Tradition is tradition. The Vigil of the day before, explains multi-instrumentalist Simon Beaudry, still takes place on December 30 and in three parts: a first invited group – this year the trad fusion trio É.T.É. – followed by the host group Le Vent du Nord, of which he is a member, and finally, the highlight of the evening, all the musicians inviting to dance, with the cuddler calling the gigueux. All these beautiful people at Club Soda, “seven or eight hundred people” forming the square set, dreamed aloud Beaudry ten days ago, the day after the government announcement decreeing that due to the Omicron wave , dancing would again be prohibited.
It was much better in the good old days, eh, Olivier? “For us, the Vigil of the day before, is a party family ”, explains Olivier Demers, violinist of the Vent du Nord. “We invite the people we love, we have a big table before the show, we eat well, we say “thank you!”. And at midnight, we bring out the bubbles on stage. It’s an incredible Vigil, for us ”, and for all the spectators of this unmissable event at the end of the year.
So let’s hope that this unusual Vigil will not become the tradition, because last year, Le Vent du Nord had also removed dance from the program, pre-recording its Vigil at the Joliette Cultural Center rather than at the Soda Club to then offer it in broadcast on the Web and on the airwaves of some twenty community radio stations in Quebec, an initiative which, according to the group, had interested 25,000 listeners last year, and which will be repeated on December 31 and 1er January.
Thus, in recent weeks, the good and far-sighted people of the Compagnie du Nord, producers of the event, had foreseen the complications. The Thursday evening vigil will therefore be presented without an audience, live for the cameras. “In case, we had planned to present a trad session instead of the dance, a bit like those held at Vices & Versa”, a bar in Little Italy renowned for its selection of craft beers and its trad Sundays. Several of the craftsmen of these evenings will be part of the Vigil, including the fiddler Mathieu Gallant, a regular at the L’Albion bar-brasserie in Joliette, “probably the greatest session musician in Quebec” today, underlines Simon Beaudry. He knows hundreds of songs “from our repertoire and can play for four or five hours without playing the same twice.”
Like the presenters and managers of theaters in this pandemic era, musicians must “constantly turn around on a dime,” recalls violinist Olivier Demers, in a resigned tone. “Afterwards, for us from the North Wind, our concern is the entire European tour planned for January, when we hoped to launch our new album there, highlighting the 20e anniversary of the group. “
Expected on January 28, the new songs on the album 20 spring, eleventh of the North Wind, will be partly unveiled during the Vigil of the day before; the group hoped to give two concerts in Germany and four in France before being hosted on the very day of the launch at the prestigious Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, where the reputation of the Quebec group is well established. Due to Omicron’s rapid progress, plans are uncertain today.
There is a traditional song in the new album called The Bayonne ship, that the Charbonniers de l’Enfer have already enshrined. “It’s the story of this boat caught in a storm, and its panicking crew,” says Olivier Demers. The sailors get carried away: “We have to cut the mast, otherwise we will get carried away! We must protect the sails! ” It is very dramatic. But there the captain comes forward and says, “As long as I’m captain, the mainmast will be in my company. Our ship is steered well and I have confidence in you, we will get there safely ”. This song is for us a kind of metaphor for this pandemic that we are all living together: “Courage, wait, we will get through”. “
“You know us, we have always been able to stay the course, and we will always find a way to make our projects work, and that is the most important thing for us”, concludes Olivier Demers. The new year will be marked by celebrations for Le Vent du Nord, which promises several other surprises to celebrate its 20e birthday.