Old Sock Drawer

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#098: Mes Aïeux @ Place de la Francophonie

February 14th, 2010 by Mary Leong

Currently listening to: “Le Déni de l’Évidence” – Mes Aïeux

Continuing in the recent vein of live music and theatre reviews, here’s bringing you the first in a series of upcoming Cultural Olympiad reviews. As a performing arts aficionado, I am infinitely gratified by the exposure and support that local Vancouver artists will gain from these performance opportunities. Likewise, the presence of some of my favourite French Canadian artists in town is always a good heads-up to those on the West Coast who are unfamiliar with French Canadian culture and music. With daily free shows at the Place de la Francophonie on Granville Island, this is an absolutely amazing chance to check out the incredible diversity in French Canadian performance talent this country holds.

Tonight, I had the pleasure of watching Mes Aïeux perform on the Scène Air Canada Stage at the Place de la Francophonie. With a repertoire featuring mostly from their latest album, La Ligne Orange, and keynote works from their previous albums, the energy level was absolutely out of the world. With an energetic and eager crowd willing to play along, it may have been pouring, but spirits were definitely not dampened in the least. With Celtic fiddling, Balkan-infused melodies, and traditional Québécois musical influences, the sheer intricacy of the music was absolutely incredible to hear performed live. If I had thought they were great in recordings and CDs, well, this show was definitely electric and blew me right away.

Here is a sampler: “Antonio”, from La Ligne Orange.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2OwssHCdE
(the song starts around 2:17)

Notable upcoming performances:
Feb 14 @ 6 pm: Pierre Lapointe (pop piano-vocal virtuoso)
Feb 21 @ 7.30 pm: Les Cowboys Fringants (reigning royalty of Québécois folk-rock)
Feb 23 @ 7.30 pm: Les Trois Accords (which I will not be in town for, unfortunately)
Feb 25 @ 7.30 pm: Ariane Moffatt (indie-pop-rock brilliance)

In the meantime, aside from spending copious amounts of time at Granville Island spreading the Francophone love, I shall also be scoping out the English performances and duly reviewing, and being slightly put out that I will not get to watch Great Big Sea perform. But my ramble about how Great Big Sea is so very quintessentially Canadian…well, that is another story entirely…

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3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Camille Feb 14, 2010 at 9:46 am

    Didn’t get to Mes Aieux, but I did see a glimpse of Yelo Melo before rushing to Malajube after the opening ceremonies. Place de la Franco has been awesome so far, it’s like being home again! Are you from Quebec too?

    (I agree, the lack of Great Big Sea is almost offensive :D)

  • 2 Mary Leong Feb 14, 2010 at 10:30 pm

    Camille: How was the Malajube show? I wanted to see that but had other commitments! I’m not from Quebec, but I definitely adore and appreciate la belle province and all the brilliant things that come with it. Personally, I think it’s remarkable how much investment the province puts into supporting its performing arts, film, and other cultural aspects in general, especially considering how little English Canada tries to support or push its own local talent in favour of American music…but that’s a whole other ramble entirely!

    And I am very seriously considering staking out the medal ceremony which Great Big Sea will be playing at.

  • 3 Camille Feb 17, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    Malajube was killer awesome. Performance Works was packed! The only unpleasant part was the idiot Quebecer yelling ‘F*** Vancouver’ but I quickly reminded him (in French) that he was IN Vancouver and he should watch what he said :D

    I’m enjoying reading your concert posts, keep them coming!