After a choir of 200 children on Thursday, it was Saturday the turn of musicians, mostly from the Gaspé region, to pay tribute to the artists of the 39th edition of the Festival en chanson de Petite-Vallée, Paul Piché and Émile Bilodeau.
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A performance that took the honored artists through the full range of emotions: from laughter, to tears and then to great joy.
Four of the eight singers of the 2022 edition started the ceremony gently with a delicate and theatrical version of “Ça va” by Émile Bilodeau. The comic interventions of Laurence Castera and Nathan Vanheuverzwijn, intertwined with the soft harmonies of Melba and Mariko, matched perfectly.
The first song-tribute to Paul Piché came from a Hispanic quartet from Gaspé, composed, among others, of Juan Sebastian Larobina, who offered an entirely Hispanic version of “I tell stories”, bringing an almost romantic to the tune.
Animated by Marc Hervieux and the young Daphné, 13 years old, a duo almost at the antipodes, their little teasing, those of the opera singer towards Paul and his lack of punctuality at his own concert, and those of Daphné towards Mr. Hervieux and Mr. Piché , made the crowd laugh.
Stéphane Bilodeau, Émile’s father, took over the first song his son composed by playing a young Émile, “embarrassed, who seems lousy and not good with girls”, although very comical, a performance that turned out to be quite touching.
Only downside during the show, the impressive number of numbers could offer some lengths. The musical-rapped number of Michel Tremblay’s Bingo monologue, although funny and appreciated by the public, could very well not have been there.
But despite the large number of performances, one of the highlights of the show came towards the end of the evening, with the Gaspésien Manuel Gasse, who can be described as an immortal of the festival, who made the public laugh out loud with a COVID-19 medley of songs by Paul Piché. The musician made the crowd laugh out loud, thereby bringing out the pandemic sickness of the room.
The “Émile Bilodeau” evening will continue Saturday evening, with the concert of the 26-year-old Longueuillois around 8 p.m., at the Grand Chapiteau Québecor in Grande-Vallée.