Spectacle de La Bottine Souriante
Ishpeming, Michigan, le 4 avril 1998
LA BOTTINE SOURIANTE, presuming there is always the danger of our sounding a bit overemphatic, is most definitely the Quaystone's all-time favorite band. And why? We heard them for the first time seven years ago on NPR's Mountain Stage and we knew, from their set of three songs, that we had to have them. We did not anticipate how unusual, not to mention incroyable!, their sound, and performance, was for us. Many Quaystoners feel exactly the same as we and easily understand the answer to this "dilemma" of not really being able to explain why we like them so much. A few, however, as if unsure of what "French Canadian" music even is, might stay away, or come shyly to the concert, perhaps expecting something they're not sure of exactly, only to slip quietly away before they've seen all there is to see.
Most folks, however, who've actually seen and stayed through an entire La Bottine event (for it is really an event) walk away with, at a minimum, that "perky French Canadian" smile still curling up their lips. Because La Bottine is like no other group the Quaystone has presented. Yes they're from Canada, but their music is so deeply infectious and influenced by everything from Celtic reels to American jazz that you cannot put only your Canadian fingers on it. It is music, as we say now, commonly called "world music." It is mighty and exhilarating. It makes you feel helpless if not happy for how good it is. It is dense, intricate, assertive, seductive, entrancing and festive, all at once. In more ways than one, it is music that symbolizes all life! And if the words are in French well then so what, or rather so much the better. You know then that there is still something to be learned from great music sung in French.
La Bottine, for current music historians, first appeared on the Québec music scene in 1976, and have recorded nine albums in their twenty-one years. Their no holds-barred energy and unusual singular quality have created an immensely loyal following. Through their music, however, the group really transcends their country's borders, though vital with the pride of their mother culture they offer an identity now more strongly connected to World Beat.
Maybe it is that World Beat sound we're trying to identify. World Beat is more culturally
evolutionary and hence more easily understood by Americans. It offers understanding and delight
merely through its sounds and rhythms. To try to define it is more trouble than it's worth, since
we are what we are and we don't always know why we like it. La Bottine's music fits perhaps
somewhat into this lengthy "definition." It exists, and we love it, and therefore we wish to bring
it live and directly to you. We look forward to seeing you there!
Commentaires: bordeleau-c@rmc.ca