Published at 1:05 am. Updated at 5:54 am
At the end of the line, between two sentences, Nathalie Simard spontaneously begins to sing. “The children, the children who watch us,” she says in the same clear voice, some forty years after recording Quebec's answer to We Are the World, a catchy tune almost as haunting as its American inspiration.
But unlike the haunting anthem of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, “The Eyes of Hunger” was recorded not in one night, but over two days (one for the music, the other for the singing), on April 18 and 19, 1985, recorded. at the initiative of the journalist Gil Courtemanche, who signed the texts, and the composer Jean Robitaille.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The album based on the song “The Eyes of Hunger” was certified gold.
What the Eyes of Hunger had in common with We Are the World, however, was that, in the name of aid for Ethiopia, hostage to a historic famine, they brought together artists from radically opposite backgrounds that few other pretexts in the world could have brought together in the same room: Céline Dion and Gilles Vigneault, Nanette Workman and Michel Louvain, Marjo and Yvon Deschamps, Beau Dommage and Toulouse, Uzeb bassist Alain Caron and the musicians of the Orchester Métropolitain du Grand Montréal.
Watch the full clip
“I hesitated to carry out an idea that had been in my head for several weeks because I thought that maybe someone else had thought of it,” explained Jean Robitaille in La Presse on April 18, 1985. The Eyes of Hunger actually came not only after We Are the World, but also after Do They Know It's Christmas?, Tears Are Not Enough and Ethiopia, each recorded in London, Toronto and Paris.
When he happened to meet Gil Courtemanche, the pianist convinced himself to make his project a reality. The late journalist, a foreign correspondent for Radio-Canada, produced a moving report in the Bati refugee camp in December 1984, a sequence of images of massacres that are still painful to watch.
“The topic was hot and at the time we were perhaps less desensitized to horror,” recalls publisher Daniel Lafrance, who was Robitaille's partner in the company Parole et Musique in 1985 and served as coordinator. “I think that explains why artists who were not from the same universe at all were willing to be there despite their differences. »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Jean Robitaille
“It was easy to convince everyone, but it was a challenge to have them at the right time and on the right date,” explains Jean Robitaille in an interview. And of course everyone wanted to have their solo, but that wasn't possible. »
We decided to call the song “The Eyes of Hunger” because that’s what impressed us: the defeated eyes of people in famine.
Jean Robitaille
If he keeps the memory of studio sessions clear, the pianist remembers that the great of the great, hardly used to such a pop melody, had to turn to a friend. “Gilles Vigneault struggled with his role so much that he asked me to change the lines, but I gave him this passage that goes up and highlights his tenor voice. Jean-Pierre [Ferland] had helped him express it well. »
If we had to do it again…
Nathalie Simard was apparently there with her brother René on April 19, 1985. Although she was at the peak of her popularity – The War of the Tuques was released in 1984 – she was only 15 years old at the time. “From the outside I may have seemed extroverted, but I was super shy,” she admits with her usual warmth. The presence of all these great artists from Quebec scared me. »
PHOTO ROBERT MAILLOUX, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Nathalie Simard in 1985
Today, when she meets a friend she admires on television, Nathalie no longer hesitates: “I say to myself: 'I only have one life left to live, I'll ask him for a selfie.' »
But unlike Diana Ross, who took advantage of a break during the recording of “We Are the World” to ask Daryl Hall for an autograph, the young artist didn’t yet have that courage. “If I had to do it again, I would set up a photo booth and invite them one by one, Renée Claude, Daniel Lavoie, Claude Léveillée, Céline, to tell them I love them. »
But where was Valiquette?
Although Normand Brathwaite was given a small song piece, other artists, although significant, are relegated to the choir – the Sheila E. treatment – including Boule Noire, Patrick Norman, Paul Daraîche and Gilles Valiquette.
“It’s a bit embarrassing,” says Normand Brathwaite, chuckling. “It seems to me that I would have given my place to Boule Noire. One thing is certain: the next time I meet Gilles Valiquette, I will apologize for upstaging him in The Eyes of Hunger. »
PHOTO JEAN-YVES LÉTOURNEAU, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Normand Brathwaite in 1985
But did Gilles Valiquette really take part in Eyes of Hunger? “Look, no matter how much I dig through my memories, I can't remember being there,” says the man on the phone, whose colossal memory, along with perfect folk choirs, is his trademark.
How come his name is on the cover? “Everything happened very quickly. Maybe we had him on the list of people we wanted to call and we didn't have time, or we called him and he couldn't,” suggests Daniel Lafrance, who had to assemble the cast of Eyes of Hunger in a few days and countless phone calls. “But if Gilles says he wasn’t there, then he wasn’t there. »
Collective feeling
The Eyes of Hunger was released on May 13, 1985 and was a huge success. The bombastic ballad not only reached number one on the radio charts, but also earned Gil Courtemanche and Jean Robitaille an award in the Author and/or Composer of the Year category at the ADISQ gala (they bowed to Corey Hart). . The resulting CD – suggested retail price: $5.98 – goes gold in August (50,000 copies).
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Gil Courtemanche in 2009
But the desire to once again follow in the footsteps of the English and Americans and offer Quebec its version of the Live Aid benefit concert is met with compassion fatigue. A major Quebec-Africa Foundation benefit show scheduled to take place at the Montreal Forum on September 13, 1985 was canceled the week before its presentation due to the reduced number of tickets sold (only 1,200).
“It's as if people have forgotten Africa. Television and newspapers report on it less often. “If we don’t see people starving, we have no interest,” thundered Gil Courtemanche in La Presse on September 5, 1985.
“I hope I'm not right, but I have the impression that we had a greater collective feeling back then,” believes Jean Robitaille. It's not that we aren't touched by what's happening on the planet today, but artists may be more mindful of what is said about them when they engage in projects of this nature. »
Read our article about The Greatest Night in Pop