The Quest for Mitsou

Mitsou has been one of my favorite Québécois personalities for a while now. Though I didn't understand any of her lyrics when I first heard Bye Bye Mon Cowboy back in the late 80s, she still made an impression on me. Then, as usually happens to francophone artists in English Canada, she seemed to disappear, only to return a few years later with a rather risqué video for her song Dis-Moi, Dis-Moi. From what I've been told, her songs still get air-play during various Toronto "One Hit Wonder" hours on the radio. But despite our ignorance in English Canada, she's continued to have a vibrant career in Quebec. It's with that in mind that I contacted her representatives to try and arrange an interview. Her schedule didn't permit it earlier in the Fall, so I tried again in mid-November. Here's the response I got today:



Bonjour Alan,

Je me souviens de vous. Je suis désolée de vous annoncer qu’il ne sera pas possible pour elle de participer pour les prochains mois.Mitsou sera en congé de maternité jusqu’à approximativement la fin du printemps. Peut-être pour l’automne 2007?

Je vous souhaite un magnifique temps des Fêtes et vous prie d’accepter mes meilleurs vœux pour la nouvelle année à venir!

Meilleures salutations,

Julie
__________________
Julie Harvey
Dazmo Inc.

Not exactly the response I had hoped for, but rest assured, I'll try again. I suppose this is where my stubborn streak comes in handy, eh? I'd just like to take a quick moment to send Mitsou and her family my best wishes during the holiday season and, of course, health and happiness for their soon-to-be new arrival. Til next time...

Bernard Landry Interview (Part 3)

Back to the action. For those just joining the party in progress, I highly recommend checking out the first couple of parts of the interview. The beginning of this little adventure can be found here.

Whenever I talk to a lifelong sovereignist, I can’t help but ask if there’s anything that can be done to reconcile the two solitudes, aside from splitting Canada up into its component parts. The answers are usually pretty similar. At this point, I’ve typically heard that they just feel it’s time to try things on their own.

“Frankly, there is not so much animosity and thank God! We’re in good relations with the rest of Canada, but nothing can be done to prevent us [from seeking] liberty for our nation. A nation must be free. There is literally no real compromise except independence.” Landry said.

So it appears we’re at an impasse. The Parti Québécois has been around for 36 years now and don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

“What Canada should do, formally, that could be in the interests of Canada and in the interests of Quebec, is accept that Quebec is a nation—accept that formally, which is not the case.” Landry suggested. “That’s the base of everything for the future; the way England recognizes Scotland as a nation; the way Spain recognizes Catalonia as a nation. Why doesn’t Canada do the same?”

Alright, let’s suppose that Quebec chooses to leave Canada. What happens to the small francophone communities in the rest of the country? The Quebecois would be essentially turning their back on their linguistic brethren, wouldn’t they? Not necessarily, according to Landry.

“They will be more protected if they could count on a new French-speaking country, member of the United Nations, UNESCO and other international organizations, to help them live as a minority and to give the example to treat the minority in the way we treat English speaking Quebeckers,” he explained. “As an independent country, we could be in a very good position to be an example to the rest of Canada, and to many other countries in the world, how to treat minorities.”

This is where he and I sharply disagree. Are English-speaking minorities respected in Quebec? For the most part, yes, though I can attest to how difficult it is for an Anglophone to try and find work in this province without being perfectly bilingual. I would argue that any “respectful” treatment Anglophones receive has more to do with the fact that they were historically part of the ruling class and thus, had the money and influence to ensure their needs were taken care of. In my opinion, it has nothing to do with Quebec’s respect for minority groups. Money talks. So he and I will have to agree to disagree on this point.

Longtime readers will remember that I typically end off my interviews by asking my guest to give me some adjectives to describe Quebec. Here’s what Monsieur Landry came up with:
“Culture is important. Solidarity is important. And to be open to the rest of the world is important. That’s the 3 most interesting characteristics of Quebec. Look at the cooperatives we have here, the unions we have, the social system we have,” he said. “And young Quebeckers travel all over the world. The population in Quebec travels more that the rest of Canada, outside of North America. You should see the proportion of Canadian passports held by the Quebec population compared to Ontarians or the West. Look at our culture: Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, Denys Arcand, many singers, dancers and musicians. Quebec is sort of a synthesis between North America and Europe. It’s the most European part of North America, no doubt.”

So looking back on his career in politics, what is Monsieur Landry most proud of? The economic revolution and transformation of Quebec that he, along with many others, were a part of.

“When I was young, we were exporters of aluminum, pulp and paper, wood and that sort of natural resources. Today, we export airplanes, telecommunication materials, pharmacology products, high technology with our sophisticated engineering firms, multimedia and so on. We started from raw materials and mining and forests and we went on to technology,” Landry said.
I would like to take a moment to thank Monsieur Landry for granting this interview and giving me the opportunity to learn a bit more about the sovereignty movement in Quebec. Hopefully my readers enjoyed it as well. Til next time…

Bernard Landry Interview (Part 2)

The introduction to this interview can be found here.

I was born in November of 1974 so my parents were hip-deep in my “terrible twos” when the Parti Québécois (PQ) won the provincial election in November of 1976. Obviously I don’t remember a thing about that time period, but from what I’ve read, the PQ’s victory was nothing short of shocking in English Canada. Despite warnings in Laurendeau-Dunton report of 1969 of unrest within the francophone population, no one really believed that a sovereignist party would form a government. And according to Landry, it surprised even the PQ itself!

“It was not in our mind, at all.” Landry said. “It was the start of a movement. It was clear that the movement was not designed for [impatient] and ambitious people. Even in Lévesque’s mind, it was to be a long road. He was mistaken at that point because 6 years [after the PQ formed] we were in power. And we’ve governed Quebec most of the time since that period.”

Lévesque was in it for the long haul and gathered together people who were prepared for a struggle that may not be fully realized for decades. It definitely wasn’t a task for the faint of heart. Monsieur Landry recounted Lévesque’s theory to me:

“Lévesque said to me, in 1970, ‘It will be a long road, but independence should come when a generation will have passed.’ A generation is about 25 years, so Lévesque was [almost] right because, in 1995, we got 50% of the vote for independence.” Landry said.

I asked the former Premier of Quebec to think back to 1976 and to tell me about his first reactions to learning that, not only had he won his seat in the National Assembly, but also that his party would lead the government. In a word, he was stunned.

“It was incredible. It was so strange. Not for a fraction of a second did I think that I could beat a cabinet minister.” he said. But once he secured his seat, he just wanted to be a “member of the National Assembly and doing my best to have our ideas progress. Those ideas being progression [of Quebec] and sovereignty.”

Now I had heard different terms over the years, ranging from the total independence of Quebec to some sort of Sovereignty-Association, so I wanted some clarification. What is it he was fighting for? I wanted to clear up whatever misconceptions I may have had about the movement and look at things with an open mind, if I could.

“For Lévesque and people like myself, we were rather constant. For Lévesque, Quebec’s adventure was a national adventure and not an ethnic adventure. Lévesque was an inclusive man and, by the way, in ’76 we elected the first black people in the National Assembly. Many members of the cultural communities were in the first staff of the party.” Landry explained. “We were inclusive at that time and we’re still inclusive.”

“Second, Lévesque was in favour of a close economic association with the rest of Canada. It’s still my point of view: an independent Quebec, but with a free circulation of goods, services and persons between Quebec and Canada, just like they have in the European Union.” he said.

Now obviously there’s a big difference between the half-billion person economy and the 30 or so million that make up Quebec and Canada, but Landry is confident that a very equitable, free trade agreement could be made between the two groups. But why is there a need for an independent Quebec? Why leave Canada?

