliardo and also uncle to Nicolas and Andre Reyes (the sons of renowned flamenco artist Jose Reyes), all members of the world-famous Rumba Flamenca musicians, Gipsy Kings.

Selected albums[link]

• Juerga! (1963, Philips, 844 535 PY) (re-released by Connoisseur Society in 1967 as CS2003)
• Flamenco Guitar (1965)
• Flamenco Guitar
• Manitas de Plata - The world's greatest living flamenco artist (1966, Phillips, BL 7787)
• Manitas de Plata et les siens (1967, Columbia Records, FL 363)
• The Art of the Guitar (1968, Everest Records, SDBR 3201)
• La guitare d'or de Manitas (1970, Columbia Records, S 63915)
• Et Ses Guitares Gitanes (1972, CBS, S65020)
• Excitement of Manitas De Plata (1973, RCA Camden, CDS 1139)
• Hommages (1973, Embassy Records, S EMB 31003)
• Feria Gitane (1994)
• Olé (1994)
• Manitas de Plata at Carnegie Hall (1995)
• Flaming Flamenco (1997)
• Manitas de Plata (1998)
• Camargue de Manitas (1999)
• Guitare D'Or Manitas de Plata (1999)
• Flores de mi corazon (1999, Troubadour Records)
• Guitarra Flamenco (2001)
• Manitas de Plata et los Plateros (2004)

Note: Juerga! was recorded in Arles, France, in October 1963, and featured Jose Reyes and Manero Ballardo, and the gypsies of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer. Producer E. Alan Silver; recording Engineer David B. Jones. A Connoisseur Society Recording.

See also[link]

• Los Niños de Sara

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website on Manitas de Plata
• Flamenco Forum
• First Recording of Manitas de Plata as a bittorrent download