Teacher for deaf children by day, singer by night, Cindy Baraté, 41, has found her way! At the beginning of July 2022, the artist from Liège caused a sensation during the LaSemo festival in Belgium by translating a frenzied slam. Meet.
Handicap.fr: A video of you performing the slam of the singer Barcella during the LaSemo festival in Belgium in July 2022 caused a sensation on the Internet. Did you expect it?
Cindy Baraté: When I was tagged under the video posted on social media (linked below on our Instagram account) and saw the hundreds of thousands of views, I mightn’t believe it. I was not even aware that we were being filmed at that time! In the hours and days that followed, I received tons of messages from all over the world and it’s proof that we are always opening a few more doors… It’s just brilliant!
H.fr: You seem to wear several hats between singing and teaching. What does your daily life look like?
CB : It is very busy but exciting! You might say that I have two full-time jobs, on the one hand my school days with deaf children, on the other my singing performances in my free time. Passionate regarding languages since always, I wanted to learn French-speaking Belgian sign language at the age of 19, and I then graduated to teach. At the same time, I received artistic training (in comedy and singing) which opened the doors to singing for me followingwards. Today, I have the chance to combine my two passions and make it my job.
H.fr: How did you discover chansigne?
CB : I got into the habit of signing the songs I like. One day, when I was with some friends, one of them offered me to sign a concert he was organizing. In the audience was a festival organizer with whom I spoke, and the adventure began. If, in France, the practice is rather developed – there are besides some formations of chansigne, in particular that which I followed in Reims -, it is not the case in Belgium where I am one of the only ones to practice. On the other hand, sign language interpreting is well established there.
H.fr: What distinction do you make with interpreting?
CB : Generally, several performers take turns during an event while I am alone on stage. Then they have to keep a certain neutrality, provide a literal translation. Conversely, the songwriter aims to embellish the song in sign language, to seek poetry. He is integrated like a musician, moves, dances… And that’s what takes me the most time. Generally, the concert lasts regarding an hour. But, that is the tip of the iceberg. Behind, I dissect the texts for regarding 25 to 30 hours. I get the ” setlist » a month in advance, then I learn the texts by heart. And, like a musician, I make my own score. Often, I manage to slip this preparation time into the evening, at night or during my long train journeys. Sometimes people sitting in front of me look at me strangely because I sign alone to train (laughs).
Once the lyrics are translated, I sometimes show them to deaf friends to get their impression before the final touch with the artist. We agree between ten minutes and an hour together before the show. The idea is to work on the deep meaning of certain metaphorical sentences, which we do not understand with the literal translation. Recently, I signed the text of a singer who spoke of ” foxes who have blocked his way “. In fact, when you look closer, the foxes are the hypocrites. Of course, I did not sign the word ” renard but its figurative meaning.
H.fr: This requires incredible mastery of the texts, at a very sustained pace. How do you do ?
CB : Not only is it time-consuming but, in addition, it is energy-intensive. But I love it! It’s true that following each concert I’m totally HS, I often allow myself a little nap (laughs). You should know that I have high intellectual potential (HPI), I have energy to spare and a brain that works constantly! And, in my job, it’s more of an advantage. For example, I am hypermnesiac, I have a very great memory. During a sequence of six concerts, I have regarding 120 songs to learn by heart. So far, it has never happened to me to wrong notes “. But, just in case, I always have a headset with the lyrics playing in the background to match the rhythm of the song. If I’ve never had a blanc », it has happened that the artist crashes live and that I continue because I know his song by heart! I went to whisper the lyrics in his ear and we left together…
H.fr: Are there more and more requests from event organizers to offer songwriting services?
CB : Unfortunately, this has a cost that can deter. We think, wrongly, that it is intended for a minority of people, deaf, while everyone benefits from it! 90% of my work is for hearing people, I make them aware of disability. My body and my face are so expressive that it becomes a universal language. Some deaf people systematically criticize on the pretext that ” it’s never enough but when organizers try to put things in place, we should rather encourage them. I still have the impression that our era is geared towards accessibility and that more and more events like LaSemo’s will see the light of day. Besides, I will soon be speaking at the concerts of Hoshi (article in link below) and Cali.
H.fr: A dream?
CB : Going up on the Eurovision stage one day so that this European competition becomes truly accessible to all.
H.fr: What is the feedback from the public?
CB : I am in ” full accessibility (“Total accessibility”, editor’s note). So, throughout the concert, deaf and hearing people are one. On a fast slam like the one made with Barcella during the LaSemo festival, it goes very (too) fast for everyone, with or without a disability. But that is not the main thing. What counts is above all the stage performance, the relationship between the artist and me. It’s a feat, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t understood everything.
At the end, my greatest reward is the comments of the spectators. Hearing people have said to me: Since we saw you, we took sign language lessons! “. Once, the mother of a young deaf girl came to see me to tell me that her daughter had never understood the meaning of the songs until now, which she was systematically obliged to translate for her. And, there, it was the first time that she saw her daughter reproducing my signs. I turned to the young girl who replied: This is, in fact, the music “. Same scenario with a 73-year-old lady; she confided to me that she was going to a concert for the first time and that ” the music was beautiful ».
“All reproduction and representation rights reserved.© Handicap.fr. This article was written by Clotilde Costil, Handicap.fr journalist”
