(New York) “Zero. »
Published at 2:55 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
Sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park under the brilliant October sun that seems to set the maples of Greenwich Village ablaze, Rémy Bélanger of Beauport uses this number to describe how he feels as Halloween approaches.
Slender as a ballet dancer, the improvising cellist can’t be surprised to be asked about this topic. On October 31, 2020, while walking through Old Quebec, he was one of five people injured by Carl Girouard, the man who also killed two Quebec residents with a saber. He survived several serious injuries, including three skull fractures, two shoulder blade fractures, and the partial or complete separation of several fingers, as he vividly described in a video posted to his Facebook page in November 2020.
I know there are other people who were there that night for whom it is still torture: the memory, the flashbacks. I had none of it. Really. I’m not into it at all.
Rémy Bélanger de Beauport, improvising cellist
And where is he? Since August 2nd, Rémy Bélanger de Beauport has been living in New York, where he is dedicating himself to his great passion – improvised music -, confirming an admirable recovery and re-reading “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust in a park one of his favorite cafes in Greenwich Village or SoHo.
“It is a book that changed my life, through its structure, through its story and all the work behind it. When I read it at age 21, I added the Beauport particle to my last name. At the time I felt like I didn’t understand everything and I told myself I would read it again when I was 40. Well, it’s this year. »
The “diversity” of New York
He had never set foot in this city, far from the Proustian universe, before leaving his luggage at the Quebec studio in New York, where he will remain until the end of the year. That day, he immediately headed to Gowanus, a “very far away” borough of Brooklyn, as he explains, to attend his first-ever New York improvised music concert.
PHOTO RICHARD HÉTU, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Rémy Bélanger de Beauport and Samantha Kochisen at an improvised music concert
Since then, not many evenings have gone by without him attending a concert.
“Sometimes I go to two concerts a night. I’m thirsty. I have a thirst to hear and a thirst to know people and musicians,” says the artist, whose residency at 111 Wooster Street comes with a grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) for experienced artists recognized by their peers.
He is impressed by what he describes as the “diversity” of New York life, which translates into a wealth of offerings in the improvisational music scene.
“There is very little improvised music in Quebec and I am often directly or indirectly involved in organizing events,” says the self-taught cellist, who has a master’s degree in music theory. “There can be up to 10 or 12 improvised music concerts a day here. In fact, there are more interesting concerts in New York that I would like to attend in a single day than there are in Quebec in a year. »
His favorite concert took place in the place that frightened him most for the first time in New York: Times Square. There he discovered guitarist Chris Cochrane, a New York legend of experimental music, performing outdoors with a singer and a drummer.
“He has his own approach. It’s as if all the sounds are undone and contrasted. Everything came together at the Times Square mix: the flashes, the horns, the sirens and the out-of-tune guitar. »
A moment of rejuvenation
Rémy Bélanger de Beauport comes from a humble and homely family and is not the first time he has transplanted himself. In particular, he undertook three long stays in Berlin, which led him to apply three times for a residency in Dresden offered by the CALQ for composers. Although he was repeatedly told that his record was “excellent,” even “perfect,” he did not understand it.
In 2021, despite bad luck, he submitted his application for the New York residency, considered the most prestigious in the CALQ.
I plan to apply every year for the next ten years. I would get it eventually.
Rémy Bélanger from Beauport
He did it on the first try.
He sees this residence as a moment of renewal. But even though he dedicates himself to the present, he also likes to follow in the footsteps of the legends of experimental music in New York and, above all, poses in front of the apartment where Yoko Ono met the little-known John Cage.
He believes being in New York, where he sometimes feels like he’s “at the center of the world,” will impact him as much as the music he hears in venues like The Stone, where renowned saxophonist John Zorn appears as musical director.
“There, I absorb, I absorb,” he said. And I know it will come out later. »
Meanwhile, he continues to provide New York with proof of his musical originality. He has participated in two concerts, the last of which took place at the Quebec Studio in SoHo.
He will also return to this concert and talk about the “extras” that marked his rehabilitation.
“It could have easily happened that we were talking and I was missing a hand,” he said. What would I have done? Well, I would have found a way to make music that mixes performance and deconstruction. »
“I hate dating”
The cellist continues by reliving certain phases of his rehabilitation.
Alright, my left fingers are working, here we go. Afterwards my left arm can move a little more than before, more, more, more. After all, as we saw at yesterday’s concert, I have a lot more.
Rémy Bélanger from Beauport
While he admits he has “minuses,” he doesn’t want to deal with the aftereffects of his injuries. “People who talk about their problems always bother me,” he says. It is certain that I will have repercussions. I don’t play like I used to. At the same time, I think I’m playing better than before. »
Behind this sentence are countless hours of physical therapy, cello exercises and listening to music. A routine that the musician continues in New York and that includes swimming and yoga lessons at the Stuyvesant High School community center, a stone’s throw from One World Trade Center, and writing a blog2.
He is surprised that he doesn’t feel fear in New York.
“Sometimes I have to take care of myself because I find it feels so safe,” he says. I’m sitting on the subway at 1 a.m., my phone in my hand and my headphones on my head. I would never have done that in Mexico, where I lived. I feel safe here. »
However, he should not join the New Yorkers who gather along 6th Avenue on Tuesday evening to watch the Halloween parade in Greenwich Village, a grand tradition to which Lou Reed, who studied experimental music, dedicated a song .
“I’ve never celebrated Halloween before,” said René Bélanger of Beauport. And this year I’m not starting! I don’t even celebrate my birthday or New Year. I hate dating. I find it arbitrary, ridiculous. »
Even in New York.