“There are many, many reasons. The first one is dignity. Quebec is a nation. That’s absolutely clear. Almost no one today objects to that because it’s a fact. Jean Charest is in agreement and [Michael] Ignatieff is in agreement—even Stéphane Dion. So if you are part of a nation, why would you be satisfied with the status of Prince Edward Island? A nation cannot be a simple province of another nation. It’s a matter of identity and dignity.” he explained.

“Starting from that principle, many material reasons are connected.” he continued. “The Canadian nation is managing its own interests. Sometimes it coincides with Quebec’s interests, sometimes not… but Canada is working for Canada and the Canadian nation and it’s detrimental in many, many ways to the interests of Quebec. There are many examples in history [where] the Canadian interests are one thing… [but] it’s directly against Quebec’s interest. An historical example: Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister of Canada, was advocating free trade between Canada and the United States in 1911. He was defeated and we had no free trade until recently with Brian Mulroney. It was in Quebec’s interest to have free trade. It’s obvious. We’re near New York. We’re near Boston. We connect directly, North-South. No. We were confined to Canadian economic space. It was against our interests, but it was probably good for Toronto and Canada as a whole. But not good for Quebec.” Landry said.

“My sovereignist convictions are not based on resentment. It’s based on our interests in the future and even with Canadian interests.” he clarified. “It’s not in the interests of Canada to be constantly fighting Quebec’s aspirations and trying to centralize when Quebec wants to de-centralize. Some things must be centralized in Canada, in the interests of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, but it’s against Quebec’s interests. So if Quebec is out of Canada, Canada will be in a better position to live its destiny and organize itself along values that are good for Canada. At the moment, it’s an internal fight: on constitution, on budget, about everything! It’s not good for Canada and not good for Quebec.”

It’s time to hit the pause button again and pick this up again another day. Next time we’ll wrap up my afternoon with Bernard Landry. Til next time…

Continue on to Part 3.

Bernard Landry Interview (Part 1)

The introduction can be found here.

Alright, let’s get back on track now. I had left off in the waiting room of Bernard Landry. He had a meeting prior to mine, so I had plenty of time to calm my nerves. When it was finally my turn, I was directed into a small meeting room with a central wooden table. I noticed that the walls were decorated with a series of inspirational poems (in French, of course). There were also some books in one corner that covered topics in economics, as well as one by René Lévesque. Fitting, considering how much of an influence the founder of the Parti Québécois had on Landry, dating back to the beginning of his career.

When Monsieur Landry joined me, he carried a copy of the e-mail I had sent to his assistant, highlighted to remind him of who I was and why I was there. I can only imagine that someone of his public stature must get requests on a daily basis and it would be next to impossible to keep track of them all. He addressed me in French, asking me in which language I preferred to conduct the interview. I explained that, though I was quite sure I could conduct it in French, that the eventual transcription would make it very difficult for me to accurately reproduce his answers. And since I strive for accuracy above all else in my citations, I would be more comfortable in English.

Interestingly, he asked me some questions of his own (still in French), such as where I was from, where I learned French, etc. It was a nice gesture as it helped to break the ice a bit and make me more comfortable. I would have liked to spend more time casually chatting, but I was there to conduct an interview. Best to be professional about it, right?

I wanted to get a better sense of the man and his motivations, so I started with questions about his family and his education. As it turns out, Landry was raised in an atypical family for the Quebec of that time. While most families in his village had a dozen children or more, he was an only child. But it wasn’t long before his parents decided to adopt two little girls. That being said, while a family of 3 children might be considered large today, it was pretty small, especially when you consider that one of his neighbours had a family of 22!

He pursued studies in both law and economics at the university level, but I was curious about how he ended up in politics.

“These studies, law and economics, are highly compatible with politics, of course.” he explained. “My intention was to be a public servant. I went to Quebec City to work as an employee for René Lévesque, who was a Liberal minister at that time, with the Department of Natural Resources. And it’s Lévesque that advised me to study economics because that was a priority of the Liberals of that time and the Quebec of that time.”

Quebec was in the midst of what’s been called the Quiet Revolution (or la Revolution Tranquile en français), which was a modernizing of Quebec from a mainly rural province to a more industrial and production-focused economy. As such, there would be a need for economists. Landry’s studies in Europe affected his outlook on Quebec’s relationship with Canada, so when Lévesque contacted him about running for the Parti Québécois, it seemed like a natural fit.

“When Lévesque founded the Parti Québécois, he called me and said, ‘I would like you to be one of our candidates.’ In my reflections, I was already going directly toward Quebec sovereignty and independence because I studied economics in Europe and I had seen how modern countries can be independent and, at the same time, share the same economic space.” he said. That was also why he participated in the Free Trade debates and supported the NAFTA treaties.

Prior to the formation of the Parti Québécois, Landry was a Quebec Nationalist with strong leanings toward being a sovereignist. This is where it starts to get a bit complicated for those who don’t live in Quebec. It’s not as simple as “Conservative,” “Liberal” and “Socialist” here. Those seem to be almost like flavours of other designations like Nationalists, Federalists and Sovereignists. I asked him to try and clear things up for me a bit and here’s what he told me:

“You have some Quebec Nationalists still today, members of the Liberal Party of Quebec or Canada, wanting to cultivate Quebec’s differences, protect the language and so on, and saying that they prefer to do that within Canada. To me, it’s a paradox, but not according to them.” he said. “To me, if you’re a nationalist, you favour the independence of your nation. But as a consequence of the past, some old nationalists are still not sovereignists. Some Federalists are Quebec Nationalists in the old sense of the term. It’s complicated, but even la Société St-Jean Baptiste in Quebec City and, I think in a northern city, I think it’s Sherbrooke, are traditional Quebec Nationalists, fighting for language and culture and so on and are Federalists at the same time, but they are more and more marginal.”

Okay, so if I understood that correctly, Nationalists, both of the Federalist and Sovereignist varieties, are fighting for the preservation of the French language and culture, but disagree on the best way to accomplish it. One can consider oneself a Federalist without being a Quebec Nationalist, but it’s not really possible to be a Sovereignist without being a Nationalist. This looks like a good place to stop for now, but we’ll pick this up with thoughts on the 1976 election. Til next time…

Continue on to Part 2.

Apprehension and Anticipation

My mini-cassette recorder is still sitting on the living room coffee table. Beside it, one will find a UWO clipboard with some quotes scribbled on the lined paper contained therein. I don’t think I’ve ever been more apprehensive about finishing an article in my life. Seriously. I know that my half hour interview with Bernard Landry isn’t anything monumental in the grand scheme of things, but I want to do a good job with it.

Now every time I sit down and press play on the player, my mind starts racing. What if my questions all sucked? What if I’ve got absolutely nothing of value out of the interview? Did I just blow a golden opportunity that few writers or reporters get afforded? And while I’m sure my readership is less judgemental (Morgan is, of course, excluded from this comment) than I am of my work, I still want to put something of substance out there. However, in saying that, it occurs to me that shit is still a substance…

In other news, I’ll be taking an entrance exam this coming Thursday in the hopes of entering a part-time certificate program in Translation at McGill University. The department is structured a wee bit differently than what I’m accustomed to at Western, insofar as the types of courses one is eligible to take is limited, but I wanted to do something to keep my mind active and perhaps meet some people. And if I managed to get a certificate out of the deal, then all the better, right? Plus, it gives me a classroom setting to work on my French again. So that’s what I’m up to. Til next time…

An Afternoon with Bernard Landry

Today I’m going to turn back the clock about 3 weeks. While the eyes of Quebec, and to a certain extent, Canada, were focused on Dawson College and the sheer insanity that took place that day, I was walking from my office near Mont-Royal down to Old Montreal. I had heard what was going on, of course, which was the reason I was walking. The metro lines were stopped along the route I needed and although I had given some thought to trying to reschedule, I felt it was better to go ahead with the interview. After all, Monsieur Bernard Landry was a busy man. If it was going to be a major problem, then his assistant would call and cancel. So far, no call. So off I went, through the light mist and rain.

