DOLBEAU-MISTASSINI – “My life is so full of great moments and excitement that when I get here I feel like I’m going back to basics in really simple things.” In winter I have to attach the trailer to my four-wheeler , to transport the trash two kilometers down the road. It trips me up. I like to split my kindling to heat my oven.”
• Also read: WATCH: Sara Dufour recognizes the colossal influence she had on Dépanneur Pierrette de Dolbeau-Mistassini
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The girl who speaks is Sara Dufour, 39 years old, the rising star of Quebec song.
The place she is talking about is Dolbeau-Mistassini, her corner of the country that she loves and to which she returned during the pandemic after a 17-year exile in the big city.
Tired of always being in her suitcases (source: her song J’t’écoeuré, first excerpt from her new album We’re gonna take a walk?), she bought a house near the Mistassini River.
When she’s not on stage doing radio at CKOI somewhere in Quebec or Montreal every Friday, she returns to Lac-Saint-Jean, where she can live as a hermit and drink-walk with her dog, Gibson.
A moment of peace in the forest for Sara Dufour and her dog Gibson in Dolbeau-Mistassini. Photo Stevens LeBlanc/Le Journal de Quebec
A return that can be heard in the songs
“When I get here, I’ll be in paradise,” she says, sitting in her house, where she recently welcomed a team from the Journal with her usual infectious good humor.
His return to the region represents the central plot of his album, his third after Dépanneur Pierrette (2016) and the eponymous of 2019, two musical works that, combined with his dynamic concerts, allowed him to conquer the hearts of many Quebecers.
“[Dans les chansons]we hear the actions I take, we hear the moment I was in the chalet [de son père] where there was a wood stove, and when I bought the house there was no longer a wood stove (House Covenant). It nourished me tremendously. My trips back and forth to Montreal inspired the song My Tires. My other albums also featured Lac-Saint-Jean, but they were memories of when I lived there or spent a weekend there, whereas now my roots are here. »
“I came from far away”
Just as the rhythm of life in the region can often be, Sara Dufour’s rise into the world of music took time.
As a child she was surrounded by music. Her mother introduced her to Dylan songs and her grandmother bought her her first guitar. At 18, she even ventured on stage to sing an original composition at her sister’s wedding.
However, a career in music was not part of his plans.
“Life went on,” she remembers, “and music always followed me, but as a best friend.” When I was angry or sad or had nothing to do, my guitar was never far away,” admits the woman who was at the time nevertheless got a small role in the popular series Watatatow.
One day in 2011, she decided it was time to pursue her musical dream.
“I was in a relationship with the same person throughout my 20s. I was a mother-in-law, I made lunch and did laundry. I could have kept that status. When I give talks in schools, I say that in life, like skiing, you can follow the person leading the way, or you can choose to turn right and go your own way. That’s what I did.”
A Google search alerted him that there was a National Song School in Granby. Thanks to a withdrawal, she was accepted and spent a year there learning the profession.
“I came from far away. I didn’t know what a gig was and I couldn’t remember where the G was in the treble clef,” says Sara Dufour.
Support the Cowboys
She didn’t stay ignorant for long. “When I left school my goal was to do ten shows a year. In 2022 I achieved 95,” says La Jeannoise with a laugh.
After a little-noticed appearance at La Voix in 2015, Sara Dufour actually started gaining followers with the release of her first album. Word of mouth had its effect and over the years the sold-out concerts increased, until the day the Cowboys Fringants invited her to open for the Bell Center and then her memorable performance at the Summer Festival last July.
Sara Dufour on the Plains of Abraham, July 17, 2023. Photo from the Stevens-LeBlanc Archives/Le Journal de Québec
“It’s the biggest moment of my career, my biggest audience ever. Robert Charlebois, who said to me: “Eille, you impressed me” as I left the stage; “This is complete nonsense,” shouts the woman, happy to have met the cowboys.
“It’s a relationship that has grown. At the Bell Center, Marie-Annick stood at the edge of the stage and sang during the song “Semi-route semi-trail.” She told me that she and Karl would listen to me while riding. It’s messed up.”
A trace in Europe?
What do you wish for a girl who seems to succeed in everything? In addition to health, passion and continuing to “exceed my own limits”, the Cowboys Fringants and a healthy return are Karl Tremblay’s most fervent wish: a performance for them in Europe.
“I won’t hide it, it’s my dream. They’re on the cutting edge. I feel like their audience may be my audience, but the trail I did here, I’m willing to do there.
In other words, if we have to take a different skidoo path to touch the hearts of Europeans, it will deviate from the right side.
“I have to clear a path that doesn’t exist or is less frequented. I believe in it, I have the feeling that there are ears in Europe for what I do. Now we have to surrender.”
A word of advice: Don’t bet against Sara Dufour.
- The album Are you going for a walk? will be available on November 3rd.
Image provided by Coyote Records
- Sara Dufour will be on tour from February 24th to May 4th, 2024. Specifically, it will be on display at MTELUS in Montreal on the 1stum March and March 22 at the Théâtre Capitole in Quebec. For all dates: saradufour.com.
“Less loudly angry”
Sara Dufour smiles when we mention to her that two of our favorite songs from her new album are the gentle Au travers and Garde-chasse, tracks where her singing is less exuberant and more calm.
“I feel like I’m less nervous vocally,” confirms the Jeannoise artist, who says she has a penchant for ballads.
“I, Cédric,” she says, “I would do a show with just ballads. I like making quiet songs. One day I should do a Relaxed Sara show. I’m described as dynamic and festive, and that’s true, but my little tender and vulnerable side is there.”
Dany Placard, the indispensable sidekick
From one album to the next he is by his side. Sara Dufour forms an impressive creative duo with singer-songwriter Dany Placard.
On We’re gonna take a walk? He took part in eight of the twelve songs that made it into the final selection.
“Dany is my soulmate in words,” says Sara Dufour. I sometimes feel like it’s a male version of what I have in my mouth, the vocabulary, the images. Our creative worlds may be similar. A game like this doesn’t happen often.”
Tame the radio
Since the end of the summer, Sara Dufour has been taking another path: radio.
Every Friday she tells one or two anecdotes (“I tell parts of my life”) on the CKOI morning show Debout les Comics, hosted by Martin Cloutier, Valérie Roberts and Étienne Marcoux.
“I am learning this profession from professionals. It feels like I’m adding a string to my bow,” she says.
Can a local girl doing radio in Montreal attract new admirers to the metropolis?
“I think so,” she replies, thinking out loud. “It is true that it is more difficult in the Greater Montreal area because my work is more regional. It might open the doors of the big city wider for me, but that’s not the reason I agreed. All the better if that’s the case.”