Nelligan : le chant du poète naufragé / André Gagnon-Michel Tremblay, March 2020

© Marc Hervieux / Nelligan / Jean-François Gratton, Shoot Studio / compagnie et cie 

Something wonderful happened this winter in Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde : a brand new production of Nelligan. This version of an acclaimed opéra romantique by André Gagnon (music) and Michel Tremblay (libretto) directed by Normand Chouinard has a subtitle: Le chant du poète naufragé (The Song of a shipwrecked poet). After a triumphant run in Montreal the opera went on a tour of the province. I saw the show in Drummondville’s Maison des arts Desjardins, having travelled 300 miles and crossed a country border for that. Here is why.

L'Énigme du retour / Dany Laferrière (2009, Grasset)

I found Dany Laferrière's  L'Énigme du retour fascinating. What caught my attention from the beginning was its form. I  am not sure it's truly a "novel" ("roman"), I thought it was more of a long poetic essay. The combination of free verse and prose is enchanting. The subject was also very new for me, as I know so little about Haiti. And as any good book would do, this book made that previously obscure to me country somewhat closer. What made this book especially captivating were the common points I have with the author. The narrator's complex relationship with his own past, national identity and time in general are all issues that I can relate to.

Mes longs voyages (album) / Daniel Lavoie (2016, Spectra Musique)

By now I have listened to Daniel Lavoie’s new album Mes longs voyages (MLV) many times, and have found that it not only offers the listener some truly beautiful music, but is at the same time a poetic and philosophical statement of striking sincerity and poignancy. Clearly designed as an attempt to draw up a "balance sheet" of life's journey, it exposes the idea of finality and acceptance while at the same time offering a true declaration of love for fragile human beings and for life itself.

Daniel Lavoie sings Gaston Miron : a note from the audence

A photo from Douze hommes rapaillés, most likely taken in the Parc de la Francophonie in Quebec City on July 11, 2011. The original source of the photo is unknown. Immediate source: http://www.daniellavoie.ru/dl/index.php/en/creativework/concerts/440--2011

A few years ago  I had a chance to see one of a handful of live performances of the legendary Douze hommes rapaillés, the one that took place in in the Parc de la Francophonie in Quebec City on July 11, 2011. (For the details, see my earlier post). The 12 extraordinary French-Canadian singer/songwriters/poets/political activists and just plain handsome men were creating an enormous energy on that open air stage and beyond. But this post is about Daniel Lavoie.

Particulités / Daniel Lavoie (Les Éditions des Plaines, 2015)

Je ne lis pas les poètes, j’écoute le ciel

(Daniel Lavoie, Particulités)

As bizarre as it might seem to review a book of French language poetry in English, I will do exactly that, although it is very difficult to find an English equivalent even for the book's main tonality, la tristesse. Not quite sadness, but rather a dark tint, a beautiful melancholy. Forget everything you know about Daniel Lavoie the entertainer, with his trademark sunny smile. The narrator of Particulités is disillusioned and detached as he dissects the Universe’s mechanics, awe-inspiring and mysterious, the work of a great higher consciousness. When the narrator then descends back to Earth he observes it almost as a stranger, who despite all the vain and cruel ways of humanity, through the mundane details of everyday life senses a higher light seeking transcendence through people, nature and art (“Je sais qu’un dieu séculier cherche, à travers moi, les mots pour me dire qu’il est là” - bulletin). 

Finutilité / Daniel Lavoie (Les Éditions des Plaines, 2011)

The easy charm of finutilité

If you have never heard Daniel Lavoie read in concert some of his poems/poetic essays before they became  Finutilité - you are in for a wonderful ride. And if you are the lucky one who has  - then you have probably already bought the book!

Finutilité easily charms the reader with the author's poetic vision, his ability to see and to connect images in a truly original way, his honesty and his unique poetic intonation.