Heir to the guitarist of Guns N’Roses, but also to John Mayer and Réjean Bouchard, Ivan Boivin-Flamand is promised great things. Meet a musician who knows how to choose the right notes.
With his beret, his sunglasses and his medallion of braided pearls, indicating his first name, Ivan Boivin-Flamand has all the appearance of a born rock star. An impression that only confirms his feverish guitar playing, but always graceful, wise and ardent, which manages in a few notes to sketch vast and shimmering landscapes.
“Since I was 5 years old, I have felt emotions through notes. My mother often talks about how I cried every time I heard the circle of life song in The Lion King “, recently recalled the 26-year-old Atikamekw musician, met in Rouyn-Noranda, at the Festival of World Guitars in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, during which he accompanied Richard Séguin. His face breaks into one of his tender smiles. “I wonder what little Ivan heard in that tune. »
Originally from Manawan, in Lanaudière, Ivan Boivin-Flamand grew up between Joliette, La Tuque and his community. “My paternal grandfather played the drums at the boarding school,” he confides about his musical heritage, also remembering the road trips family, during which his mother inevitably played Guns N’Roses, Metallica and Bon Jovi.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Guitarist Ivan Boivin-Flamand
The solo of Bed of Roses sounded like Richie Sambora was making his guitar cry. And already at that time, I said to myself: “I would like to make others experience emotions like these.”
Ivan Boivin-Flamand
He has the opportunity to bring emotions to life more and more often, and given the number of artists he accompanies, it is very likely that you will come across him this summer, if you put your feet and ears on the site of a festival.
In October 2023, he experienced one of the “favorite moments of his life”, by joining the ranks of the house orchestra of the ADISQ Gala, which allowed him to marry his instrument to one of the most prodigious voices in Quebec, that of Ginette Reno.
“I was so happy, because my grandmother is a real fan of Ginette Reno,” he said. And as she has the same physique as Ginette Reno, when I was next to her on stage, I felt as if I was with my grandmother. After the gala, she called me crying. »
The Hollywood of Indigenous Music
Ivan Boivin-Flamand was only 16 years old when the show’s team Rhythm, broadcast on the APTN channel and hosted by Samian, notices this. His meeting, during filming, with drummer Louis-Philippe Boivin took him to Mani-Utenam, on the North Shore, where he has since established some of his most fruitful creative relationships. Since then, Ivan has accompanied or accompanied several Innu artists, including Scott-Pien Picard and Florent Vollant, in addition to being part of the lineup of the group Maten. Which explains why he is also sometimes taken for an Innu.
Kashtin were icons for indigenous music and that’s why for me, finding myself in Uashat Mani-Utenam was like arriving in the Hollywood of indigenous music.
Ivan Boivin-Flamand
Among his main influences: Slash, from whom he borrowed this refuge of a signature look allowing him to stand out from the crowd, while veiling his shyness. “When I was little and I listened to Slash, it reminded me of the TIE Fighters in Star Wars », he remembers about these ships of the Galactic Empire, both agile and fast, but fragile. Like his solos.
His immaculate sound, with dazzling brilliance, also recalls that of John Mayer. Set Me Freethe first extract from an EP to be released on September 6, points in the direction of an intoxicating and satiny soft rock, in direct line with the most recent album of the handsome American kid, Sob Rock (2021), his homage to yacht rock. “It’s a leap into the void, to go in that direction,” observes Ivan, “because for many people, still to this day, indigenous music only rhymes with folk. »
Extract of Set Me Freeby Ivan Boivin-Flamand
Réjean Bouchard, a mentor
But Ivan Boivin-Flamand’s most influential mentor will remain Réjean Bouchard, to whom he paid tribute at the Festival of Guitars of the World in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, during his two shows with Richard Séguin’s group.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Ivan Boivin-Flamand in rehearsal with Richard Séguin
Accompanying the author of America Daybut also Pierre Flynn, Roch Voisine, Chloé Ste-Marie, Claire Pelletier and Florent Vollant, the late guitarist, who died in July 2023, was among the most unwavering friends of the Innu people and the indigenous musicians of Quebec, in general.
In Mani-Utenam, Ivan and Réjean often met in the evening at Studio Makusham, to chat about music over a beer, informal but essential moments of transmission.
On the way to Rouyn-Noranda, I listened to a lot of songs by Richard Séguin on which we hear Réjean, to practice in my head. I had a good cry. I miss Réjean.
Ivan Boivin-Flamand
Despite all the expressive resources at his virtuoso disposal, Ivan Boivin-Flamand will have learned from his master that it is better to know how to choose the right note than to put on tons of them, without really embodying them.
What is a good solo? we ask him. “I like solos that breathe. I think the moment you leave a silence is more important than the notes you play. » Long pause. “Basically, what I mean is that a good solo is about putting the right notes in the right places. »
Member of the group Maten, he will be on the Loto-Québec stage on June 19, at 6 p.m., as part of the Francos. Ivan Boivin-Flamand will also be in Quebec on June 21, in Petite-Vallée on July 2 and in Mani-Utenam on August 4.
Check out the Maten show page at the Francos