At the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Emerging Music Festival (FME), let us first emphasize that the celebrations of the 20e anniversary did not serve as a pretext for the organization to indulge in nostalgia for the successes and fine concerts that have made the reputation of the event. For four days, the poster gave pride of place to young shoots rather than old branches. One of them was still a pleasure to see again in Rouyn-Noranda: Gros Mené, whose concert, offered on the night of Saturday to Sunday, reminded our good memories of the first steps, noisy and determined, of the now famous festival .
The proposal itself served as a tribute concert to the 20th anniversary of the festival, Fred Fortin having participated in the founding edition, accompanied as always by guitarist Olivier Langevin. Together they form the ventricles of the beating heart of Gros Mené, which is now completed by drummer Robbie Kuster and multi-instrumentalist Tonio Morin-Vargas. They performed at the Cabaret de la Dernier chance, one of the four original venues that hosted the first edition of the FME. Candy for fans of the band as much as of the festival.
At midnight, the cozy bar and show was already packed as if the pandemic knew no tomorrow. The orchestra unpacked its rock-prog-stoner repertoire for a hundred minutes, sometimes letting itself drift unresistingly into the psychedelic grooves fertilized by Langevin’s solos; during one of them, Serge Brideau, singer of Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire, joined the quartet on stage to lead them into a joyously absurd rock incantation. This rock feast smelled of joy and debauchery, two other characteristic traits of the FME.
However, the festival has this habit of closing its weekend with an established artist, a legend, a tribute to an artist who cleared the way for emerging artists. Not this year: the closing concert on Sunday evening was entrusted to Hubert Lenoir, a “child of the FME”, as presented by Jenny Thibault, co-founder of the festival. The beast brought together a maximum of festival-goers and offered a concert as always explosive and exuberant.
This was precisely the theme of this final evening. The exuberance of Lenoir, Rich Aucoin – the Nova Scotian pop artist had the crowd dancing with his repertoire, let’s say, eye-catching, but effectively delivered –, and Lou-Adriane Cassidy, torrid in the first part. Her rock song took off, the musician accompanying herself with the cream of the capital’s musicians (Thierry Larose rocks on the guitar, solid PE Beaudoin of the group Ping Pong Go on the drums). She passionately embodied the songs from her remarkable album Lou-Adriane Cassidy says to you: Good evening, published a little less than a year ago. At the end, his interpretation of Between my legsfollowed by Listenis one of the best rock moments we have witnessed since the beginning of the summer — what passion, what charisma, what spontaneity she has, Lou-Adriane!
Other famous young shoots also stood out earlier in the day. Under a strong sun, dream pop singer-songwriter Alicia Clara had the right tone at 2 p.m., playing for the curious and their little families at the Guinguette chez Edmund. Voice and right tone, groove calibrated to the milligram, hovering or more fleshy in terms of rhythm, Clara swims on the surface of rock with style, offering as a bonus the unreleased EP Velveteenexpected on October 28.
At 5:30 p.m., another shoot took to the air on the roof of a tanning salon in downtown Rouyn: La Sécurité en show hidden, not so hidden, perched up there, with the crowd way down in the parking lot. A short half-hour of post-punk/no wave songs that are just enough aggressive, suggesting an exciting future for this group including a member of Choses Sauvages and the singer-songwriter Laurence-Anne.
At the finish line of this 20e edition which will have attracted just over 30,000 spectators, Jenny Thibault says she is “satisfied, especially in terms of the quality of the programming. Many festival-goers arrived here with little knowledge of the artists we presented, and they made great discoveries, and that’s kind of the mandate we gave ourselves 20 years ago. The FME is the wasteland of young shoots and their future audiences.
Young people, points out the co-founder of the festival, more aware and committed to the progress of society. His comment echoes the particular context in which this 20e edition of the festival, just weeks after the debate over Horne smelter pollution standards became a matter of national interest. This puts the organization of the festival in difficulty, one of its outdoor stages being sponsored by the multinational – as are most of the festivals in the region, as is also the Center Dave-Keon Arena Glencore, home of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Junior-Major Hockey League.
On the site, in the population, the case of the foundry makes people talk between two concerts, we could see. A little everywhere in town, we come across posters calling for a demonstration on September 23: “Together for 3 ng/m3 », for the Quebec arsenic pollution standard to which the foundry still does not subscribe. The question also caused a stir among festival guests: a letter to be signed, addressed to the festival organization, was circulating among the musicians expressing their discomfort with the sponsorship of the Horne foundry in the FME’s production budget. Just before Hubert Lenoir’s concert, activists unfurled a banner from the VIP terrace. “Our lives are worth more than your profits,” it read.
Claude Fortin, president of the board of directors and head of major partnerships, confirms that her team is “reflecting” on the sponsorship agreement with the foundry, renewed annually and which accounts for a fraction of the festival’s sponsorship revenue.
“But it’s not just the cultural sector that needs to ask these questions, it’s also the sports and community sectors” which also benefit from sponsorship support from the region’s main industrial sector, adds Claude Fortin. “When we turn to private companies to finance our projects, it is difficult to turn elsewhere than to the mines, since we are a mining region. Then, if we don’t want to be associated with that, we have to find other sponsors, outside our region, or agree to do without and raise the price of tickets. »