Since 1989, Les Francos de Montréal has grown into the largest celebration of French-speaking music
Since 1989, Les Francos de Montréal has grown into the largest celebration of French-speaking music in the world, infecting the bustling streets of Québec’s cultural capital with a buzz which diffuses to every corner of the city.
I’ve been living in Montreal for three weeks now and, luckily for me, I have arrived in June and enjoyed almost perpetual sunshine. I have been greeted by a city of free events, swathes of sunbathers and even government-funded barbeques. This joyous and carpe diem attitude towards the summer stems, apparently, from the effect of the gruelling Canadian winters, where average daily highs are as low as -4 C. Therefore, this short period of warm weather and sunshine must be enjoyed to the absolute fullest, and those in charge of the city know it.
The festival spans two weeks and features near-daily free concerts at the city’s Place des Arts. This year there are 5 stages across 3 city blocks, with the largest acts occupying the Scène Rogers, situated in a large square surrounded by artwork and vibrant projections onto the side of the towering downtown buildings. That they can squeeze so much festival into the very centre of the city is remarkable and is a testament to the determination to provide these summer celebrations.
FRIDAY
On the night of the first headliner concert, the air was sticky with humidity and the temperature remained well above 25 degrees late into the evening. While under some circumstances this may have been unpleasant, there could have been no better conditions to be transported to the Caribbean by the legendary Guadeloupean band Kassav’. Hailed as the creators of the Zouk genre, the band’s set lasted around 90 minutes and whipped the crowd into a sweaty frenzy of movement. While this genre is seldom heard in the UK, it remains a staple of dance music and summer playlists in many French-speaking countries. The band closed their set with their biggest hit Zouk la se sèl medikaman nou ni which commanded a passionate contribution from the crowd and sent us off into the hot night giddy with excitement for what was to follow.
SATURDAY
Night two saw the Québec local art-pop artist Ariane Roy take to the stage to perform a selection of songs mainly from her most recent release Dogue, as well as some of her earlier hits. Songs from the former were accompanied by sinister set design and choreography, as well as some disturbing poodle-esque dog masks which served as a sobering welcome to the set after arriving from another one of the city’s free events: Salsa at les Jardins Gamelin. However, Ariane successfully tugged the atmosphere back towards something warmer with rousing performances of Ce n’est pas de la chance and Fille à Porter, for the latter of which she was joined by fellow Québec native Lou Adriane-Cassidy and closed her set with a passionate and patriotic performance while clutching a Québécois flag.
WEDNESDAY
The following Wednesday saw the revival of the festivities; the evening’s headliner was folk and rock artist Gab Bouchard. Reminding me in his tone of voice and instrumental style of a Québécois Bob Dylan (after he’d gone electric), the show was filled with catchy folk music laced with highly intricate and unpredictable guitar solos from his blonde stage-mate. His music was a refreshing blend of folk, hard 1970s rock and more modern indie sounds and his 10-piece ensemble felt alive and fluid.
THURSDAY
A surprise highlight on Thursday was Choses Sauvages; the band brought an energetic show reeking of 1980s early punk angst. The lead Félix Bélisle unpredictably bounced around the stage, virtually chain-smoked and spent a couple of songs surfing the crowd (surprisingly successfully given the number of people in attendance). Their punk-rock sound and vibe were paired with intensely danceable and groovy disco influence, particularly in their ambitious basslines and tight rhythm guitar. This coalesced into creating the best atmosphere I had felt at the festival so far, evidenced by the uncontrollable bouncing of the crowd.
The next act I caught was the Loud, a Montréal local rapper who has found notable success in Québec and France. While I myself am not a huge fan of his pop-ier style of hip hop, of all artists that I’d seen at the festival so far Loud definitely seemed to be the most prominent; the crowd was huge and most songs were met with their lyrics being screamed back onto stage, especially when he was joined by one of the many guests who made an appearance. Unluckily for Loud, torrential rain began around 30 minutes into the set and sent many of these impassioned fans home.
SATURDAY
The festival closed on Saturday the 20th; the final headliner being Disiz, the 48-year-old rapper and singer born in the Somme Department of France. Chants of his name erupted from the crowd as the show began and the 6-piece band took to the stage. I think the star of the show was actually the keyboardist (and occasional 3rd guitarist) who kept bouncing around the stage, teasing the other musicians and whipping the crowd into action with his energy. The set made for a high energy and exciting end to a busy week of Francophone music.
The Scoop:
I would thoroughly recommend attending the festival to anyone who happens to find themselves in Montréal at the right time; the atmosphere it generates both in the immediate festival ground and across the city is tangible. It also serves as an excellent means to exposing yourself to French language music and genres that simply do not permeate into the UK; Choses Sauvages have already firmly made it into my rotation. Finally, it is a peep hole into the fascinating world of Quebecois culture and its complicated relationship with Canada which remains fairly unknown to the rest of the world. Standing in those crowds, surrounded by Quebecois flags billowing in the wind and draped over people’s shoulders with not an English word in sight, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that Quebec was part of Canada at all. Rummage through the tracks in the toolbox for some of my favourite moments from the festival.
Footnote:
Thank you for reading! We hope you’ll be listening to ‘the Dig’, running 21:00-23:00 every Thursday. If you would like to write for Groundwork, please reach out to Toby at tg867@bath.ac.uk!