Amarrage

Amarrage – The association that repairs boats and people.

Amarrage, meaning “Mooring” in English, is an association in northern Cotentin near Cherbourg, created in 1989 by mental health users and caregivers with the support of the Fondation Bon Sauveur de la Manche. The choir was started a little later, in 2000.

Amarrage writes: 

The Choir’s creation dates back to December 2000. At the time, nothing suggested the craze it would arouse. It was only a question of singing together, drawing on this fabulous collection of traditional sailor songs. The first “afternoon songs” that were not yet called rehearsals were a real success. The original group was then almost exclusively composed of patients and the caregivers who accompanied them. Over the first few weeks, the repertoire was enriched to reach a dozen titles. We were in April 2001 and an event was going to turn the life of our small group upside down: We were offered a concert!! An orchestra in the region had withdrawn at the last moment and the organisers of the event who had heard of our group offered us the opportunity to provide a show at short notice. Without thinking, we took up the challenge, it was a real success and a revelation for most of us who discovered the pleasure of singing in public. A favourable press article followed and it was from that moment that the choir was truly born with the purpose of concerts and the stage. 

The group has gradually expanded to reach its current makeup: about forty singers accompanied by several musicians (guitar, keyboard, mandolin, diatonic accordion, percussion, flute). It is composed of about half of members and half of patients, including several instrumentalists. Rehearsals take place every week at the MJC Chantereyne in Cherbourg. They are supervised by two nurse-musicians and take place in two stages: The morning is devoted to the work of the arrangements, and is rather reserved for instrumentalists. (It is also a privileged moment for some individual vocal work). 

In 2015, we made our first recording and this allowed us to produce a real marketable album. Our constant ambition is to offer patients, (too quickly underestimated by their status), the opportunity to show another side to  themselves. Working together as equals, the ”patients/caregivers/members” is of great interest, the status of patient does not prejudice to the quality of the work produced. 

In this space dedicated to singing, we  quickly realised that one be schizophrenic and also sing very well, or stick it out and work through  difficulties with rhythm,  rising above mistakes. There are of course patients in difficulty, but if they are, it is as a member within a group constituted where the references to normality are identical for all. It’s about singing together to each and everyone’s level of ability. 

Mental illness hardly alters artistic qualities, everyone finds himself almost on an equal footing while singing, this is his immense interest. If we refer to the welcome that is reserved for us most often, we can say that believe us, we have succeeded in being recognised as a “normal” group, an actor in local cultural life (250 concerts given to date: music festival, telethon, festivals, theatres, mentioned in “Le Figaro”…). 

Our goal is essentially a search for recognition and to raise awareness of the condition, providing  a new perspective on mental illness through our shows. 

The repertoire of sailors’ songs, created fundamentally by people whose job it was not to make music, is wonderful. To close this chapter, let’s quote this beautiful compliment that is regularly made to us in the form of this question forever unanswered: “But tell me, is the person over there a patient or not???”

The Amarrage Choir released its 3rd album, “Hissez les voiles,” (Hoist the sails) in 2024

The sale of this CD (€15 at the Leclerc de Tourlaville or on the association’s website) allows Amarrage to finance its various actions.

Earlier releases are no longer available.

The Association:

With its 150 members, the Amarrage association is open to all, thus creating social links between patients suffering from mental disorders, enthusiasts of traditional boats and sailor songs… Actions to preserve the maritime heritage are therefore carried out there.

The three main activities of Amarrage are; the restoration of traditional boats, maintaining a choir singing sailors’ songs and teaching old-fashioned navigation.

Actions to preserve the maritime heritage (restauration de vieux gréements) are carried out there. “We organise sea trips with members and patients. As for the choir, about 40 passionate singers, it has existed for 23 years and is a great success. We are in the pleasure, sharing and the human,” says the enthusiastic Dominique Roussiau, member of the board, accordionist and singer.

“Restoring the work allows man to repair the boat while giving free rein to his imaginary journeys, but it sometimes happens that the wounds of the boat echo those of man, and that in an extraordinary way it is the boat that repairs the man”