BAIE SAINT PAUL | Despite the gray, the rush was dense for a Friday at the Festif!
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During the day, Kanen, Comment Debord, Rosie Valland and Gab Bouchard in particular seduced festival-goers or made them dance.
As usual, the day started at the Quai Bell with Kanen’s first appearance in Baie-Saint-Paul. However, a pleasant and appreciated innovation this year are the pleasant musical stops “En route vers le quai”. On the way down Rue Sainte-Anne, from 10:30 am, Forêt Marine and Steve & Ginie Jackson embellished the path leading to the quay. The same on the way back. An original bonus that we are happy to repeat!
Kanen gave Jay Kearnay a rousing performance on Bell Quay on Friday
The singer-songwriter of Innu origin from the Mani-Utenam municipality offered her performance in this magical and unique setting where the Rivière du Gouffre meets the river. With cloudy skies and the fresh and invigorating breeze off the St. Lawrence River, the temperature was truly perfect to be enveloped by the smooth indie-folk melodies. As we know, the blazing sun on the quay can sometimes be a little too intense.
“Kwei Baie-Saint-Paul!” launched the 24-year-old young artist after offering her play Assi as an introduction. His songs, both in French and Innu-Aimun, seemed, yes, somehow to be carried by the river. To be honest, the few small fluttering noises in the sound system at the beginning didn’t detract from the fullness of the moment. The artist interpreted some pieces from his latest album Mitshuap with great sensitivity. “Mitshuap means house. For me, a house goes beyond the architectural concept. “This scene is my home for the next hour and I’m happy to share it with you,” Kanen explained respectfully and humbly, before singing the album’s title track alone on her ukulele.
The artist did not hesitate to be transparent, evoking her vulnerabilities in front of an audience and her peaceful moments, or the emptiness between two spaces that she preferred to tame and cherish rather than try to fill unnecessarily. So she continued with “The Silence”.
In fragility, calm and strength, her musicians and she then delivered the great “Hours of Meteors”, the most famous “Dead Shopping Mall” at the time, which was written together with Safia Nolin. The lovable artist juggled a wide range of emotions, both evoking disappointment in love by drawing parallels to Carrefour Laval (why not!) – and addressing “a letter to her 16-year-old self who was trying to grow up too fast” entitled Big Girl.
The presence of the river reminded her with nostalgia of her homeland, the north coast, and she also took the opportunity to interpret Nimueshtaten nete, meaning “I miss over there”. The festival visitors were able to discover a more than charming and lovable authentic artist who knows how to turn her vulnerability into a great enveloping force. She thanked them and encouraged the public to continue seeing more Aboriginal artists. A very nice discovery for many, to be honest she is full of talent!
Rosie Valland Jay Kearney
Accompanied by a bassist and a drummer, Rosie Valland turned heads with her sweet, catchy pop. On the “most beautiful stage in the world” she delivered some tracks from her album Emmanuelle, released last autumn, including the rhythmic and engaging Attiser le dilemme, but also other songs like Loin, with more electronic rhythms and from her previous album Blue, as well as a personal interpretation of Désenchantée by Mylène Farmer. Very charming and endowed with a great voice, it’s hard not to be seduced.
A dance afternoon
In the afternoon, while the Spaniards of the Balkan Paradise Orchestra enlivened the front of the stage at the Charlevoix Microbrewery, scenographer Frederick Ouellet’s magnificent scene echoed in the colors of Comment Debord.
The group had come to replace in the Vogelnest Patrice Michaud, who had to withdraw a few days earlier due to health reasons. Rémi Gauvin, singer and guitarist of the group, wanted to emphasize how privileged it was for the group to perform in this park, which was flooded with 1.20 m of water last May.
How Debord came to put in a solid performance in the Bird’s Nest Samuel Gaudreault
The cheerful quintet – there are usually seven – chained together the tracks from their album released during the pandemic (Main Sweater / Food Desert / Ghost Town), a life choice of an artist they don’t regret, “especially when they see their friends buying houses in Rosemont,” they wryly pointed out.
Karolane Carbonneau was able to show off her talent as a guitarist in Bay Window during some great instrumental playing, striving for an enjoyable solo on her guitar. Obviously “Chalet” was a great moment, the chorus being sung by the crowd sitting on apple crates before the whole audience got up to dance on the grass pit.
Gab Bouchard on stage at Microbrasserie Samuel Gaudreault
Around 5 p.m., the flamboyant Gab Bouchard arrived to perform his latest album “Graffignes” and some tracks from his first album “Triste”, similar to a crowd made up mainly of young people who had gathered on the artificial grass stage of the Microbrasserie Charlevoix.
As in her performance at FEQ earlier this week, Sarah Dufour started the evening by heating up the stage, this time for Bleu Jeans Bleu and Les Trois Accords.
The Dolbeau-Mistassini singer-guitarist with infectious energy — she says she has “Massengas” — started her show quietly with country-folk tunes like “Chez Té Mille” and “Baseball,” before borrowing more rock tones in the rain, most notably “Semi-roule Semi-trail,” happily backed by solos from her guitarist and keyboardist.