I had over-estimated how long it would take me to get there, so I had a bit of time to look around. I noticed that his name was absent from the lobby directory listing of businesses and offices that occupied the building. I suppose it’s best to keep a low profile when one is the former leader of the Provincial government’s opposition party. It ensures a certain amount of privacy can be maintained, especially now since he’s no longer officially a public servant. I checked the address for the umpteenth time and headed to the designated floor.

Obviously I didn’t get a guided tour of the office, but it wasn’t quite what I expected. The door was unmarked, except for the office number, so I was a bit unsure of whether I was in the right place. Fortunately, the portrait on the wall gave it away. I checked in with his secretary and then took a seat. There was a TV in the waiting room, tuned to the latest happenings over at Dawson. I had pretty much tuned out at this point, trying to keep my mind on the matter at hand. In a few minutes, I would be meeting with Monsieur Landry.

Next time, the interview. Til next time…

Continue on to Part 1.

Shot down

Yes, dear friends, it's true. Ol' Al B Here has been refused an interview request avec Lucie Laurier. I received the news via e-mail this evening. Here's a copy of the original
correspondence in French:

«Monsieur,

Nous avons bien reçu votre demande concernant la comédienne Lucie Laurier et nous vous en remercions. Cependant il ne lui sera pas possible de vous accorder cette entrevue. Lucie est actuellement en travail de pré production en vue d’un prochain tournage de long métrage et son agenda professionnel ne lui permet pas d’accepter d’autres engagements. Je vous remercie de votre bonne compréhension.

Marie Vanasse
Attachée de presse de Lucie Laurier»

For those who don't speak French, it basically says, "Thanks for your interest, but she's in the midst of pre-production right now and doesn't have time for other professional engagments. Thanks for your understanding."

No big surprise since, as I mentioned in my last entry she'll be starting work on a film called Nitro on September 10th. I had hoped to catch her before that, but that's life. Maybe if I hold my breath til I turn Québécois blue, they'll give me the chance to talk to her once filming wraps. Don't bet on it, though.

Til next time...

Entrevue avec Biz (Loco Locass) Quatrième Partie

Over the course of the interviews I’ve done so far, my readers will likely have noticed that I’ve asked one recurring question: How would you describe Quebec? This one would be no different. I was curious to see how Biz, an outspoken sovereignist, would describe his “home country,” so I asked him for 5 adjectives that described Quebec. The question took him a little by surprise, but he had told me earlier that he preferred the spontaneity that unrehearsed interviews, so he was quite happy to answer.

“Je dirais le premier qui me vient à l’esprit, c’est « français ». Pas dans le sens de l’adjectif de la France, mais « langue française » parce que le Québec n’est pas le seul endroit en Amérique où on parle français, mais disons que c’est l’endroit, l’épicentre, c’est le bastion de la langue française et je pense qu’à partir de ça il y a beaucoup de choses qui découlent. D’ailleurs, par exemple, t’es à même de le constater puis ça, c’est intéressant, le chemin que tu fais. C’est que de l’Ontario, quand t’entends parler du Québec, c’est toujours avec The Globe & Mail, The Gazette ou Global TV, puis c’est toujours par un prisme unilingue anglophone qui comprend juste la surface des choses parce que tu ne comprends pas la langue. Tu ne comprends donc pas la culture, tu ne comprends pas tout ce qui se passe et donc tu juges très rapidement en surface, puis souvent c’est pas vrai ce que tu penses... Alors, le fait qu’on soit francophone, non seulement ça nous rend unique mais ça nous rend pratiquement hermétique et incompréhensible aux yeux des Canadiens puis aux yeux des Américains puisqu’ils ne nous comprennent pas parce que… ils ne nous connaissent pas puis ils ne nous comprennent pas. Ça nous rend donc conscients de cette différence‑là et fiers de cette différence‑là.

Je dirais aussi que, bon, le Québec est un territoire, je dirais… Je vous parlerais d’espace ou d’immensité. C’est un très grand territoire, le Québec. C’est plus grand que le Texas, c’est plus grand que beaucoup de pays d’Europe; c’est plus grand que la France et c’est très peu peuplé, en fait. Il y a beaucoup d’espace au Québec, mais ça, je dirais que c’est pas nécessairement propre au Québec. L’Ontario est très très vaste. Le Canada en général est très très grand, mais moi quand je pense au Québec, la notion d’espace, d’immensité, du fait qu’on n’est pas tassé les uns sur les autres aussi, ça me vient à l’esprit aussi, rapidement.

Ensuite, les traits de caractère. Je trouve que les Québécois… Je dois dire qu’ils sont pacifistes, conciliants, avec ce que ça a comme défaut des fois d’être pas capables de s’affirmer assez… Tu sais, on n’est vraiment pas comme les Américains, là, dans le sens où on est très accommodant « Ah oui, okay. » Donc, des fois ça peut être une qualité ou un défaut, là, mais pacifistes en général, c’est‑à‑dire qu’on ne règle pas nos conflits dans la violence. Tu sais, au Référendum de ’95, le Référendum a été perdu pour les gens qui croyaient au Québec par 50 000 voix. C’est pas beaucoup. Puis y’a pas eu personne qui est allé dans Westmount ou dans le West Island pour casser des vitres ou casser des gueules. Il n’y a pas eu de violence, y’a eu aucune violence, ça s’est fait dans… Ça, je suis très fier de ça. Je suis pas fier qu’on n’ait pas voté… qu’on ait voté Non, mais je suis très fier qu’on l’ait fait dans un processus démocratique pacifiste, je suis très fier de ça. Donc, je dirais quoi? Là, on est rendu à trois. Je trouve… Qu’est‑ce que je pourrais dire? Que les Québecois sont… Je trouve que les Québécois sont créatifs. Je pense que ça fait partie d’un trait de caractère, à savoir… peut‑être que c’est notre situation minoritaire qui fait ça. Vu qu’on est une minorité, donc on n’a pas le choix de développer des bonnes idées pour se déployer, se maintenir en vie puis exister dans le monde, si tu veux. Pratiquement toutes les créations culturelles qui représentent le Canada en ce moment, ce sont des créations québécoises au niveau artistique : les films, la musique, le Cirque du Soleil, des choses comme ça, c’est fait… C’est ça. Ça fait partie du fait qu’on est minoritaire alors que les Canadiens, par exemple…”

I was a little surprised to hear him mention the concept of space and vastness of the province because my Québécois civilization professor in Trois-Pistoles had often made reference to that. I thought it was more of a literature major’s interpretation at the time, but here was someone, completely unrelated to the school telling me the exact same thing. Maybe she was on to something after all? I would also like to acknowledge something else that he said there: when the results of the Referendum of 1995 were announced, there wasn’t any widespread rioting or violence, which considering the difference was around 50,000 votes is pretty significant. The whole separatist issue is one that is very emotionally charged and for there to be no significant violence is something we should all be proud of, as Canadians. One need only look at Eastern Europe to see how things could have gone.

He’s also right about the creative output of Quebec, at least in terms of awards and international recognition. The only Canadian films that get any sort of buzz at the international festivals or award shows come from Quebec. The irony of the whole thing is that, for the most part, these creations, which represent our country on the world stage, are virtually ignored at home. I can think of one film from Quebec that had a theatre release in good ol’ London, Ontario: Jesus of Montreal from the late 80s, early 90s. We didn’t even get Les Invasions barbares and it won an Academy Award.

