Renée Martel’s songs resonated Sunday night at the Francos de Montréal, like so many outstretched hands. On the lawn, at a time when the sun says hello to the downtown condo towers, a colorful crowd had gathered to hear and see the live adaptation of the tribute record It’s our storya project led by the daughter of the great singer.
The cover of the album released at the end of March set the tone. We see Renée Martel reaching out to her little Laurence Lebel, with a benevolent gaze, a smile on her face. This transmission, this transfer, was at the center of the album, and it was still the case on the boards.
In front of the stage, there was indeed a mass of younger public, come to hear the stars of the evening, resulting from a relatively alternative scene. But the gray heads were also numerous, some having even brought their folding chairs. They mainly came to hear Renée Martel. This is where handover comes into play.
The words of Take my hand, sung by Sisters Boualy and Alexe — perhaps the one who stood out the most on Sunday — took on a new meaning here. “Take my hand in your hand / Destiny can do nothing more”. Hand in hand, Renée Martel’s legacy lived on, hand in hand, her performers certainly found a new audience.
Take Saratoga, a duo formed by the couple Chantal Archambault and Michel-Olivier Gasse. They came to sing Darling, a nice ride, of course, but a neighbor in the crowd couldn’t help saying “I don’t know them”. During the second salvo of the pair, returned to sing When the sun says hello to the mountains, said neighbor was now seduced, and said to herself that “I think it would be fun to see them on show”. Renée Martel, in a corner of the sky, had done useful work.
Handover
Difficult, all the same, to make thrilling such a concert-tribute, which ends up becoming an almost uninterrupted series of handover. Pull the Coyote sings If we could start overand presents Étienne Coppée (excellent) who sings Our children’s games before presenting Gab Bouchard, who presents Antoine Corriveau and so on. In the middle of all this, the project manager, Pilou, acted like the master of ceremonies, without really wanting to do it.
We understood from all that that it was not an evening of speeches, testimonies or great speeches, and that the music would do the job. Moreover, at the start of the show, Laurence Lebel discreetly went on stage to light a lantern placed on the grand piano, without saying a word.
The first half of the show was closer to the record and its less obvious choice of tracks, but the second part energized Renée Martel fans. When the sun says hello to the mountains, Take my hand, Come change my lifean excellent group version of This is my story Lion King way, and finally We love country musicwhich made die-hards, from here or Tennessee, roar with joy.
Absent from the disc, Mara Tremblay and Cindy Bédard had slipped into the line-up of the show, adding a country guarantee to the whole. At the end, the entire crew was on stage, even the kids from Saratoga and Pilou were in the spotlight. New little hands that can, perhaps, keep the flame of the great Renée Martel alive.