Q’s With Charlotte Gaurichon, Director Of French Promoter And Booking Agency Caramba

Charlotte and Luc Gaurichon
Caramba
– Charlotte and Luc Gaurichon
The heads of Caramba, a promoter and booking agency based in Paris

In the lead-up to the 9th MaMA Event in Paris, Oct. 17-19, Pollstar speaks with a couple of players on the French live entertainment scene. First up is Caramba, a tour promoter and booking agency from Paris, launched in 2000 by Luc Gaurichon.
Initially specializing in jazz and world music, Caramba today represents artists of all nationalities and genres in France and the world. The company’s roster includes up-and-coming talent such as Ibeyi, Faada Freddy, as well as established acts such as Zaz, and Ben l’Oncle Soul.
The company has been diversifying and expanding its offering of shows to family entertainment, ballet and dance, as well as and musicals. Other projects are underway, including theater.
Caramba is made up by a dynamic team, led by Luc & Charlotte Gaurichon. Pollstar got a chance to send Charlotte Gaurichon, who spent 15 years working for a design art contemporary gallery in Paris before joining her father at Caramba, a few questions.
Do you remember the moment you first fell in love with live music? Do you remember the artist, the venue, the setting?
Charlotte Gaurichon: Well, that’s quite hard for me to answer since I fell in love with music when I was little. I remember more of the dressing rooms and makeup stands at the Paleo Festival in 1983 than the artists who were performing. My memories are full of anecdotes, from Alain Bashung to Santana.
I can talk about my latest live experience, which caught me by surprise: Tash Sultana at the Olympia last month. This young lady is just amazing, she is inhabited by music in a way you have rarely seen.
What’s your company philosophy?
The nature of our business is truly special: Caramba is creating emotions. We are handcrafting special and unique moments for thousands of people. 
We claim that our music, our artists and our energy feed souls in an inspiring way.
I think all of our partners are guided by passion for this job, which is essential to perform in this industry. We feed of creating those moments.
Since the very beginning Caramba helped young talent grow, which gave us the momentum for the future. To this day it is what motivates us at all levels.
Is the live music scene in France healthy?  What are the indicators that make you reach that conclusion?
The market has changed a lot. The drop in [recorded] music revenues will push more and more artists to live. Live music diversifies to more niche events and locations, rather than blockbuster events and cities. The same holds true for festivals.
The internet tore down barriers. People all over the world can now watch intimate street performances by artists such as Zaz. Has this development helped you export French speaking artist into the world?
One quarter of our top line-up is made in France, including Ibeyi, Imany, Theo Lawrence and Zaz. Caramba is one of the French producers that is very present around the world. However, the strong relationships with our local partners in the different territories are the key for producers like us. More so than anything the internet has made possible.
Apart from digitalization, what development in the last 10 years has had a major influence on the way you work and do business? 
The change in consumer habits. People can find music on many different platforms. The black market for concert tickets is a huge problem that is obviously not so easy to solve.
There’s a lot of consolidation happening in the live events market. Few companies control vast amounts of talent, content and venues. Does this bother you? 
Caramba is a resilient company, doing its best to keep going with simple moral and ethical values. Fortunately, there are still some artists that are responsive to our way of doing business.
What’s next for Caramba?
We are looking for diversification and new types of entertainment. Apart from the music shows we started a dedicated business unit for all sorts of circus and magic shows three years ago, a urban business unit, called Plaisance, and an event agency, clled Happycultrice, this year.
We are currently preparing an immersive exhibition for 2019, about which I cannot say much yet, so there’s lots of different projects on the way.
Anything you’d like to add
We are very lucky to be progressing in the current music business environment. I’m very proud to be part of a company that is creating moments of happiness and it’s a real privilege to experience those moments with thousands of people.
I would like to address artists, who believe that small producers can handle big shows, and tell them that they are very welcome aboard!