The Francouvertes showcasing competition for emerging French-speaking musical talent is relaunching the machine today by unveiling the list of its 21 new competitors at the Lion d’Or, in the presence of the winner of the last edition, singer-songwriter Étienne Coppée. For its part, the Ma première Place des Arts competition began its quarter-finals on March 2. While praying that the public will return to discover the musical talents of tomorrow in the halls thanks to the loosening of health restrictions, the organizers are at least delighted to see that the next generation is still present, even after two grueling years of pandemic. .
Sylvie Courtemanche, director of Francouvertes, is excited to finally be able to present her new cohort in front of a live audience — as well as online, last year’s webcast experience having been such a success. that it will be repeated. Last year, during the 25and edition of the competition, “we received far fewer entries than in previous years,” she admits. This year, we received around 210 files, a number similar to what we received before the pandemic.
An equally reassuring observation on the side of My first Place des Arts: the next generation still has an appetite for this profession of the stage, assures Jocelyn Bérubé, general and artistic director of the Society for the advancement of the song of French expression. , the instigator of the competition. “We were apprehensive about what awaited us since we had measured a slight drop in registrations during the pandemic. Last year, he had received around 70 applications; this year, more than 120 entries were submitted for the competition which, after this spring edition, will now be held in the fall.
“Regarding registrations and the interest shown in us by young creators, it has returned to the pre-pandemic level on our side, says Bérubé. Not only did we not feel a decline in interest [à l’endroit du concours], but the applications were very interesting, even more mature than what we were used to. It seems that singer-songwriters better understand the personal touch they want to put in their project. We feel less in them the emulation, the desire to do like an already established artist having an influence on their approach. »
This will be the good side of the forced break in the middle of the show, assesses Jocelyn Bérubé: “Obviously, the singer-songwriters had more time to lock themselves in their bubbles and to find what they really wanted to say. They experienced fewer distractions, fewer activities, since everyone was somewhat at home, with plenty of time to invest in an artistic project. As for the Francouvertes, Sylvie Courtemanche noticed the presence of several artists she had never heard of in the network for the development of emerging artists. “There are also a lot of projects founded by musicians who work in different other bands”, as if the last years without touring had gathered new free electrons from the music scene in the studio.
It seems that singer-songwriters better understand the personal touch they want to put in their project
If the next generation responds to the call, it does so by properly measuring the challenges that await it at a time when the entertainment industry hopes to regain its former dynamism, a situation that could slow down the development of young artists, fears Jean- François Lippé, competition director of the Festival international de la chanson de Granby. “The environment was put into hibernation anyway. I think that in the next few years we will eventually get back to normal, but it will take time. »
“It would not be doing them a favor to put on rose-colored glasses” to present the reality of an environment shaken by two years of forced break, recognizes Bruno Robitaille, director of the École de la chanson de Granby. “But we had the same speech before the pandemic. That’s why we offer career management training: it takes talent to break through, but the work behind it and the understanding of the ecosystem in which they will have to develop are just as important. And in the end, there will be few chosen ones: it requires a whole effort to emerge first, then to persist. »