As far as music goes, the Quebecois scene may as well not exist. I recounted to him how I went looking for a variety of artists in Music World (who proudly attach a little maple leaf sticker beside the names of Canadian artists) and found Jean Leloup, Les Cowboys Fringants, heck even Felix Leclerc, in the World Music section. And why? Because they sing in French. And only English versions of Celine Dion’s or Roch Voisine’s discs could be found (though they both carried the maple leaf). He wasn’t particularly surprised. He had told me that although Loco Locass had reached gold status for one of their albums (50,000 copies sold), they had sold a mere 100 copies outside of Quebec. It was purely a case of supply and demand.

We had gotten a bit sidetracked, but that was fine by me. After all, I think some of the more interesting content can come from the sidenotes and stories people tell. One such sidenote comes from a recent trip the group made to the University of Ottawa to discuss poetry and politics. Check this out:

“À un moment donné, récemment, on est allé à Ottawa, à l’Université d’Ottawa y faire une conférence sur la poésie et la politique, en fait ce qu’on faisait, nous autres. Puis y’avait beaucoup de Franco‑Ontariens, quelques Québécois et des Anglophones francophiles, je dirais, qui aiment le français, les curieux comme toi, des gens curieux. Il y a une fille à un moment donné qui nous écoutait parler de l’indépendance du Québec, puis tout ça. Puis elle dit « Mais c’est formidable ce que vous dites là, je pensais… j’avais jamais réalisé que ça pouvait être comme ça, il faudrait que vous fassiez le tour du Canada puis que vous expliquiez ça à tous les Canadiens mais en anglais. » Évidemment, elle le disait en anglais mais… c’est ça qui était…

En fait, elle était très drôle parce qu’elle disait… Elle a commencé à parler en français très difficilement, en fait. Elle disait « Moi, mes parents m’ont envoyée dans une école d’immersion, puis je trouvais ça difficile parce que je devais prendre l’autobus puis j’étais la seule de mon village qui allait dans une école très loin. En même temps, là je suis contente. » Puis là, en disant ça, elle a commencé à parler en anglais, puis là elle disait en anglais qu’elle était très contente de parler français parce que ça lui permettait d’ouvrir ses horizons puis tout ça. Mais en même temps, elle parlait anglais, tu sais, elle avait des petites notions. Puis, j’ai l’impression que c’est un peu ça, les Canadiens, ils aimeraient ça parler français mais, tu le sais toi‑même dans ton parcours, tu ne peux pas apprendre à parler français à Red Deer ou à Moose Jaw, tu sais. Il faut que tu viennes ici à Trois‑Pistoles puis que tu sois immergé complètement dans l’océan francophone, de comprendre pour parler, pour vivre la culture parce que c’est pas juste une langue, c’est pas juste du papier, c’est dans la vie, c’est dans tes affaires quand tu sors dans la rue, c’est un mode de vie. C’est pas juste une langue, c’est une culture. Ça, tu peux pas le comprendre si t’es pas venu au Québec, te plonger au Québec.”

Back to the topic at hand : describing Quebec. Truth be told, I had lost track of how many adjectives we had already been through, but he had more to say and I’m always willing to listen.

“Là, disons, il me manquerait un autre mot pour le Québec. Je dirais l’hiver. L’hiver, ça fait partie du Québec et du Canada, c’est pas exclusif au Québec. Encore hier, je parlais à un chauffeur de taxi qui me disait « Bon, moi, j’ai déménagé de la Tunisie, je suis bien au Québec. » Il disait « Y’a juste une chose qui me tanne, c’est l’hiver. » Tous les immigrants qui arrivent ici ont des problèmes avec l’hiver. C’est quelque chose vraiment… on ne soupçonne pas… Nous, on le subit en ronds sonnants, mais on est habitué depuis toujours. Mais eux, là, ça passe pas. Mais ça fait partie de notre identité, peut‑être de moins en moins avec le réchauffement de la planète.

Y’a une chose, par contre, que je rajouterais et puis dont on ne parle jamais au Québec, qui, moi, m’apparaît fondamental dans l’identité du Québec, c’est la notion de notre rapport avec les Amérindiens, les Premières nations. Dans l’identité québécoise – canadienne, je le sais pas – mais… Ne serait‑ce que dans les noms de lieux – Chicoutimi, Tadoussac, Hochelaga, Stadacone, tout ça – notre rapport avec les Premières nations a déjà été, quand on était en Nouvelle‑France, là, très très étroit. On parle des métis, des métis qui sont allés dans l’Ouest, tout ça, là. Ça, c’était comme une fusion des deux cultures, la culture européenne puis la culture amérindienne et puis, dans notre façon justement d’apprivoiser l’hiver, dans notre rapport avec l’espace, ce territoire‑là, comment on l’a connu, comment on l’a exploré. Puis cette dimension‑là de l’apport des Premières nations dans l’identité québécoise est complètement niée, complètement évacuée et moi, je suis très sensible à ça pour la remettre de l’avant. Donc, pour moi les Premières nations sont… On ne peut pas parler du Québec si on ne parle pas des Premières nations. Pour moi, ça m’apparaît fondamental.

Tu connais John Cole? J’ai lu son livre Siamese Twins (les frères siamois) qui parlent du Québec et du Canada. Puis lui, sa thèse de départ, reconstruire l’identité canadienne, c’est autochtone, francophone, anglophone. Le Canada, c’est une sorte de triangle équilatéral, avec des sommets égaux, puis l’identité du Canada repose là‑dessus. Le problème au Canada en ce moment, c’est qu’il y a une pointe du triangle qui écrase les deux autres. En fait, le Canada pourra le confirmer. Le Canada… Le Québec vit en français, le Canada vit en anglais. La réalité, c’est ça. À Ottawa, il y a une espèce de bilinguisme structurel dans le gouvernement fédéral, mais c’est pas vrai que le Canada est bilingue. Les gens qui sont bilingues, c’est les Francophones au Nouveau‑Brunswick, les Anglophones au Québec, puis les Francophones au Québec. C’est les seuls gens au Canada qui sont bilingues. Les Anglophones du Nouveau‑Brunswick sont pas bilingues…

Tu peux pas vivre en français à Toronto. Puis moi, je ne blâme pas les Canadiens de ne pas parler français; je veux dire c’est une langue en dehors du Québec, une langue qui sert à rien. Je veux dire, quand est‑ce que tu vas te trouver de l’emploi, quand est‑ce que tu vas écouter de la musique en français si tu es au Yukon? C’est une langue… Pourquoi la langue anglaise est tellement importante dans le monde? Parce que c’est les Américains qui l’ont prise, qui l’ont supportée avec leur économie puis leur contact militaire, comme les Romains ont imposé le latin. Je veux dire, une langue, ça s’impose pas parce que c’est beau puis ça sonne bien, ça s’impose avec l’économie. Donc, c’est pour ça que le français va décliner partout en Amérique, sauf au Québec peut‑être où là il y a des structures qui le protègent.

Au Québec, c’est important de parler français. Tu sais je veux dire? Alors que c’est pas important de parler français en Saskatchewan. C’est pour ça que les parents canadiens me font rire quand ils envoient leurs enfants à l’école en immersion. Ils veulent que… On veut toujours être bilingue, mais c’est trop de travail devenir bilingue, donc on va donner ça à nos enfants. Alors que toi, t’es la preuve, on peut très bien décider d’apprendre le français. On peut très bien si on a le goût, mais ça prend un acte de volonté, à. Toi, t’as déménagé, là, carrément. Mais d’abord, t’as été curieux. T’as dit « ah, ça m’intéresse, je vais aller en immersion », puis là après ça t’as dit « okay, il se passe des choses ici, là. Faut que je vienne approfondir ça. » De Toronto, de St. John à Terre‑Neuve, de Red Deer en Alberta, tu peux pas soupçonner tout ce qui se passe au Québec parce que tout ce que tu reçois, c’est de l’information biaisée, juste pendant le référendum les Québécois sont nationalistes, les Québécois sont pas gentils avec les Anglophones, les Québécois sont des maudits chialeux avec le déséquilibre fiscal, les Québécois votent tout le temps pour le maudit Bloc Québécois qu’on est pas capable d’avancer politiquement. C’est tout ce que t’entends, alors quelle image que tu te fais? C’est quoi, cette gang‑là de chiâleux puis d’arriérés?”

