In Lac-Mégantic, the Christmas spirit was everywhere in the air, in the snowy streets, like at the fire near the Chapelle du Rang 1. But it was in the small and welcoming building, in the company of Étienne Coppée and his friends We felt it soothing sweetness of the holidays at its strongest.
Updated yesterday at 8:00 am.
It was Étienne Coppée's little Christmas show on Thursday in the chapel. He's bringing this show to Montreal this week, but he designed it here, in Lac-Mégantic. Surrounded by his friends, very talented musicians, the singer-songwriter put on a concert that he called “Petit Show” and that was just that: a moment that brought together just a few dozen people in the audience in a narrow but charming stage almost at ground level, where the musicians wander around, always being careful not to tip over one of the many instruments.
At the beginning of the performance, Étienne Coppée explained how he saw this Christmas show, which he presented on three evenings in a row at the invitation of the Lavallée family, owners of the chapel: It is like a family reunion and the people on the stage are the “cousins who sing can”. In this sense, we experienced a moment that was musically rousing and moving, but that sometimes also had this beautifully disordered side. He wanted to do that. Something that isn't overloaded with bells and whistles, leaving plenty of room for melodies.
PHOTO CLAUDE GRENIER, PROVIDED BY PRODUCTION
Bruno St-Laurent, Raphaël Pépin-Tanguay, Flavie Melançon and Étienne Coppée
With Étienne Coppée on stage, Flavie Melançon (on vocals, an essential contribution to the performance), Raphaël Pépin-Tanguay, Bruno St-Laurent (on several instruments), the author Elkahna Talbi and the singer-songwriter Marie-Peter Arthur. Since it was a carte blanche show, Étienne Coppée decided not only to present Christmas carols, but to go where you gather in a musical family and sing the piece that comes to mind. With these “non-repertoire songs” he and his accompanists managed to give the concert a pleasant rhythm.
It was mostly Christmas music that filled the ears and hearts of the audience. Starting with a great rendition of Ave Maria, where all the musicians come together in the middle of the stage around the same microphone. At this moment they have already produced what will be the great strength of the entire show: the vocal harmonies.
Elkahna Talbi then took the stage to declaim a spoken word text, which she did several times afterwards and interspersed the musical moments, often accompanied by Étienne Coppée's piano in the background. Each time, the audience seemed to be charmed by Talbi's words, who spoke of Christmas, love, lasting and sometimes not so lasting relationships.
PHOTO CLAUDE GRENIER, PROVIDED BY PRODUCTION
Elkahna Talbi
A nice return
Étienne Coppée had not given a concert for about a year. He took a break “from that [il] necessary,” he explained to us. In this context, this return to the stage seemed ideal to me to get back into the swing of things. He admitted to feeling some stress, which we can imagine, but which never actually occurred. He was surrounded by friends, under the benevolent gaze of an audience that had come to spend a beautiful moment. And the other musicians took part brilliantly in this show, which had the name Étienne Coppée written large on the poster, but which was a collective effort in which everyone had a turn at the front of the stage or their voice was beautifully combined who connected others. The union of all the talent before us brought magic into the air.
“White Christmas,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Three Angels,” “Merry Christmas,” “23. December”, “All I Want for Christmas” and many others: the choice of songs was clever, the interpretation enchanting. We also left space for It's gonna change the world, All Right (by Marie-Pierre Arthur), Tomorrow it'll be nice.
PHOTO CLAUDE GRENIER, PROVIDED BY PRODUCTION
Marie-Pierre Arthur and Flavie Melancon
Between songs, Étienne Coppée was friendly and endearing. The atmosphere in the room and on stage was communal, peaceful and touching. A little stop in time where all that mattered was the music, the present moment. We laughed, we sang, we also cried, in the chapel in row 1. It was beautiful.
Étienne Coppée and his band will present their petit show at Gesù in Montreal this Tuesday at 7 p.m.