“Our mix-and-match population makes Montreal a hospitable place for musicians of all kinds“, says the Paris-born New Yawk Montrealer who books multicultural shows for the Francofolies.
By Juan Rodríguez,
Freelance, Saturday, July 19, 2003.
Scratch the surface of such world-music acts as Toma Sidibé, Orchestre Bembeya Jazz, Beethova Obas and Prince Diabaté and many others appearing in Montreal beginning next week, and you find they have more in common than their names and musical styles suggest.
For one thing, they’re all performing free at the FrancoFolies, the city’s
annual ode to the world of French-language music. Indeed, if there is a main
theme behind the hoopla surrounding the Francos’ 15th-anniversary edition, it’s
that multiculturalism is here to stay as a prominent – perhaps even the defining
- feature of the Quebec music scene.
These are the acts that pull in crowds, with rhythm-rich sounds that
transcend language barriers. And, if you consider the music coming from Montreal
as naturally mongrelized – a mix of old and new worlds, dating back to Quebec’s
origins – the world-music fusions spawned today augur well for future
breakthroughs.
All of which explains why Montreal “is fast becoming one of the major
centres for world-music on the planet,” after London, Paris, New York and
Barcelona, according to Dan Behrman, programmer of multicultural shows for the
FrancoFolies and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
“Montreal was always welcoming to unique sounds, but they’ve never jelled
the way they have over the last two years or so,” Behrman says. “People
are very curious here and unafraid of taking risks when it comes to the arts in
general, especially in the last 20 years, with all this immigration from African,
Caribbean and Latin American countries.
The low birthrate among native Quebecers has “obliged us to import people,
and that means talent that winds up learning French,” Behrman says. “So
there’s a magic situation here of immigrants interacting with local musicians
and music fans.
“In the U.S., the melting pot is so hot that all the different metals and
components that go into that pot produce an alloy or product that’s shapeless
and often a ridiculous stereotype. Here the temperature is much lower. People
are encouraged to remain who they are as cultural entities. They continue
speaking their language, as well as French and, hopefully, English.
“A lot of the musicians are fresh off the boat, so to speak. Some of them
were already involved with exciting projects back home, so when they arrived
here they continued the same projects but had to find other musicians to work
with.
“Obviously, they’re not going to ask other members of their cultural
community who’ve been here five, 10, 15 years, because those musicians won’t be
up to date with the current scene (at home). It just so happens that in a lot of
cultural communities, time stops the day they left the old country.
“These days in Montreal, a lot of music is in flux, and that makes for
exciting possibilities.”
Behrman, whose accent is a seamless blend of Parisian, New Yawk-ese and
Jewish, is already one of those indisputably Montreal characters. He spent his
first 21 years in Paris, the next 22 in New York, and has lived in Montreal
since 1991. He was in on the ground floor of the world-music boom. He founded
the Immigrant Music booking agency in 1979 while he lived in New York.
“Along with about 15 other people, we built the structure for what became
known as ‘world music.’ These people are still very active and we trust each
other implicitly. We’re all very loyal to the spark that caused us to lead these
lives in the first place.”
Behrman still runs Immigrant Music but, working with the jazz and Franco
fests, “I’m a buyer now, whereas I used to work with many of the same acts
as a seller.”
When he first visited Montreal in 1973, he found the homegrown scene “really
refreshing compared to the U.S. To me, Quebec was a place where mutants could
survive. I’d never seen anything like it in France or America.
“France was a racist state that pretended a lot. The U.S. was still Nixon and
Vietnam. It hasn’t changed much. American puritanism gets in the way. It’s still
‘In God we trust, others pay cash. Love it or leave it. Keep America beautiful –
get a haircut.’ “
In addition to the Francos’ festival-long free multicultural series, there
are much-anticipated shows by Souad Massi, the self-exiled “Algerian La
Pasionaria” from Paris, and her compatriot Rachid Taha. Massi’s Western styles –
think Emmylou Harris siphoned through Tracy Chapman – don’t wash with
fundamentalists. Taha parlayed the mid-’90s dance hit Voilà Voilà into a career
that mixes techno beats, Mexican mariachis, Arab zithers, Indian melodies and
Cajun accordions. The festival also features daily shows for all ages by the
Chango Family Circus, a local group carefully molded with world-beat touches.
In the wake of 9/11, however, the current U.S. fear of foreigners has made
booking world-music acts dicey.
“A lot of bands that usually tour the U.S. are having difficulty getting
visas and papers since 9/11,” Behrman said.
“It’s the whole axis-of-evil bull – it’s not your nationality that matters,
it’s your place of birth. So if you’re a British musician but your father worked
at the Foreign Office in Beirut and you were born there, right away that raises
a flag with the U.S.
“Bands wind up cancelling tours or not even bothering to book them. They
don’t want to take a chance spending their money arranging a tour because, if
you don’t get the visa, you’re basically screwed.
“The U.S. changes the criteria as they go along. The result is that the U.S.
has put itself in a state of isolationism.”
Even as Behrman spoke, news came that Sierra Maestra, due to play this year’s
Nuits d’Afrique, cancelled its U.S. tour; although cleared by U.S. immigration
authorities, they were being investigated by the FBI because they are Cuban.
“Once this syndrome starts, you never know when it’s going to end.”
Québec sait faire? “My thing,” says Behrman, “is that the
more languages you know, the better off you are. I’m not for the unilingual
thing, but I understand why people feel protective about the French language.
“I think reality has come into balance with the ideal that was imagined for
this place. I mean, nothing’s perfect – thank God: that would be boring. There’s
a lot to work on, but I think there’s a lot of acceptance between people.”
The main reason for that, he says, is that Montreal is free of intensely
ghetto-ized environments that “look as bombed-out as Berlin did in 1945.”
“Montreal is the cheapest place in North America to live in, so people are
more likely to take in a show instead of staying home. Here each neighbourhood
is a melting pot. It’s a wonderful cauldron of creativity, because people have
to interact whether they want to or not.
“They meet at the grocery store, in the cafés, then it goes to something real
- a business venture, a creative partnership. Because of the demographic
realities of life here, people wind up dealing with each other.” In musical
terms, he explains, “They have to woodshed together.”
Les Francofolies de Montréal begins on Thursday and runs until Aug. 2. For
schedules and other information, see the Web site
www.francofolies.com or call (514)
876-8989 or, toll-free, 1-(888)-444-9114.
[This article was originally published by the Montreal Gazette on July 19,
2003. Reproduced by courtesy of the author and the Montreal Gazette.]
