I first met him in 1977,- or perhaps it was 1978, at my sister’s place in Quatres Bornes. Fanfan very quickly picked up my fascination with his Ravanne abilities. It went well beyond being able to play the instrument. He mastered and controlled it like no one I had ever seen before, or since. He asked me to visit him at his place in Candos. There, began my initiation with the instrument under the watchful direction of the master

This quickly developed into beautiful friendship. We ended up being geographically far from each other for an extended time, but Fanfan was never far from my mind. We caught up every time I came back home. I took delight in first introducing him to my wife. Then our first child, and then our second.

I often wondered why my friendship with him endured time and distance while so many others had failed.

There was much to admire about Fanfan - his intellect, despite his illiteracy and lack of formal education; his curiosity about the world in which he lived; his extraordinary ability to analyse events and make sense of his world; his generosity…

Perhaps the most pervasive reason was my awe of his ability to see, not just to look. He saw beauty, inspiration and poetry in the very same events and world that the rest of us looked upon as insipid, perhaps banal at best. If only for this, he must surely rank among the handful of giants among us.