Though we got back on track, as you can see, it didn’t take long for us to get sidetracked again and start talking about Canada as a bilingual country. He recognizes that it doesn’t make much sense for people outside of Quebec to speak French. He’s almost saying, “Look, we cause you guys enough problems already here. Let’s just cut our losses and go our separate ways.” One need only look at the comments from my most recent entry to see the glimpses of the frustration the whole Quebec issue raises with Anglophone Canadians. And he’s right, we’re often given a pretty biased vision of Quebec, based on news reports whose primary focus is no longer to provide the news, but to sell the product, whether it be copies or advertising air time. As a result, we end up with a slanted view of the way things are here. Lucky for you ol’ Al is here to shed some light from time to time, eh?

I finished off the “official” part of the interview with a pretty simple question: Okay, I’m here in Quebec. What’s my next step to understanding what’s going on here? Here’s his response:

“Là, t’es à Montréal. C’est bien, Montréal. C’est une belle ville, mais c’est une métropole nord‑américaine où euh… Tu peux très bien vivre en anglais à Montréal, hein, tu t’en es rendu compte? Souvent aussi quand tu parles en français, beaucoup de Francophones te répondent en anglais quand ils entendent ton accent. Ça, c’est niaiseux de notre part. Ça là… Moi, je ne blâme pas les Anglais de ne pas parler français au Québec, je blâme les Francophones qui sont toujours en train de plier. Tu sais ce que je veux dire? Toi tu fais l’effort de parler, hein? Si tu ne parles jamais en français, tu ne l’apprendras jamais. Moi, ça ne me dérange pas de prendre beaucoup de temps, de parler moins vite, d’expliquer à un immigrant ou à un Anglophone puis qu’il dise « hé, j’ai eu une conversation en français, j’ai compris, c’est le fun, ça ». Les Québécois, on ne fait pas ça. Donc, à Montréal… Moi, ma suggestion, si tu veux comprendre le Québec, c’est de sortir de Montréal, faut que tu voyages. Faut que tu ailles en Abitibi, en Gaspésie, au lac Saint‑Jean, sur la Côte‑Nord, en Outaouais, à Québec. Faut que tu ailles à Québec, dans la Ville de Québec, parce que là tu vas… À Montréal, c’est comme si tu me disais je suis allé à New York, j’ai compris les États‑Unis. C’est très très différent. New York, c’est un pays presque. Montréal, c’est un peu ça, tu sais. C’est une ville qui est très… Parce que le reste du Québec, là, c’est beaucoup plus homogène, francophone, blanc, catholique. Y’a pas beaucoup d’immigrants; au lac Saint‑Jean, là, y’a pas beaucoup de Noirs, vraiment pas beaucoup. Ça, moi, j’aimerais qu’il y ait plus de diversité mais en même temps c’est un fait. Faut le constater, ce fait‑là. Faut constater aussi qu’au Lac Saint‑Jean personne parle anglais, vraiment personne, là… parce que si comme Canadien, par exemple, tu viens faire l’expérience du Québec, tu restes juste à Montréal où tout le monde est bilingue, tu peux te faire servir dans ta langue tout le temps partout, tu comprendras pas le Québec parce qu’il y a une grande partie du Québec qui est unilingue comme, par exemple, en Ontario les gens sont unilingues, Anglophones. Par exemple, je pourrais pas comprendre… prétendre comprendre l’Ontario si j’allais juste à Ottawa où il y a des gens qui parlent français aussi, en disant « hé, je me suis fait servir en français partout à Ottawa, donc l’Ontario c’est bilingue ». Je pense que pour comprendre le Québec, il faut voyager au Québec. Ça, c’est le conseil que je te donnerais à toi, mais à tous les Québécois aussi parce qu’il y a beaucoup de gens qui ne sont jamais sortis de l’île de Montréal. Je pense que pour connaître le Québec, il faut… Évidemment, la culture, en général, c’est un bon moyen de comprendre…Si t’as vu le film Maurice Richard, par exemple, t’as compris une partie de l’histoire du Québec aussi avec ça. Les journaux, il faut que tu lises les journaux d’ici, que t’écoutes la télévision d’ici, tu vas comprendre beaucoup de facettes de nous qui ne sont pas très belles à exposer, très quétaines, très petit village refermé sur lui‑même, mais c’est nous. Tu sais, quand tu découvres quelqu’un, c’est pas juste ses bons côtés, tu découvres ses mauvais côtés. La culture, à mon avis, elle demeure le meilleur moyen d’avoir accès à l’âme d’une nation, si tu veux. Puis voyager. Si tu comprends le territoire, tu comprends à quel point c’est grand, puis à quel point… Peu importe où que tu sois au Québec, tu vas comprendre que t’es encore au Québec. Tu traverses en Ontario puis tu traverses au Nouveau‑Brunswick, à un moment donné, frontière ou non, là, tu vas t’apercevoir que tu n’es plus au Québec. Et c’est ça qui fait qu’on a la conscience d’être une nation. C’est que partout sur le territoire, on partage une culture commune.”

Hopefully this extended series has been somewhat amusing for my readers. I would like to thank Christiane Côté from French Transcription Services, without whom I would never have been able to present this in the manner I wanted. Reading French is one thing, but being able to transcribe things from a mediocre quality tape recording is quite another. Til next time…

Entrevue avec Biz (Loco Locass) troisième partie

So let’s get a little deeper into the political attitude of Quebec and les Québécois, shall we? A little over a year ago, university, college and CEGEP students voiced their displeasure with Jean Charest’s proposed budget cuts to education by going on strike. And believe it or not, the government listened. In fact, not only did the government listen, but they also allocated more money to education than they had planned. WHAT?!? Having lived through Mike Harris’ so-called “Common Sense Revolution” wherein education was cut by hundreds of millions of dollars and tuition became less regulated, I’m shocked at the outcome in Quebec. Had we pulled the same sort of stunt in Ontario, I have absolutely no doubt that we would have gotten absolutely no results. The universities would have been happy to keep cashing our tuition cheques, raising the rates and delaying our graduations. Not so here.

I asked Biz for a bit of an overview of the situation and made the comparison to the Mike Harris regime (one will notice that Loco Locass made the same sort of comparison in their song, Libérez‑nous des Libéraux). He told me that the cause became more than just students versus the government. People who were no longer students sided with them. There’s a belief that education is important and that the students were already poor enough—I wish we had experienced the same sort of support in Ontario before the gradual rate hike started taking effect. For some reason, they watch the government with a more critical eye here and they believe, much like they do in France, that the government will listen if the people make their views known. He remembered Harris’ cuts and wondered why we, in Ontario, seemed to just grin and bear it. It comes down to that basic belief that people can make a difference. We don’t seem to think that way in Ontario, at least not when it comes to dealing with the government.

“Mais nous, justement depuis que le gouvernement Charest est là, les gens ont compris que s’ils descendaient dans la rue, parce que le gouvernement est tellement pas bon en fait, il fait tellement plein de niaiseries qu’il faut qu’il soit surveiller de très près par la population.

