Music in Quebec

In high school and University, I was admittedly something of an audiophile. Granted, not a very dedicated or knowledgeable one, but was on the mailing lists of a couple indie labels, I went to live shows (though not as often as I wanted to) and I listened fairly exclusively to non-mainstream radio. However, since leaving the dynamic atmosphere of school I have fallen sadly behind in my knowledge of current music. While never really ahead of the curve, I now resided in a musical time-warp that ended at about 1988. And while the occasional mix-CD passed by a friend has made sure I haven't become completely out of touch, I do deeply miss the excitement of discovery that keeping up with a music scene brought me. So, being that moving to Quebec was a way to reboot my life I've been trying to make more of an effort to get back into music. I wouldn't say that I've been completely successful, but having new friends with similar musical tastes at least seems like step in the right direction, and I've already made it to two shows, both on opposite sides of the Montreal musical spectrum.

In December we attended a Christmas benefit for a jam-space co-op founded by Michel Rivard of legendary Quebec folk/rock bank Beau Dommage. I must admit to not really knowing anything at all about pop music in Quebec, aside from Mitsou and Celine, but a steady stream of MusiMax during my three months of unemployment has at least given me something of a foundation. The highlights for the concert for me were teen girl favourites, 3 Gar Sul' Sofa (Three Guys on the Couch) a folk based pop-y trio with great humour and harmonies and Gilles Vigneault, the poet and sovereigntist who at the age of 79 lead the crowd in a rendition of Gens Du Pays, the unofficial anthem of Quebec and as I recently discovered, the Quebecois substitute for "Happy Birthday".

While L.'s musical tastes were undoubtedly coloured by a childhood of overproduced Quebec pop, my taste is Quebecois music tends towards either the folky-pop sensibilities of groups like the widely celebrated Tricot Machine to the distinctive electro/hip-hop sound of groups like Omnikrom. I've even added an embedded radio station to this blog so that you can listen to Q-pop while you read.

On the other end of the spectrum, we recently caught the CPC Gangbangs at the Theatre St-Catherines, a relatively new art/show space which is quickly gaining popularity among hip Anglos. It had been a long time since I'd been to a real indie-rock show, let alone a punk show and I had a blast despite a very sore neck for the next two days. L. was initially a little scared, he didn't gown up listening to punk music and was nervous about what to expect. However, the band's energetic performances and up-tempo set managed to win him over. I also found out that there is still a very active and impressive rockabilly scene in MTL, which I am dying to check out.