On August 13, 1974, during the SuperFrancoFête held in Quebec City, three great names in Quebec music from three different generations captured the imagination by sharing the stage on the Plains of Abraham. Robert Charlebois, Gilles Vigneault and the already venerable Félix Leclerc, the three beasts at the heart of I saw the wolf, the fox, the lionattracted, to their great surprise, some 125,000 people. Fifty years later, still under the banner of the SuperFrancoFête, a large-scale show will once again bring together different generations of artists on the Plains, in order to showcase local Francophone creation.
On July 26, on the same site, will be held Plains of songsa free show with a poster boosted by steroids featuring, among others, Charlebois, who bridges the gap between the two events, but also Diane Dufresne, Claude Dubois, Marjo and Paul Piché.
This is for the veterans. Because the two-hour concert will also feature a multitude of talents, more or less young, from Pierre Lapointe to Simon Kearney, including Pierre Kwenders, Kanen, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Les Trois Accords, Souldia, Gab Bouchard, Muzion and the three friends Ariane Roy, Lou-Adriane Cassidy and Thierry Larose — who have been offering for the past few months The King, the Rose and the Wolf, a joint concert whose referential title almost forced their place on the poster.
“All these artists on the same stage, it’s unheard of. It’s like the show of the century,” says musical and artistic director Alex McMahon, who usually doesn’t overuse hyperbole. The one who collaborates on the show There are people at mass is also currently managing the music for the tribute show to RBO by Cirque du Soleil in Trois-Rivières.
In his eyes, Charlebois, Vigneault and Leclerc represent “a royal family of Quebec song,” and the artists he invited are worthy of this aura, he explains. “Let’s put Thierry Larose, Ariane Roy and Lou-Adriane Cassidy. These are people who really carry the torch of Quebec song; they are the cream of the crop.”
Lou-Adriane Cassidy and her two acolytes were very happy to receive this invitation, which is “in keeping” with the 50th anniversary of this legendary show. “It’s important for us to do it,” she notes. Over the course of their tour dates, the simple nod to the 1974 show took on more importance and became a way “to defend our love of Quebec culture, and then to carry that message.”
Plains of songs will not be a cover of I saw the wolf, the fox, the lionbut a working basis to highlight Quebec song, to “celebrate it and see how far we’ve come,” explains McMahon. The fact remains that it will be Gilles Vigneault who will get the ball rolling with a recorded video. And that Charlebois will sing Lindberg.
Paul Piché was present on the Plains in 1974, he who lived in Quebec City at the time, sharpening his pieces in the clubs of Saint-Jean Street. His first album would be released three years later. “I remember it, all alone in the big crowd, I experienced that. It was incredible,” says the father ofHappy with a spring. This is the first of these Quebec-style shows. Because there is something very special in our gatherings, we feel it a lot for example in national holidays, this kind of effervescence, but also dignity and gentleness. It is there [en 1974] that this kind of openness, strength and tenderness emerged at the same time. There was something there that was definitely… new, finally!”
All our interviews lead us to this spirit of communion, of collaboration, which must reign during Plains of songs. Gab Bouchard, who is finishing the tour for her second album, Grafignesemphasizes that we “are in an era of sharing” between veterans and “flos”, where “we want to do the best for everyone”. For Lou-Adriane, this musical sharing, “is what makes me love what I do so much. This exchange is really strong, there is not much that creates so many links” between two people. And maybe even with the audience.
Paul Piché is also a supporter of these collaborations, especially intergenerational ones, which are in his opinion much easier to do than at the time of I saw the wolf, the fox, the lion. He recalls that Félix Leclerc had been a bit reluctant to participate, especially with Charlebois who had a sulphurous reputation. “At that time, we were experiencing a generational conflict much more strongly than today, we didn’t understand each other at all with our parents. On many levels!” he says, laughing.
Diversity
Plains of songswhich will have a significant stage component, with the presence of dancers and circus artists, will also offer a multiple perspective on music. There will be songs, of course, but also rap, with Sarahmée and Muzion, pop-reggae, with Jay Scott, indigenous music, with Beatrice Deer… “It’s the image of what we would like from the dream Quebec,” says Paul Piché. “This openness and this affirmation at the same time.”
And at the same time, it adds another dimension to the diversity highlighted in Plains of songs : defending French also means defending plurality. “We have a duty to defend our difference. The French fact in America is a wealth. And not just for America, for humanity,” he explains. “It sounds big and pretentious, but it’s true all the same. And there’s no one else who’s going to do it for us. This event will participate in that, it will remind us where we are, who we are and where we’re going.”
If he relies on his own experiences, Gab Bouchard lives in hope for the future, he who meets many young people of the new generation in his shows and those of others. “They have pride, they listen to the tunes, they write lyrics on the walls of their room, illustrates the friendly mustached man from Lac-Saint-Jean. Today, with the Internet, TikTok and Instagram, it’s so easy to just be bombarded with pop stars American and tripping on the tunes that are mainstream right now. So, this is the fun to see people who say to themselves: “Well, we have that in Quebec too.” And then, it’s not because it doesn’t come from the United States that it’s not good.” That’s not sad, either.