La licorne captive live at Festival Classica, May 29 2015, Saint-Lambert (Quebec)

 

Daniel Lavoie sings La Licorne Captive, Festival Classica, St-Lambert, May 29 2015

La licorne captive at the Festival Classica in St-Lambert on May 29 was an event as beautiful as it was rare. After all that was indeed the only chance to date to see this show in North America (the Europeans had already had several opportunities to see it in France). I've been under the spell of the original album (Le chant du monde, 2014) for over a year now (here is why), and finally the fortune smiled on me, so last Friday I found myself inside a very full house in the Catholic Church of St-Lambert, located on one of the quiet streets of this nice suburb of Montreal. Voilà, La licorne captive in Quebec.

Needles and Opium / Robert Lepage - Ex Machina

First things first : the production is stunning, and the word “production” is important here. The technology does get in the way of perception at times, but I am still giving Lepage tons of credit for audacity and vision and for the poignant sense of loneliness that every one of his plays transmits. Way to go and it’s my goal to see more of his works.

Fire Hydrants of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, QC

A few years ago, while making a tour of villages from the Quebec's Most Beautiful Villages list  (Les plus beaux villages du Québec) we found ourselves in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu. What I remember about it four years later is that every single fire hydrant in that village is painted and in a different way. Most of them are various characters, which makes so much sense: I myself, when I look at ordinary fire hydrants I always see people in them.

La Licorne Captive - Un projet musical de Laurent Guardo / Daniel Lavoie (2014, Chant du Monde)

[For an audience video from the official album presentation skip to Bonus 1].

La Licorne Captive (The CaptiveUnicorn) is an album that's sensual and darkly beautiful, with haunting melodies, and even more haunting poetic images. Its musical energy is quite strong, it sucks you in, takes you on a Dantean journey (or a sexy horror movie trip), throws you into catharsis, cures you with images of purity and love, and at the end leaves you with a poignant feeling which remains with you and is most beautiful.

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.