terroir: tɛrˈwɑː, french tɛrwar/. noun.
loosely: "a sense of place." or, the environment in which a particular wine or regional agricultural product is produced, including the soil, topography, and climate that lend it its characteristic taste. while traveling in search of the mississippi blues in france, i've heard this term time and again when asking people what it is that makes them so passionate about the blues, and why it has such a special connection with france. it's "elemental," people will say. "deeply rooted" (in a people, a place). the people and geography of southwest of france, especially, remind me so much of the deep south. and their appreciation of the blues, like those in mississippi, seems born of a kind of communion between a place, its history, and craft, as nicolas miliani of french record label normandeep blues tells me.