“I’m leaving something important. I have puffs of sadness and relief…” At the end of the line, we feel all the ambivalence that lives in Dan Bigras. The singer-songwriter announced on Thursday that he was leaving his role as spokesperson and project manager for the Show du Refuge. “I got there. I did this when I was 32, I’m 64: it’s half my life! »
Posted at 3:50 p.m.
It’s more than a pang in his heart, he says, but it’s also a weight off his shoulders. He loved putting on this show since 1991 for the benefit of the Refuge des jeunes, which helps young men in difficulty and homeless. But fatigue and anxiety, he explains, push him to pass the baton.
“I was very stressed,” he says. Put on a bad show, you get over it. But doing a bad Refuge Show, fearing that the Refuge would close, has always haunted me. Ti-guys are like my little brothers. »
He had been postponing that decision for a few years, he said. He announced it to the leaders of the Refuge des jeunes last March. He will still be at the helm of 32e Show du refuge, on October 13 at La Tohu, which will be presented to the public for the first time since 2019 and broadcast for 30e once on Radio-Canada television in December.
The guest artists, as usual, will be numerous and varied: Ginette Reno, Samian, Lulu Hughes, Guylaine Tanguay, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Luce Dufault, Yama, Isabelle Boulay and Yves Lambert.
There is nothing but a desire to preserve his health, explains Bigras, which motivated him to make this decision. His father died of a heart attack at age 57 and his grandfather at age 50. “I’m in good shape, but I want to keep the chances on my side. I have less energy, not because of cancer [colorectal de stade 2, qui s’est déclaré en 2017], but chemotherapy. And then I had an accident [de VTT, en 2020] which left me with a metal collarbone. It ends up wearing out! »
His association with the Show du Refuge, he recalls, stems from an idea of France Labelle, general manager of the Refuge des jeunes, who saw him on Jean-Pierre Coallier’s show singing the phrase “I hope may we be forgiven elsewhere”, taken fromanimal angela poem by Gilbert Langevin that he set to music.
After two shows that were not televised, in 1991 and 1992, his former producer Guy Latraverse suggested to Dan Bigras that he propose it to beautiful sundays, at Radio Canada. “I found our show a bit bum for [l’animateur] Henri Bergeron and his mustache! he said laughing. But Guy was right. It was a great platform. I have enjoyed total freedom since the beginning from Radio-Canada. »
He leaves the Show du Refuge reassured about the future of the Refuge des jeunes, but worried about the fate reserved for marginalized young people. “Personally, he says, if I was able to show the public that it is not waste, but that they need love and help, I hope to have contributed to changing the way we look on these young people who are suffering. »
Dan Bigras will remain associated, whether he likes it or not, with the Show du Refuge even after his departure next month. “Anyway, I don’t want to mourn it. I won’t be far. They know I’ll be there if they need me. »