Posted at 1:06 am. Updated at 6:00 a.m.
The atmosphere in the Showmedia studios on Rue Parthenais is very Woodstock-typical. These are the words of Laurence Lebel, Renée Martel’s daughter, as she welcomes us where her project of tribute to her mother becomes a great show.
Laurence brought 12 artists together on an album featuring songs by Renée Martel, who died in 2021. A concert has now emerged from this CD, in which Alexe Gaudreault, Antoine Corriveau, Elliot Maginot, Étienne Coppée, Fanny Bloom, Gab Bouchard, The Boulay Sisters, Pilou, Saratoga and Tire le coyote. To complete the group in terms of beauty, Cindy Bédard and Mara Tremblay, who are not on the CD, will also perform.
Bringing all these wonderful people together for three days of rehearsals and then for the concert “is a miracle,” says musician and director Pilou in an interview.
We have the fortunate problem that we have super talented and in-demand artists who are constantly touring all over Quebec.
Laurence Lebel, daughter of Renee Martel
The idea of bringing this “beautiful skewer” together for a show came up almost at the same time as the idea of making the album C’est notre histoire. What could be better than a face-to-face encounter with the public to bring this beautiful tribute to life longer and more vividly? Les Francos, “that’s the best place for it,” says Laurence.
family meeting
The rehearsal begins. After a few tries, the singer-songwriter and director Pilou, who now also holds the role of director and musical director, finally manages to get all the artists together behind their microphone. Yes, the atmosphere is “Woodstockian”, a bit bohemian, and we work casually. But we’re working to ensure that this show is left to whoever we’re paying tribute to.
Calculated improvisation reigns supreme in this show, allowing for the talent of the artists present in the room.
With phlegm and naturalness, Pilou directs his star artists and the musicians who accompany them to a beautiful cohesion. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done a show as big as this,” he comments. be on stage [il joue et chante aussi] and running this fine gang is a return to basics. »
PHOTO HUGO-SEBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Pilou rehearsing
Next to Laurence Lebel, who is the idea generator, designer and also working on the staging of this show honoring her mother, Pilou is the person closest to the project. It was he who produced the album last year and also interpreted the piece C’est mon histoire.
After some managed to juggle everyone’s schedules, recording sessions were held last winter. For Pilou, making this album was about “bringing all the elements together so that everyone feels good, they feel safe, they want to excel and they want to play”.
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, ARCHIVE LA PRESSE
Renee Martel, in 2018
The atmosphere had to be good and “family” to create a work that represents Renée Martel well. Less in sound than in spirit.
“Renée really liked the cocooning; For them, the musicians were family, says Pilou. We brought that back to the album and want to bring that back to life with the show. It would be nono to have Alexe [Gaudreault] and the Boulay sisters stand off the stage while we sing a song where there are many voices and they are not on the stage. My challenge is to get everyone singing choirs to bring the spirit of a jam back into the living room where everyone sings together. »
Renée Martel and the generation that followed her
“I think Laurence didn’t want to do a classic homage to Renée Martel with this project, but rather revisit her work, because Renée was very interested in discovering new artists,” says Stéphanie Boulay. When we started we had a national color in the background, but otherwise it didn’t seem obvious stylistically. »
PHOTO HUGO-SEBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Elliot Maginot and Stephanie Boulay
His songs are fertile ground for covers like ours, easily accessible to do our own thing.
Eliot Maginot
The singer-songwriter revisits the ballad Mon roman d’amour, “one of his most emo-heavy tunes, the one I’ve most likely been able to make a version that resembles me.” The Boulay sisters perform the song Cowgirl Dorée on record and on stage.
When Mélanie Boulay talks to her about Renée Martel, she thinks of an anecdote that showed her the relationship that the artist had with the youngest. “She gave an interview to Deux hommes en or shortly after the scandal surrounding Hubert Lenoir, who had stuck the trophy down his throat at ADISQ. We asked her what she thinks of it, she who has great respect for ADISQ, for Félix Leclerc, for the institution. She had answered the best I could hear from someone of her generation: She said when she was young it was her generation that shocked the elders. Their mission was to destabilize, to move things forward. So of course she was shocked when she saw it [ce qu’Hubert Lenoir avait fait], but she didn’t expect to understand. »
Renée Martel was in step with the times and welcomed her successors. His daughter introduced him to new artists, such as Étienne Coppée, one of the last she could introduce to him, who used the play Nos jeux d’enfants for the project. It was fitting that the new generation of musicians picked up his titles to pay homage to him.
Elliot Maginot knows how open Renée Martel was to the world, to the music of others. “I met her on the tribute show The Story of My Songs,” he says. After that we spoke via email. She would send me YouTube videos telling me that she could see me cover this or that song or just show me songs she liked. »
During rehearsal, while La Presse is playing, the artists record C’est mon histoire together, with Pilou on the main microphone.
With a few guidelines, everyone can find their place in the song, which already sounds wonderful in the Showmedia studio. Then it’s Alexe Gaudreault’s turn to rehearse Liverpool, followed by Tire le coyote singing If we Could Start Again. Floating between softness and impact, we find each artist’s special touch behind the words and melodies of Renée Martel.
“The album is very gentle, very thoughtful and airy,” notes his daughter Laurence. But the show we’re going to put on is rock, we’re having fun, it’s moving and we’re bringing a little more than what’s on the album. We can’t wait to bring the tunes to life. »