Quand ils ont voulu faire une centrale au gaz au suroît, les gens sont descendus dans la rue, le gouvernement a arrêté. Quand ils ont voulu subventionner des écoles privées à 100 %, les gens sont descendus, le gouvernement a reculé.

Ç’était la même chose pour les étudiants. C’était une grève qui n’était pas juste pour les étudiants, c’était partout au Québec. Moi, j’avais mon carré rouge, beaucoup de citoyens qui n’étaient plus des étudiants étaient solidaires avec les étudiants parce qu’ils trouvaient que le gouvernement était injuste, incompétent, puis des voleurs qui n’avaient pas… Ils volaient de l’argent aux étudiants aussi pauvres alors qu’ils disaient que l’éducation allait être leur priorité. Donc, tout le monde était d’accord avec les étudiants puis, justement, ç’a marché partout. Ils sont allés récupérer une partie, cent millions, qu’on leur avait prise. Donc, à ce compte‑là… c’est là que tu vois qu’il y a deux cultures au Canada. Les Québécois ont une culture qui est près de celle de la France au niveau de la manifestation, de l’opinion publique. Nous, on pense que si on descend dans les rues, ça peut changer des choses. Alors qu’au Canada, je ne le sais pas mais tu me disais que les gens… ça m’a toujours étonné ça parce que… Quand Harris a fait sa révolution du bon sens, je le savais, moi, je suivais ça de très loin mais quand même, puis je me disais y a personne dans les rues, donc les gens doivent être contents, ça doit faire leur affaire, ils doivent être satisfaits, ils doivent dire merci au gouvernement, on est content comment ça s’est fait. Donc, j’ai eu une perception un peu bizarre des Ontariens en disant, bon, ce qu’ils veulent, tant mieux pour eux, c’est ça qu’ils vont avoir.”

Mind you, the people won’t react to every cause under the sun. It needs to be something they believe in and support. The fact that the students took the initiative themselves demonstrated to the Quebecois that this was an important issue. The students are the future of the province and deserve the same sort of opportunities (if not better) than those that came before them. It was only by rallying the people to their cause that they succeeded. Biz believes very strongly in the power of the people and their right to express their views through protests, and they try to use their songs to encourage people to express their views. In fact, one of their songs (guess which one) became a symbol of the protests.

“Mais en fait ça dépend aussi de la manifestation; si elle concerne juste les professeurs, ça sera pas suffisant mais si les professeurs réussissent à rallier avec eux l’ensemble de la société en disant ça concerne pas juste nous mais toute la société, l’éducation parce que c’est nos enfants qu’on va former. Ils vont avoir des bons emplois, ils vont générer de l’argent pour payer nos frais de santé quand on va être plus vieux, tu sais. Les étudiants, c’est ce qu’ils ont réussi à faire, se mobiliser eux‑mêmes à l’échelle de tout le Québec puis, en plus, d’inclure le reste de la société, les syndiqués, même le restant de la société dans leur combat. À ce moment‑là, tu peux gagner. Tu rallies l’ensemble de la population. Aucun gouvernement… même en France, ils vont reculer, là, sur le contrat de première embauche, là. Il n‘est pas question qu’ils reculent. Mais quand un gouvernement fait face à une opposition d’une telle ampleur, il n’a pas le choix de reculer parce qu’il dit « ça va contre le peuple », en fait, ça marche pas, je peux pas faire ça.

Moi, je crois beaucoup à la mobilisation de la société civile. On l’encourage beaucoup nous, dans nos chansons, dans nos spectacles puis dans notre esprit. On voit souvent… Avec les étudiants, on faisait des… on allait dans les spectacles de musique, notre chanson allait jouer partout dans toutes les manifestations étudiantes, c’était la chanson de la manifestation pour dire non à ce gouvernement‑là.”

When I continue with the final part of the interview, we get back to discussing more of la culture québécoise. Stay tuned…Continue to part 4

Entrevue avec Biz (Loco Locass) deuxième partie

Somewhere along the lines, I had heard that Loco Locass were the pop culture “Defenders of the French Language” in Quebec. And considering the complexities of some of their songs, I can see how they would have gained such a reputation. But they’re really known for their separatist political outlook and critiques of the government, both Provincial and Federal. So I wondered, when did this all start for Biz? Was there some defining moment when he felt that Quebec needed to become its own country to ensure its survival? Going through the “why do you feel this way” seemed a little pointless. I know he wants an independent Quebec and no amount of debate between the 2 of us would ever change that, so I decided to stick with the “when” part of the whole deal. This is what he told me:

“Moi, ça date pas. Du plus loin que je me souvienne, ça date du premier Référendum en 1980. Il y en a eu deux référendums, un en ’95 et un en ’80. Donc, moi en ’80, j’avais huit ans, j’étais un petit enfant. Mes parents, qui étaient de la Ville de Québec… Je sentais qu’il se passait des choses dans la ville. Y’avait des pancartes, y’avait OUI, NON. Ça, j’étais capable de comprendre ça. J’avais demandé à mes parents de m’expliquer pourquoi, qu’est‑ce qui se passait, tout ça puis elle m’avait expliqué que… à un enfant de huit ans, en fait, que les Québécois voulaient s’occuper de leurs affaires eux‑mêmes, tout ça. Puis là j’ai dit mais y’en a qui ne sont pas d’accord avec ça, comment ça y’en a qui sont pas d’accord? Elle a dit, bien, ceux qui sont pas d’accord, c’est les riches, ceux qui ont beaucoup d’argent, les Anglophones, les Canadiens puis eux autres veulent rester Canadiens.”

So essentially it started as early as grade school for Biz. I can’t remember a thing about the 1980 Referendum, but I can see how that sort of thing (and the attitudes of one’s parents) could shape one’s opinions growing up. From his parents’ perspective, it was the rich and the Anglophones who wanted Quebec to stay, but the common man wanted no part of it.

“En fait, le plus loin que je puisse me rappeler, j’ai toujours trouver que les nations devaient s’occuper d’elles‑mêmes en fait parce que les Québécois en ce moment y’a une situation un peu poche qui se passe avec le Canada. On est pas dans le Canada vraiment parce qu’on n’a pas signé la Constitution. C’est comme si on est marié, mais on n’a pas signé le contrat de mariage. Tu sais, t’as un Premier Ministre à Québec qui est un fédéraliste ardent, M. Charest, pourquoi il ne la signe pas, la Constitution, pourquoi? S’il ne la signe pas, c’est qu’il y a un problème. C’est quoi, le problème? Réglons‑le. Donc, on est à la fois pas tout à fait dehors du Canada, pas tout à fait dedans, pas de statu quo. J’imagine pour les Canadiens ça doit être extraordinairement fatiguant d’avoir un interlocuteur qui est toujours en train de chialer, maudit assurance médical, maudit Ottawa, maudit ci, maudit ça. C’est comme… y’est pas capable de se prendre en main. Pour ça, moi je me dis gouvernons‑nous nous‑mêmes, puis arrêtons de chialer après eux autres, en fait. C’est aussi simple que ça pour moi.” he expressed.

Biz feels that there’s a general disconnect between Quebec and Canada, reaching back to the repatriation of the constitution. After all, Quebec has never officially signed off on the new constitution (a point I’ve heard from virtually every separatist I’ve ever met) and at the moment, the Premier of Quebec is an ardent Federalist, but even he hasn’t stepped up and signed the constitution. There must be some reason why not. And really, it must be pretty draining for Canadians to be constantly hearing someone complaining all the time about every little thing. For me, I think that’s one of the best things about having Quebec as a part of Canada—they keep Ottawa honest (or at least as much as it can be).

