Montreal is a choir | The Press

“Philippines, settle down a bit here. Italy, go this way, and Syria, come closer to the great choir…”

In the Sacré-Coeur-de-Jésus church, André Pappathomas places a hundred choristers before the general rehearsal of the concert The songs of the island, which will be presented on July 2 at the newly renovated Théâtre de Verdure in Parc La Fontaine. I attended two rehearsals of this concert, which turned out to be a particularly moving artistic and civic project.

The songs of the island gather around the Grand Chœur du Centre-Sud directed by André Pappathomas a dozen choirs from cultural communities from all over Montreal. On stage will be the choirs Panday Tinig (Philippines), Singiza (Rwanda), Antioche (Syria), Abruzzese (Italy), Canticorum (Latin America), Antsa Fitoriana (Madagascar), Haïti chante et danse (Haiti), the Duo de Peking Opera (China) and the Angham group (Middle East), to which are added soloists and guest musicians.

That’s a lot of people, and all these beautiful people together created this original concert where the musicality of languages ​​from everywhere mixes with the French language, because this show is also part of a project for the francization of immigrants. “What I find wonderful is being able to use music to get together,” said Ericka Alneus, head of culture and heritage at the City of Montreal, who oversees the project, in a telephone interview.

Honestly, I didn’t know there were so many diverse choirs in Montreal. In each of the cultural communities, they serve to maintain the link with the people, the language and the culture of origin. There are new arrivals as well as well-integrated immigrants; many speak French very well while others are learning it. For The songs of the island, each of the choirs will sing in their own language one or two pieces from their repertoire, including a refrain in French. So we can hear santa lucia by the Italians, No fan bwa by Haitians, Bayan ko by Filipinos, lamma bada by the Syrians…

André Pappathomas, who is also a composer, created the links between the songs and integrated the songs into the show. The end of the worldby Robert Charlebois, and Mommypopularized by Pauline Julien, a little audacity of her own.

It sounds complicated written like that, but you have to see and hear it to believe it. The result is fascinating, as is André Pappathomas, a passionate multidisciplinary artist who is very involved in his community, always full of ideas and projects. This is not the first time he has embarked on such a project. In 2016, he created breaths with 250 singers, who had sung in a dozen languages. For this project, he wandered around Montreal’s cultural centers looking for choirs that were all on hiatus due to the pandemic, which was “a hell of a job,” he says.

By introducing them to the principles of improvisation, he created the common pieces, drawing inspiration in particular from Claude Gauvreau! “They take me for a Martian, but when they stop doubting, it’s beautiful and it works,” he explains to me. I met each of the choirs to work on the creation of a new object. And all that forms a small humanity. All languages ​​come together to create a common work. Even if we have distinct languages, and of course we want to converge on the French language, that’s not what can prevent us from singing together. »

A collective work

In any case, the participants seem to have fun. You have to see them get excited about the well-known piece Bella Ciao that the director of the Abruzzese choir, Franco Guido, accompanies with his accordion, or hear them respond to the call of André Dopitari, director of the Singiza choir, who set the fire dancing breathlessly. It claps, it laughs, it sings and it dances in the church of my childhood, and I must admit that it fills me with joy.

“You can’t say no to André,” said Bernadette Mukandoli, from the Singiza choir, who has known the artist for a few years. “His projects are artistic and humanistic at the same time. André is the host society for us. This project with different countries is great, because we don’t feel alone. We listen to others. »

Moreover, André Pappathomas gives the assembly more than musical instructions. “Keeping in touch with the cultures around you is a big inspiration for us. Your presence is a wealth. And on July 2, come even if it rains. Be colourful, get beautiful and beautiful! »

For the young Filipino Khen del Carmen, who arrived in Quebec five years ago, joining a choir allowed him to be in contact with people of all generations in his community, and he is impressed by the ten cultures working together. “I hope it will have a big impact on the public. »

“I love it,” says Marie-Claire Antoine Léveillée, director of Haïti chante et danse, which she founded. She arrived in Quebec in the 1990s to become a teacher, now retired. “It’s a unifying project and it’s beautiful, in the end. I can’t wait to hear the other languages, because André allows us to sing in our language. »

The very friendly Franco Guido, 77, who arrived in Quebec from Italy when he was 16, is proud to participate in the songs of the island. “Me, I say thank you to the government of Quebec for leaving us free to keep our cultures. We are lucky to be here. This project includes everyone. We are building a Quebec together. »

These remarks join those of André Pappathomas, who believes that it is not so much necessary to “save” Quebec culture as to ensure its continuity with everyone.

“What will be on stage on July 2 is the Quebec of tomorrow, in this awareness of the French fact and this culture that I bring to them, he notes. They understand Quebeckers a little through me, even if I offer them strange things. That works ! We are fearful here, and that is normal in the context where we are a French-speaking society in North America. But I think it’s really important that we open our mentality and our visions, and that we find in ourselves a greater assurance towards our culture, which will allow us to be a much larger welcoming society. and exemplary. »

Basically, and this is the most beautiful thing, this show is a reflection of today’s Quebec: a collective work.

The songs of the island, July 2 at 8:30 p.m. at the Théâtre de Verdure in Parc La Fontaine. Free entry, doors open at 7:30 p.m.