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Posts Tagged ‘roch parisien’
Laurent Bourque Talks About What We Talk About
Let me tell you my favourite Laurent Bourque story.
Earlier this year, the formerly Ottawa, now Montreal-based pop-rocker messages me on Facebook to ask if I can suggest some local media outlets he can contact to promote an upcoming show at The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield.
“Sure,” I say…”who do you have so far?”
“Well,” he responds, “I’m pretty sure I have coverage in the Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Sun, Xpress, CBC, CKCU, and CHUO.”
“Um, gee Laurent, I think you’ve pretty well already got the ground covered…”
In other words, Laurent Bourque is a keener. Not in an aggressive, obnoxious way, but he really, really wants you to hear his music. Fortunately, so do I.
As we discuss in the accompanying video interview, recorded just prior to his Ottawa Tulip Festival concert at Major’s Hill Park last Thursday, Bourque’s debut solo album “What We Talk About” delivers “mainstream pop” music intended to be heard and enjoyed by a broad audience, but not as a calculated, pre-fab, or artificial entity. Rather, we’re talking warm, authentic, organic sounds with good production values, layers of instrumentation (mostly played by Bourque), and inviting vocals that draw on ‘60s via ‘90s influences.
It’s a recording with the potential to make Laurent Bourque the talk of the town…be that Montreal or Ottawa.
(Roch Parisien is an Ottawa-based music consultant, journalist and broadcaster via his company Rocon Communications. He also programs the FolkRoots Channel for The Galaxie Network.)
Video: Kevin Burton
Laurent Bourque will be performing with his band at Ottawa Bluesfest, Thursday July 8 at 6pm on the Hard Rock stage, along with Andrew Bird and The Great Lake Swimmers.
Changing of the Guard at Ottawa FolkFest Targets New Ears
By Roch Parisien
For several years now, Ottawa’s venerable folk festival from the shores of Britannia Park has been scrambling for a consistent vision and direction. Based on this past week’s launch event announcing the preliminary lineup for 2010, recently appointed Festival Director Dylan Griffith intends to stabilize the ground on two fronts — keep the festival focus squarely on the music, and work hard to broaden it’s appeal and attract new ears.
Griffith, who parachutes in fresh from several years programming the smaller scale and more remote Dawson City Music Festival in the Yukon, had relatively little time to position his chess pieces for this season. Yet there is a clear sense of fresh energy rippling throughout both the roster and the revamped organization. As we discuss in the accompanying video interview below, the average age of performers across the whole of the festival lineup has taken a precipitous drop this year.
The sonic essence of Ottawa Folk Festival 2010 (August 13-15) may remain rooted in tradition, but the fusions are myriad and some harder core traditionalists among the audience will need to fasten their seat belts…for every acoustic troubadour like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Chris MacLean, Kim Beggs, and Jill Zmud in the lineup, a mitt-ful of young bucks like Horse Feathers, Bruce Peninsula, Bahamas, Delhi 2 Dublin, and The Acorn will be working to warp the boundaries. Suffice to say that the opportunities for mind-bending, cross-generational and cross-genre interactions during the daytime workshops are fascinating.
Another year or two will tell if this year’s changing of the guard marks a true FolkFest revitalization, or points it more down the path of Bluesfest…a highly respected general music festival, yet with weakened ties to its roots. Based on my close scrutiny of the initial phase of year one, my money bets that Dylan Griffith has the right stuff to pull off the fine balancing act.
Some of the more intriguing highlights from the Ottawa FolkFest 2010 lineup include:
Arrested Development: Two-time Grammy winning hip hop collective, founded in the late ‘80s as a positive, afro-centric alternative to gangsta rap. They fuse elements of gospel, hip hop, jazz, blues, soul and socially, politically and environmentally conscious lyrics.
Calexico: Tuscon, Arizona collective drawing on such diverse influences as Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western soundtracks, Portugese Fado, ‘60s surf music, ‘50s jazz and Mexican mariachi to create a distinct and beautiful sound that evokes the Southern desert.
Namgar: Moscow-based band blending the indigenous musical traditions of Southern Siberia and Mongolia with ‘70s heavy rock stylings to create a truly unique, outrageous and often sublimely beautiful sound.
With a number of additional lineup announcements still to follow, the Ottawa region is represented so far by the aforementioned The Acorn, Chris MacLean, andJill Zmud, as well as Jim Bryson (with The Weakerthans Band) and The Mighty Popo.
Ottawa Folk Festival 2010 is August 13-15 in Britannia Park.
For more information on the festival lineup and advance ticket purchases, see www.ottawafolk.org/
Early bird advance ticket pricing is available until May 31.
(Roch Parisien is an Ottawa-based music consultant, journalist and broadcaster via his company Rocon Communications. He also programs the FolkRoots Channel for The Galaxie Network.)
Amanda Rheaume’s Christmas Cheer
How cool is it to release a Christmas CD and then tour it to the North Pole?
As you’ll discover in the video interview below, Ottawa singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume got to find this out recently when she was invited to play for the troops stationed at the Canadian Forces base in Alert — within spitting distance of Santa’s workshop — hot (cold?) on the heels of releasing her seasonal collection Acoustic Christmas.
The CD features 10 standards treated to Rheaume’s resonant, committed vocals and musical partner Jeff Logan’s guitar wizardry, with all proceeds benefiting the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. And at the staggering low price of $5 a pop ($6 includes shipping from the Boys and Girls Club web site), there is no excuse for not grabbing these by the sleighful as stocking stuffers for everyone on your list.
This is hardly Rheaume’s first bout of community service and the benefit bug. Last March, she traveled to Afghanistan to play for the troops there and she has also been across Canada with fellow Ottawa performer Ana Miura and a cast of colleagues under the Babes for Breasts banner.
In the new year, she refocuses on touring her 2009 release proper, Kiss Me Back.
Amanda Rheaume’s Acoustic Christmas is available online at www.bgcottawa.org and at the following Ottawa locations:
