"[H]e began singing in Occitan"

Adapted (or better yet, ripped - off) from this source:"Marseille's Ethnic Boulliabaisse," by Mr. Andrew Purvis, with photographer Ms. Kate Brooks. Smithsonian, December 2007.

Page 93.

"Not long before I left the city [of Marseille], I met with Manu Theron, a percussionist and vocalist who leads a band called Cor de La Plana.

"Although he was born in the city, Theron spent part of his childhood in Algeria; there, in the 1990s, he played in Arab cabarets, clubs he likens to saloons in the Wild West, complete with whiskey, pianos and prostitutes."

Occitan, the centuries - old language....

"Also around that time, he began singing in Occitan, the centuries - old language related to French and Catalan, once spoken widely in the region.

"As a youngster in Marseille, he had sometimes heard Occitan."

Theron goes to say that:

"Singing this language [Occitan] is very important to remind people of where they come from."

"As our author thoughtfully points out, "Nor does it bother him [Theron] that audiences don't understand his lyrics.

"As a friend puts it, We don't know what he is singing about, but we like it anyway.

"The same might be said of Marseille: in all its diversity, the city may be difficult to comprehend -- but somehow it works."