Loco Locass, like Public Enemy and other hip hop groups from the 80s and early 90s, occupy an interesting niche in pop culture. On the one hand, they’re entertainers. On the other, they have something to say. Biz is quite proud that the Forum section of their website has become more important than the section about the group itself. They want to create dialogues, advance ideas--just discuss what’s going on in the world. They’re not just a hip hop group anymore. Their site has become a major locus of internet discussion. Having stopped by the site a few times, I admit it’s been pretty interesting to read the discussions. Sure, there are still some crackpots on there, but one finds that anytime there’s an open discussion. So does that mean that the political ideas are more important than the songs themselves?

“Oui et non, aussi importantes parce que si on fait pas des bonnes chansons, on véhiculera pas nos idées. Tu sais, j’ai bien beau faire une chanson « Oui, un pays, votez oui, votez oui ». C’est comme euh… ça poche, point. Je veux dire, personne ne va écouter ça. La chanson Libérez‑nous des Libéraux avait eu beaucoup d’impact pour plusieurs raisons : y’avait une conjoncture, y avait un gouvernement qui était très très impopulaire, ça rejoignait dans le texte et dans les idées ce que beaucoup de gens pensaient mais aussi c’était une chanson entraînante, bien construite dans sa structure avec un refrain assez accrocheur, de la turlute à la fin qui rejoint tous les Québécois, un bon rythme assez… qui donne le goût de contester, d’aller de l’avant. Je pense que c’est une bonne chanson bien construite puis au niveau des idées, bien, elle supporte une idée qui était la majorité des Québécois, en fait… avec laquelle la majorité des Québécois étaient d’accord. Donc, elle est devenue populaire à cause de ça. Mais si t’as juste une bonne idée ou juste une bonne chanson, t’auras pas autant d’impact. Ça prend vraiment les deux, ça prend des bonnes idées dans des bonnes chansons que les gens vont retenir puis qu’ils vont avoir le goût de chanter puis de fredonner.”

For Biz, it takes a combination of the two aspects. The reason for the success of their song Libérez‑nous des Libéraux was that they were able to tap into many of the sentiments being felt by the people of Quebec, but do it in an entertaining way. You may have good ideas, but if you don’t know how to express them in a way that’ll be attractive to the public, then no one will notice. At the same time, if you’re all style and no substance, then the public will be even less inclined to listen to what you have to say. It’s got to be a balance, otherwise it just won’t work.

Believe it or not, folks, we’re only about a quarter of the way through the interview, so I’ll stop here for now. Til next time… Continue to part 3.

Interview with Biz (Loco Locass) Part 1

**I’ll do my best to explain the French as I go. I felt that it was important to the integrity of the interview to maintain the content in its original form. I apologize to those readers from the great state of Texas who can’t read French. To my anglo-Canadian audience, you have no excuse. We’ve been taking French since grade school and it’s an important part of our national identity—something we should all be proud of, so break out the dictionaries if necessary. You can find my introduction here**

There’s so much I don’t know about Loco Locass, and so much more to learn about Quebec, I figured I would start at the beginning. What does Loco Locass mean? Where are they from? How did they meet?

“Loco en espagnol, c’est « fou », puis locass en français, ça ne s’écrit pas comme ça mais ça veut dire bavard, ça veut dire qui parle beaucoup comme loco ici, c’est un mot qui veut dire… qui parle beaucoup. Puis loco, ça fait référence aussi à locomotive, locomotivum, le mouvement puis le fait d’être local aussi, qu’on parle beaucoup du Québec et de ce qui se passe au Québec. Donc, on a des problématiques locales, donc on est locaux aussi, on s’intéresse à ce qui se passe chez nous. Donc, ça fait un peu référence à tout ça, là, en fait.” he explained, essentially “Crazy Talkers” with a reference to both movement and the sense of being “local.” The word Locaux (the plural form of local) is phonetically similar to the Spanish word “Loco,” for those less familiar with French.

“Le fait aussi de mettre un terme espagnol, ça fait référence aussi au fait qu’on est préoccupé aussi par toute l’Amérique au complet, le continent américain aussi. C’est pas juste… Même si on est préoccupé par le Québec, on a une ouverture aussi sur le reste du monde.”

“Batlam, c’est un ami de Québec, c’est vraiment un très vieil ami du cégep, ou high school on dirait. On avait donc des amis communs, puis on se réunissait autour de la radio, on faisait de la radio au cégep. D’ailleurs, Loco Locass au début faisait une émission de radio au cégep puis très vite on a été très attiré par la langue, en fait l’écriture. Lui écrivait, moi aussi j’écrivais. Aussi on lisait beaucoup, puis on aimait beaucoup la littérature, la musique aussi. On écoutait du hip‑hop français puis graduellement, moi, j’avais le goût d’écrire des textes.” Biz said.

“Quand on a rencontré Chafiik par l’entremise d’un ami commun, on avait déjà quelques textes de faits. Lui nous a fait des musiques, on a dit : « okay parfait, on va faire un disque. »”

He and Batlam have known one another since high school and met up again because of a radio show they did in cegep (like a combination of community college and/or university prep), also called Loco Locass. By the time they met Chafiik through a common friend, Biz and Batlam had already written a few songs. Chafiik took care of the music part and they decided to make a CD.

The group itself formed a little over 10 years ago, so I wondered how things have changed over the years, as far as goals and vision for the group. Not a lot, apparently. The goal had always been to put out good music, with a distinctively Québécois accent. They wanted to give a voice to the issues that concerned them, namely the protection of the French language in Anglophone North America and the political independence of Quebec, all the while putting on a good show.

“La vision originale, je dirais qu’elle reste quand même assez intacte. Évidemment elle a pris plus d’ampleur, si tu veux, mais au début, là, ce qu’on voulait faire, c’était du rap en français mais vraiment québécois parce que nous, ce qu’on écoutait au début en `95, c’était du rap français de France. Il n’y avait pas vraiment beaucoup d’artistes qui le faisaient ici au Québec en français avec l’accent du Québec puis avec des problématiques du Québec. Donc, à partir de là, nous, ç’a toujours été de faire de la bonne musique avec l’accent québécois, puis de la musique originale puis des bonnes chansons qui parleraient du Québec, puis des préoccupations qu’on avait à l’époque c’était la langue française, l’importance de la langue française dans un contexte minoritaire en Amérique puis l’indépendance politique du Québec. Ça, c’était les deux fers de lance, je dirais, propres au début. Ça, c’est resté… Puis d’ailleurs, notre premier album, on l’a appelé Manifestif, qui est un peu le manifeste, la prise de position politique, puis « festif », ça veut dire à travers la fête, à travers le party, à travers le plaisir, en fait. Donc, dans nos chansons ou dans un spectacle, quand tu viens à un spectacle, il y a cette notion de fête, de plaisir, mais aussi la réflexion continue sur l’identité puis ce qui se passe au niveau socioéconomique et politique.

Je dirais que la vision d’origine, en fait, elle a… La mission, si tu veux, là, ça n’a pas évolué. C’est juste que ç’a pris beaucoup plus d’ampleur évidemment parce qu’au début on était dans l’est de Montréal puis on travaillait; personne ne savait qu’on faisait de la musique, mais plus personne ne voulait entendre parler de la souveraineté après le Référendum de ’95, puis le fait du rap, le rap ça n’existe pas au Québec, personne ne connaît ça, y’a personne qui va aimer ce qu’on fait, en fait.

Finalement, au début on a eu un succès médiatique. Les médias étaient très intéressés à nous parce que ça portait souvent les tuques en forme de fleur de lys. Donc ils disaient, il y a donc des jeunes qui s’intéressent à la politique dans une forme moderne avec du hip‑hop. C’est curieux, on va aller voir qui ils sont ces bêtes‑là. Ils se sont intéressés à nous. On a vendu à peu près 10 000 disques du premier album Manifestif. C’est quand on a fait l’Amour Oral, notre dernier disque, qu’on a eu un succès plus populaire, plus réparti à travers tout le Québec.” he recounted.

