Sons ࠤ飯uvrir — Corneille Music

Article parue dans The Gazette du 6 novembre 2003.

Sounds to be found
Festival is all about discovery: Chartrand

For organizer Alain Chartrand, Coup de coeur francophone is all about discovery: The new, the intimate, the surprising – the things that distinguish his festival from its bigger, more high-profile cousins.
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Photo d’archive Rhythm-and-blues singer Corneille, who will perform a show with soul-oriented kindred spirit Luck Mervil on Nov. 13, praised the festival’s forward-looking roster. He also endorsed its national cultural agenda, which sends 30 performers – some of whom are not in the Montreal line-up – to spread the francophone culture in 19 cities this month.

“The whole idea is to have people in the rest of Canada discover the current francophone music culture with all its diversity and originality,” he said. “Francophones in Manitoba, for example, know F鬩x Leclerc or Jean-Pierre Ferland, but not necessarily the new generation of artists, composers and interpreters – those who will soon carry the flame of francophonie and leave a similar cultural heritage.”

Born in Germany, Corneille grew up in Rwanda. In 1994, his parents, two brothers and sister were all gunned down by rebels in one terrible visit – and he escaped death by hiding behind a sofa. “(The trauma) redirected my reasons for making music, and a new tone crept into my motivation and writing,” he said. “Simply, my priorities changed. My social conscience is more alert. I write music primarily as a cure, as a form of therapy.”

After the incident, Corneille returned to Germany for three years but later moved to Montreal, where he co-founded the R&B group O.N.E. He went solo in 2001 and released his first album, Parce qu’on vient de loin, last year.

Corneille’s Coup de coeur show will be stripped down, he said – just him and an acoustic guitarist.

“It will add a more intimate feel and allow more room for the most important elements of the song: the melodies and the words,” he said.

Historically, Coup de coeur’s attendance figures have been conducive to such intimacy: according to Chartrand, the festival drew about 12,500 people in Montreal last year. In comparison, Les FrancoFolies drew 814,244. But Chartrand said the show’s history and growing reputation are beginning to yield encouraging ticket sales. “There’s an old saying: ‘We didn’t know it was impossible, so we did it,’ ” he said.

Coup de coeur francophone runs tonight through Nov. 16. For more information about performers and tickets, go to http://www.coupdecoeur.qc.ca or http://www.admission.com or call (514) 844-2172 or (514) 790-1245.