Although they no longer live in their home village of Chapais, near Chibougamau, the wildfires raging in the area had cause for concern for duo 2Frères’ Érik and Sonny Caouette, who saw their grandmothers urgently evacuated.
“Especially at that age, it was worrying for them to have to leave their house without knowing when they could go back there and what condition the houses would be in,” confirms Érik, the eldest of whom the duo met on Monday afternoon on the sidelines of the performance of 2Frères that will mark the 415th anniversary of Quebec City.
The fire that affected the area approached only four kilometers from the village of Chapais and reached an area of almost 14 km2; almost 25% of the commune’s area.
Luckily more fear than harm.
“Everyone is fine, everyone is healthy and they still have a roof,” he confirms.
Worrying situation for the regions
Érik says himself: “There is not much to do in these regions apart from fishing and hiking in nature.”
The man who spent part of his childhood fishing in the lakes on the outskirts of Chibougamau says the situation in northern Quebec is worrying.
“The [la situation en soi] is scary, but what is most worrying is that something like this shouldn’t happen,” says Érik. “It hurts my heart to see that, we clearly have questions to ask ourselves at the environmental level,” adds the one who still prefers to stay close to nature, a question to ask “switch off a bit from life on tour”.
A busy month of July
The Caouette brothers will not have time to get bored in July, they will perform seven times, notably at Sherbrooke, for the Festival du Lac des Nations, as well as a free open-air show on July 8th in Montreal, im Park of the Hôtel-de-Ville.
The duo 2Frères performed at 18:40 on Place Jean-Béliveau behind the Stade Vidéotron. For this occasion they interpreted about twenty of their songs from their four albums. Quebec is a preferred travel destination for the musical duo.
“It’s the closest major city to Chibougamau so it’s definitely special,” notes the elder of 2Frères. “The crowd is there and so welcoming, we really like playing here.”
