Paris souterrain
Today: Tod Seelie, photographer and author of BRIGHT NIGHTS: Photographs of Another New York.
Issue No. 566
The Final Katarnaval
Tod Seelie
The Final Katarnaval
by Tod Seelie
Have you ever tried to move a piano? It’s not easy, even if you’ve cut it in half. Trying to get one into the famous catacombs of Paris was a whole other thing. I can’t tell you how we did it; I can only tell you it was easier to get it back out.
Why would you need a piano in the catacombs, you might ask? For most of the past decade, a group of dedicated “cataphiles”—Parisians who trawl the underground regularly, building, exploring, and forming their own vibrant subculture—have been throwing their own underground version of Carnival, literally underground. This was the event’s final year, because the encroachment of YouTubers and TikTokers descending below the surface brought the organizers too many headaches.
A friend decided to help out by delivering a surprise for the occasion. Hence the piano. Attendees wandering the epic culminating party in the tunnels discovered musical performances, often obscured behind a cloth-covered doorway so that only the performers’ illuminated silhouettes were visible. Eventually, Cerberus—two men in a dog suit having a raucously good time—opened the doorway to a secondary chamber, where the piano was revealed as part of a chorale performance.
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