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by Barbara Penny Angelakis
FESTIVAL D’ÉTÉ DE QUÉBEC
Arms raised and swaying to the rhythm of the music, thousands upon thousands of transfixed fans stood in the pouring rain as the Australian band “The Cat Empire” sang, danced, and played their hearts out at the Scène METRO in the Place D’Youville. As the music increased in tempo the crowds responded with pounding dance moves, shrill whistles, hooting and hollering; the band and their adoring fans, pushing each other towards new heights of intensity, oblivious to the wind and the rain. It was an exhilarating experience and one that was being repeated at the Scène Bell at the Grand amphitheater des plaines d’Abraham and at the Scène Molson Dry in the Parc de la Francophonie, the two other major outdoor performing sites hosting the Festival D’ Été De Québec or Québec’s Summer Festival. For the period of July 5 to 15, hundreds of thousands of music lovers of all ages flocked to the city of Québec for the 40th annual event.
Forty years ago in 1967, seven young artists and a group of business professionals assembled a number of local performers to present an entertainment festival in the city’s public spaces. The festival was so well received that the next year the call went out to major acts located in and around Québec City, and the annual tradition was born. In the 1980’s the festival underwent a philosophical transformation and opened its doors to the international community. Gifted musicians from Africa, Europe and the United States were invited to perform at the Festival; entertainers that were highly regarded in their own countries but unknown internationally, performers that were avant-garde, or had received critical praise, were introduced to a whole new audience.
Each year the festival expanded, offering greater opportunities for both the performers to reach new audiences and the audiences to discover acts that were previously unknown to them. It was a win, win situation culminating in this year’s blow-out event. This small Canadian city of some 638,000 was bursting at the seams as hundreds of thousands were drawn to the party. And what a party it was, with musicians running the gamut from classical, pop, jazz, hip hop, folk, blues, reggae, electric rock, punk rock, pop rock, electronic; you name it, and it was represented.
Performers came from as far away as Ethiopia and Mali or as close as home grown talent like the beautiful Isabelle Boulay who wowed a crowd of over 100,000 doting devotees. Also from Québec was the lyrical and exuberant, country rock singer Magnolia and her accompanying duo that left me breathless with their infectious enthusiasm. From Italy came the soulful Giamaria Testa and his band. Madagascar was represented by Solarazaf, a guitar playing, sound making artist of prodigious talent. His clicking, popping, scatting, and occasional singing was a new experience for me and one I would like to hear more of. At one performance he shared the stage with the amazing Bob Brozman from the USA, whose musical ability with a variety of string instruments was as masterful as his delivery of his socially conscious and thoughtfully rousing blues songs. In the solo performance of his that I did manage to attend, his poetic passion and the sheer mastery of his playing, drove the crowd into a frenzy of excitement, and at the end he had to beg them to allow him to leave the stage out of respect for the next scheduled act. I was amazed to see the huge crowd immediately acquiesce and either stand and patiently await the setup of the next act or move along to another arena. I was struck by the crowd’s deportment… the overall demeanor of good tempered, well behaved crowds out to have a great time. All ages mixed together; children, young adults, adults and senior citizens all connected by one thing… their love of music.
One of the group acts I caught was Gogol Bordello also from the USA, but their repertoire sounded anything but American. Russian and Slavic folk tunes were the base upon which their songs built up to a wild, ear splitting intensity. From Argentina and Spain came Grupo Puja!, an 8 member aerial dance group that attached themselves to an elevated metal sphere yards over the heads of the crowd to perform acrobatic dance formations. As the group performed their intricate ballet accompanied by 5 live musicians, the crowd stood silently looking up at the spotlighted dancers with their mouths open, until the sphere descended to within inches of their reaching hands, and when contact was made, they erupted in unison with a roar of delight.
Of course it was impossible to even sample all the acts, and that was the down-side for me, because once I got hooked on a session I found it impossible to pull away to check out another venue. As if the scheduled acts weren’t enough, there were dozens of professional street performers gathered together by the Festival organizers to entertain the crowds, as they moved from one area to another, or were simply sitting and enjoying a meal or sweet at any number of enticing restaurants and bars lining rue St-Jean. Rue St-Jean was the major arena for the street performers and was closed to vehicular traffic during the Festival.
The crowd was as diversified by age, taste and nationality, as were the performers and there was entertainment to appeal to all. For the children there were stilt walkers, puppeteers, street performers dressed in animal costumes, and organized performances and workshops held at the Place De La Famille Le Lait. For the lover of classical music there was the recently restored Palais Montcalm Theater in Place D’Youville with comfortable indoor seating. And, for the vast majority of attendees there were literally dozens of acts and hundreds of performing artists to choose from.
The Festival was well organized and possibly the best entertainment bargain around. Once you paid a minimal fee and received your official badge, all 11 days of the Festival and almost all the venues were covered. For a full roster of the performers and details regarding the Festival visit www.infofestival.com
All in all, the 40th anniversary show was the 2007 summer party to attend and I can hardly wait to see how the Festival D’Été De Québec will outdo itself in celebrating the 400th anniversary of Québec in 2008.
© August 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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