Interview with Chéli (Part 2)

Picking up where we left off in the last installment, Chéli and I had gotten the niceties out of the way, so it was time to move on to the heart of the interview: la culture québécoise. Since I do recommend that this be read in chronological order, please click here to find Part 1 of my interview with Chéli before continuing on.

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AL B: Now one of the things that I'm interested in is la culture québécoise...

Chéli (smiling): Yes!

AL B: And one of the things that I picked up when I got here was 101 mots pour comprendre le Québec...

Chéli: Le loi 101?

AL B: No, it was in l'Actualité...

Chéli: Oh! L'Actualité!

AL B: It was a special issue. It had a series of essays, well, more like mini-essays, on Québec.

Chéli: Okay.

AL B: It's obvious that there is a difference between Ontario and Québec in terms of just the feel of things and the culture out here, so in that sort of spirit, how would you describe Québec? Whether it be culturally or spiritually or whatever. I guess I'm interested in the soul of Québec, from your perspective.

Chéli: One of the main reasons I was driven to coming here in Montreal, I mean, if I wanted to do television, I could have easily tried it out in Toronto and do it in English, but I think what led me to Montreal is the language: French. I've always wanted to live in French and be able to go to restaurants and go to stores and always speak in French without having to, all of a sudden, speak English. What attracts me to this French culture is «la joie de vivre.» People here are, what I like to say, «bons vivants.» We love to live. I mean, there's a reason why the economy moved from here to Toronto. We take one hour lunches, two hour lunches... we're not driven by money and, y'know, that's why you don't see Americanism or anything like that. We don't grab any of that. We stick to our culture. We stick to the arts, the music--and we do it for the love of it. Everything that's economics or work and all of this, we're not driven for it. That's what I like about the people here. So the «joie de vivre,» I would say.

In terms of the culture, there's a tremendous sense of pride and I understand why: because you have to fight SO hard to keep it within the country, if you think about it. I know that a lot of Québécois don't refer to Canada as being their country, it's Québec that's their country, but I still like to say that Québec is part of Canada. I'm a franco-ontarienne and I'm so thankful that Québec is still linked to Canada because, if it wasn't for Québec, then people like me, who lived in Ottawa or in Winnipeg or all those French communities, would never have French schools or anything. I'm sure that the moment Québec leaves, forget about it! There's no more French in Canada! So that's what I love about Québec. I feel secure that I'll be able to live, forever, in French.

AL B: Okay, cool. Alright, so your sister station, MuchMusic...

Chéli: Yep.

AL B: ... has become more and more important in the entertainment landscape of English Canada.

Chéli: Yes.

AL B: So what sort of role do you think that Musique Plus plays in Québec?

Chéli: Well, it's definitely changed since its beginning when it started in '86. Because in '86, it was, like MuchMusic, there to catapult or to present new bands and new groups and underground groups. I mean, it was the first time you had a video for music. For Québec, most importantly, I think, it's that everything is local. I'm part of the Music Committee, the Video Music Committee, and it's always very important for us to add local content. Again, we're proud of our music. We're proud of the artists that we have here. We have a lot of talent here in Québec and that's the only way that they can actually have some air play. Nobody at MuchMusic is going to air Atach Tatuq or bands like les Cowboys Fringants or, you know what I mean, unless you're on like, French Kiss...

AL B: At like, 6:30 in the morning...

Chéli (laughs): Exactly! So I think that, first and foremost, that's what Musique Plus does for the local groups.

Now when I say it changed a lot, it's that now we're competing against stations like MuchMusic, MTV, VH1, all those stations, which would maybe explain why we also buy these TV reality shows. We also air clips like 50 Cent and all these guys-- all the American ones. At this point, it's a question of mass appeal. As much as we're proud of our local stuff, I think that even the people that live here in Québec hear 50 Cent on the radio and therefore, want to see the video. We know that they watch the Simple Life or they watch this and that, so we figure that, hey! Instead of having them watch it on MTV, let's get them to watch it here on Musique Plus! So that's kind of the reason why, I think, we've changed into a bit more of an Americanized [product]. But what I like about Musique Plus is that we haven't completely fallen towards that and I hope we never will, because of the local content and because we stay grounded that way.

AL B: Now what would you say would be the biggest difference between, say, MuchMusic and Musique Plus?

Chéli: I think the most obvious one is that, again, we're not Americanized. Like, our artists go in Europe, in France. If they want to go International, they go in France. Artists that live in Toronto, if they want to go International, they try to break the American market. Even the way we are, in front of the TV, the VJs... the people they choose, that each station chooses, and the way they direct these VJs is completely different. The mentality is completely different. Here, and I'm not saying that one station is better than the other, I'm just saying that it's evident. It's obvious by the way we do things...

AL B: Don't worry, I already said it for you. I did a little commentary on MuchMusic's VJ search versus the one from Musique Plus...

Chéli: Oh yes?

AL B: I've already given the thumbs up to Musique Plus.

Chéli: Aww! Thank you, that's sweet!

AL B (shrugs): So, y'know...

Chéli: Well, y'know, I have no shame. I'm proud of this station. I'm proud of what it represents and what I was saying, what I like about here is they pretty much give us carte blanche in terms of how we want to dress. We don't have little cue cards under the camera that we read when we're on air.

AL B: Right.

Chéli: If we're live, we're live. We prepare our stuff. We have somebody who's there to direct us and make sure we're not going out of line or whatever, but it's basically up to us. Whereas, I know how they operate at MuchMusic and it's not like that. They DO have cue cards under the cameras. You can see them. Sometimes they're actually reading!

AL B: Which is actually a big departure from the way they began.

Chéli: Of course! Moses Znaimer, what he wanted, when he first started CHUM Television and MuchMusic, was to have people without makeup. They wanted people without makeup, in front of a camera, a camera that moved, you know what I mean? THAT was reality TV! And now, it's like, all pre-taped, all flashy with all kinds of things. They're going much more toward that than we are, thank God! But even we've changed a bit. We're a lot more pre-tape now. There's much less live because it's probably less costly...

AL B: One of the things that always totally blew me away is when you guys do the interviews, particularly with the anglophone artists. I can understand what you're saying in both languages and it amazes me that you'll take the answers that they've given in English and pretty much translate them on the spot without missing anything at all. I'm watching that and shaking my head, thinking, how are they doing that??? So, um, well done!

Chéli (laughs): Well, thanks! That's cool! Thanks!

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Looks like I'm going to have to split this up into 3 parts. In the next installment, Chéli talks about community involvement, the hidden treasures of Québécois music and things that I've got to be sure to visit and experience now that I'm in Québec. Continue to part 3.