Eyes of hunger | Behind the scenes of Quebec’s We Are the World

Netflix recently struck a big blow with The Greatest Night in Pophis documentary on the creation of We Are the World. But Quebec also had, in 1985, its anthem for Ethiopia. The artisans of song The eyes of hunger tell.

At the end of the line, between two sentences, Nathalie Simard spontaneously begins to sing. “The children, the children who look at us,” she intones in the same clear voice, some forty years after the recording of the Quebec response to We Are the Worldan earworm almost as insistent as its American inspiration.

But unlike the haunting anthem created by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, The eyes of hunger was not recorded in one night, but rather in two days (one for the music, the other for the voices), on April 18 and 19, 1985, at the initiative of the journalist Gil Courtemanche, who signed the lyrics, and the composer Jean Robitaille.

The eyes of hunger however had in common with We Are the World of to bring together, in the name of aid to Ethiopia, hostage to a historic famine, artists from radically opposed backgrounds, who few other pretexts could have brought together in the same room: Céline Dion and Gilles Vigneault, Nanette Workman and Michel Louvain, Marjo and Yvon Deschamps, Beau Dommage and Toulouse, Uzeb’s bassist Alain Caron and the musicians of the Orchester Métropolitain du Grand Montréal.

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“I was hesitant to realize an idea that I had had in mind for several weeks, thinking that someone else had perhaps thought of it,” explained Jean Robitaille in The Press of April 18, 1985. The eyes of hunger happened in fact not only after We Are the Worldbut also following Do They Know It’s Christmas?, Tears Are Not Enough And Ethiopiarespectively registered in London, Toronto and Paris.

It was when he met Gil Courtemanche by pure chance that the pianist convinced himself to make his project a reality. A foreign correspondent for Radio-Canada, the late journalist produced a moving report in December 1985 in the Bati refugee camp, a succession of images of slaughter which remains painful to watch.

“The subject was hot and, at the time, we were perhaps less desensitized to horror,” recalls publisher Daniel Lafrance, who in 1985 was Robitaille’s partner in the company Parole et Musique and who acted as coordinator. “I think that’s what explains why artists who were not at all from the same universe agreed to be there, despite their differences. »

“It was easy to convince everyone, but it was a challenge to have them at the right time, on the right date,” explains Jean Robitaille in an interview. And of course, everyone wanted to have their solo, but it wasn’t possible. »

If he keeps the memory of studio sessions without a hitch, the pianist remembers that the great of the greats, little accustomed to such a pop melody, had to turn to a friend. “Gilles Vigneault was struggling with his part, to the point where he asked me to change lines, but I imposed on him this passage which goes up and which highlighted his tenor voice. Jean Pierre [Ferland] had helped him phrase it well. »

If we had to redo it…

Nathalie Simard was obviously there, on April 19, 1985, with her brother René. Although she is at the peak of her popularity – The tuque war took to the stage in 1984 – she was only 15 years old at the time. “From the outside, I may have looked extroverted, but I was super shy,” she confides with her usual warmth. I was intimidated to be in the presence of all these great Quebec artists. »

Today, when she meets a friend she admires on a TV set, Nathalie no longer hesitates: “I say to myself: ‘I just have one life to live, I’ll ask him for a selfie.’ »

But unlike Diana Ross, who took the opportunity of a break during the recording of We Are the World to ask for an autograph from Daryl Hall, the young performer did not yet have this courage. “If I had to do it again, I would set up a photobooth and invite them one after the other, Renée Claude, Daniel Lavoie, Claude Léveillée, Céline, to tell them that I love them. »

But where was Valiquette?

Although Normand Brathwaite was allocated a small piece of song, other artists, although major, will be relegated to the choir – the Sheila E. treatment –, including Boule Noire, Patrick Norman, Paul Daraîche and Gilles Valiquette .

“It’s a bit embarrassing,” says Normand Brathwaite, giggling. “It seems to me that I would have given my place to Boule Noire. In any case, one thing is certain, the next time I come across Gilles Valiquette, I will apologize for having uploaded him in The eyes of hunger. »

But did Gilles Valiquette really participate in the Eyes of hunger ? “Look, no matter how much I dig through my memories, I don’t remember being there,” says on the phone the man whose colossal memory, in addition to perfect folk choruses, is his trademark.

How come his name is on the cover? “Everything happened very quickly. Maybe we had him on the list of people we wanted to call and we didn’t have time, or we called him and he couldn’t,” suggests Daniel Lafrance, who had to bring together the cast of Eyes of hunger in a few days and countless phone calls. “But if Gilles says he wasn’t there, he wasn’t there. »

Collective feeling

Launched on May 13, 1985, The eyes of hunger is a huge success. In addition to reaching first place on the radio charts, the bombastic ballad gave Gil Courtemanche and Jean Robitaille a citation in the Author and/or Composer of the Year category at the ADISQ Gala (they bowed to Corey Hart). The resulting disc – suggested retail price: $5.98 – will be certified gold (50,000 copies) in August.

But the desire to once again follow in the footsteps of the English and Americans, by offering Quebec its version of the charity concert Live Aid, encounters compassion fatigue. A major benefit show organized by the Quebec-Africa Foundation to be held at the Montreal Forum on September 13, 1985 was canceled the week preceding its presentation, given the reduced number of tickets sold (only 1,200).

“It’s as if people have forgotten Africa. Television and newspapers talk about it less often. If we don’t see people dying of hunger, we’re not interested in it,” thundered Gil Courtemanche in The Press of September 5, 1985.

“I hope I’m not right, but I have the impression that at the time, we had a greater collective feeling,” believes Jean Robitaille. It’s not that today we are not moved by what is happening on the planet, but artists are perhaps thinking more about what will be said about them if they get involved in this type of project. »

Read our article on The Greatest Night in Pop