The Tam-tams du Mont-Royal have lost their founder. Percussionist Michel Séguin passed away on Tuesday, leaving behind him an immense legacy for the Quebec music scene.
His son, Michel Séguin junior, confirms the sad news.
“It’s a big loss for the drum in Quebec. It was he who brought the first djembes to Montreal in 1973,” he recalls. “If everyone has djembes in their living room, it’s because of my father. »
A true pioneer of percussion, he worked all his life to give legitimacy to this instrument. “In 1973, he went to join the musicians’ guild. The guy who was in charge laughed and banged on his desk saying anyone can do that, what you do…”
Michel Séguin was undeterred and began offering djembe workshops in parks. The noise then disturbed the neighbors who called the police. He moved to the end of the 1970s at the foot of Mount Royal and since then, the gathering of the “Tam-tams” of Mount Royal has attracted tens, hundreds, even thousands of people.
“In one summer, in 1979, it grew so much that it became an institution,” said his son. “We find this gathering in tourist brochures as an event not to be missed in the Quebec metropolis. »
However, it was not his intention at the start, to create a gathering that crosses cultures. It was his generosity that snowballed, according to Michel Séguin junior. “To passersby, he gave a cowbell, a tambourine, a shaker. If you want to play with us, play this. That’s how it started. »
Play with the older ones
Michel Séguin’s legacy does not stop at Tam-tams. He was the percussionist of several big stars from here. He is responsible for the percussion of the album YELLOW by Jean-Pierre Ferland. He has collaborated with Renée Claude, Robert Charlebois, Louis Forestier, Claude Dubois, Zacharie Richard, among other big names.
“In the early 1980s, jazz ballets were very popular. My father wrote two pieces to choreograph on it, ”underlines his son.
Michel Séguin has traveled across Africa and Latin America to nurture his art. “At the time, to learn these rhythms, you had to stay with the people who played these rhythms. It’s an art, there’s a tradition behind it, we don’t play it just anyhow,” insists his son, also a percussionist.
Over the years, Michel Séguin stopped going to the foot of Mount Royal, delegating the responsibility for the event to his son and his friends. He deplored in recent years the anarchic side of the gathering.
“Over the years, Michel found that it had lost a bit of harmony,” remarks Éric Lafontaine, a percussionist who was his student for a few years. “At first, he held it with an iron fist. It seems that with his wand and his whistle, he kept it tight. He wanted there to be musicality. He was a music lover first and foremost. He honored the djembe. »
Several percussionists close to Michel Séguin promise to pay tribute to him at an upcoming Sunday meeting. They intend to ask the City to install a statue in his homage at the foot of Mount Royal.