Félix Leclerc : TV Mini-Series, Radio-Canada, 2005

The 4-part mini-series Félix Leclerc*, was met with a complicated critical and public response and ignited passions all the way to a lawsuit upon its release in 2005, but over the years it has attained a surprising longevity of a fan cult classic due to the participation of enormously popular Daniel Lavoie**, who seems to be having the last laugh in this story.

J’écoute la radio : notes on Daniel Lavoie's concert tour (2012-2014)

©Spectra Musique

 

To see a big picture one needs to step away from it. In order to understand the role a concert tour played in a performer’s carrier one needs to wait a couple of years after the tour’s ended. So, what exactly was the J’écoute la radio tour? Now, 3.5 years later is the best time to answer the question.

Mes longs voyages (show) : Daniel Lavoie's live show, Canada, February 2017

If you go see Daniel Lavoie's new live show Mes longs voyages and are familiar with his eponymous and unabashedly dark album (released in 2016), you are in for a surprise. Because oh, what a magician that Daniel Lavoie is! Hop-la and all the blood, sweat and tears of the album turn into champagne! Effervescent and luminous, Daniel Lavoie sings, dances, switches (or ditches) instruments, talks, laughs, grimaces, savors his time in the limelight, as if trying to put behind him all the troubles that followed him in 2016 (and inspired the album) as fast as he can, and he effortlessly pulls the audience into his happy vortex. And as for that guy on the promo photos - the one who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders – one wonders what he has to do with this show…

William Blake's Songs of Experience, an album by Laurent Guardo, 2011.

 

Here are a few words about Laurent Guardo's early album "William Blake's Songs of Experience". Curiously labeled anything from "lounge" to "international" and even "Broadway" (I am looking at you, Amazon.com), to me this album's music sounds more like modern jazz with strong ambience and psychedelic overtones, although perhaps it's simply difficult to categorize precisely. This is a meditative music, but depending on the mode d'emploi it can make a very different impact on the listener. If one puts earbuds on and surrenders to the album completely, this music is likely to overpower one's reality and take one with it to its own philosophical space, which begins with Blake's great poetry and stretches to the depths of the listener's own mind. However, when enjoyed in a company of friends it makes a great background music for a quiet conversation about life...

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.

Comédies Humaines / Daniel Lavoie (2007, GSI Canada)

Comédies Humaines is one of my favorite albums by Daniel Lavoie. No-no, one doesn't need to understand French in order to appreciate it. The music is enough, with its sensual and at the same time intellectual allure. However, as always the case with this author/singer, words matter, and they matter a lot.