They were a novelty when they first came out in 1995 since no one wanted to talk about language issues or independence after the Referendum, but the media took an interest anyway. After all, here were young guys, trying to use hip-hop to discuss politics. The attention was nice and they sold 10, 000 albums, but it wasn’t until their 2nd album that they really took off.

In preparation for the interview, I decided to read through the lyrics of a few of their songs. The one that caught my eye was L’Empire du Pire en Pire. Being a Classics major, I appreciated the references to ancient Rome and the parallels drawn to the US. But in hearing him talk about his mindset, I realized that I would probably have hung out with him, had we gone to the same high school growing up. You’ll see what I mean in a moment.

“Dans l’Empire du Pire en Pire, on fait référence effectivement à l’empire romain. Moi, ç’a toujours été… j’ai toujours comparé les Américains aux Romains, moi, par ce que c’est une puissance. Tu sais, on parle de la domination des Américains en ce moment sur le monde, mais les Romains, faut pas oublier qu’ils ont contrôlé un empire qui est plus grand, en fait, que celui que les Américains contrôlent en ce moment, en imposant une langue, le latin, une culture, des architectures, des cirques romains. Tu sais, tu te promènes en France, même dans le sud de la France, y’a encore des colisées romains où il y a des corridas, ça fait plus que 2 000 ans que ç’a été construit, ça. Donc ils ont été vraiment impérialistes, en fait, militairement et aussi culturellement. Puis je trouvais qu’il y avait un parallèle à faire entre... Un empire ça se déploie, puis ça se construit, puis ça meurt aussi, toujours de la même façon. Moi, ce qui m’intéressait, c’était faire le parallèle entre les deux et donc de pouvoir aussi annoncer le déclin et éventuellement la mort de l’empire américain exactement comme on avait observé celui de l’empire romain. Les Romains ont construit plein de routes, en fait, qui ont permis d’aller envahir les Barbares. Mais après ça, pendant qu’ils étaient occupés avec du pain des jeux, ils étaient complètement décadents à la fin, les Romains, ils ne construisaient plus rien, ils allaient au cirque puis ils mangeaient gratuitement puis, pendant ce temps‑là, les Barbares ont envahi Rome – un peu ce qui s’est passé avec le 11 septembre, à savoir les Barbares sont entrés dans Rome. En ce moment, je trouve que les Américains sont très très décadents… À mon avis, c’est une nation qui est sur le déclin en ce moment, vraiment sur le déclin. Ça me faisait penser à l’empire romain, finalement.

Puis, dans une autre chanson aussi sur Amour Oral, qui s’appelle La bataille des murailles, j’ai écrit sur la… comparé le Sommet des Amériques, je sais pas si ça te dit quelque chose, ça. En 2001, à Québec, il y eu un grand sommet qui a réuni toutes les nations d’Amérique. Il y eu des grosses manifestations dans la Ville de Québec. Ça me faisait penser à… y’avait un périmètre de sécurité, y’avait les monarques qui étaient dans leur château. Ça faisait penser à l’époque médiévale avec un château, les paysans qui veulent se ramasser au château, y’a un combat entre… y’avait même des catapultes, ils lançaient des vraies catapultes. Moi, ça m’a toujours intéressé d’utiliser des analogies soit avec l’empire romain ou l’époque médiévale pour expliquer, en fait, que l’histoire humaine est toujours la même, souvent. Ça tombe toujours en… C’est toujours les mêmes grandes opérations, les mêmes grands trucs. Dans le cas de ces deux chansons‑là, c’est moi qui les ai écrites les deux, ça me préoccupe beaucoup, les analogies historiques, mais j’ai pas étudié en histoire ou quoi que ce soit, j’ai joué beaucoup à Dungeons & Dragons, alors je connais le nom des épées puis des armures. Ça me permet justement d’utiliser ça dans mes chansons. ” he said.

Yes, you read that correctly. Biz used to play Dungeons & Dragons. He had just as “geeky” a hobby as I did. Amazing the sorts of things y’hear, eh? Tomorrow I’ll resume this and we’ll get into a bit of politics and Biz’s take on Quebec. Til next time… Continue to part two.

Interview with Biz (Loco Locass): The Introduction

Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to congratulate Biz and his wife on the birth of their first child, Louis. I hope that he grows up happy and healthy.

A little over a month ago (Easter weekend, in fact), I decided that I wanted to do another interview. I was still basking in the afterglow of my interview with Chéli Sauvé-Castonguay and, quite frankly, was feeling lucky. So I went over my mental wish list and decided to try and get in touch with Loco Locass, specifically Biz. I had decided on Biz because I knew he spoke English and I couldn’t make the same claim about the other two of the trio, Batlam and Chafiik. Plus, it would have been more than a bit overwhelming to deal with all three.

So why Loco Locass? Who are these guys? I know the majority of my readers have no clue who they are, but that’s part of the appeal, for me anyway. I first heard about Loco Locass during my sojourn in Trois-Pistoles 2 years ago. As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, my old animateur, Fred, has had a profound influence on my explorations of Québécois culture. My first Québécois CDs were all bought based on his recommendations, for instance. Well, Loco Locass is one of Fred’s favourite groups. He’s even analysed the lyrics of a few of their songs for some essays in years past. So I figured I’d give them a quick listen.

I’m not normally into rap, let alone Francophone rap, but their song Libérez-nous des libéraux is really catchy. I didn’t understand much more than the chorus, but I could probably say the same thing about a dozen Anglophone rappers. Personal language limitations aside, it sounded pretty good. And much like the rap of the mid to late 80s, there’s content to their lyrics, presuming one takes the time to read them. There’s also an intricacy and complexity to their songs that would make many a grammar teacher smile.

Did I mention they’re Quebec nationalists? Interviewing Biz had the makings of a fun afternoon, that’s for sure. So I dropped a quick note to his management company and requested an interview. I figured it would probably take a few weeks to sort out details and whatnot, but to my surprise, I found an e-mail in my Inbox the next day asking me to call him. I left a message on his voice mail and the next day he called me back. I was absolutely giddy. Unlike my failed attempt to do the interview with Chéli in French, I managed to carry out the phone conversation en français and arrange for an interview the following day.

Here’s where it gets a little bit embarrassing for me: despite having listened to their songs and seen some interviews, I wasn’t entirely sure which one of group I was meeting. They always seem to do the interviews together and I usually spent more time listening to what they were saying than identifying which was which. All I knew for sure was that it wasn’t the one with the shaved head. That’s Chafiik. Some google searches didn’t clear things up, either. So I just trusted I’d be able to figure it out when the time came and headed down to Le Café de l’Apothicaire sur la rue Beaubien in Rosemont.

I was pretty nervous, as one can clearly tell if one listens to the recording of the interview, but this whole Quebec experiment is meant to broaden my horizons and allow me to experience things I would never have the chance to in London, Ontario. So I took a few deep breaths and got my head together as I waited. Before long, I noticed a pregnant woman come strolling in, followed by a tall, skinny guy in a bandana, a Puerto Rico football jersey (that looks oddly similar to the Alouettes jersey) and the typical hip hop-style baggy jeans. Chances were pretty good I had found Biz. So after he and his wife had settled in, I went over and introduced myself.

**Tomorrow, I'll get into the interview itself. Til next time...***
To continue to the first part of the interview, click here.

Interview with Chéli (Part 3)

Well, folk, here we have the third, and final, installment of my interview with Chéli Sauvé-Castonguay. For those joining the party in progress, you can find Part 1 right here. So without further ado...

***
AL B: One of the things that I was also wondering about: given your position in the public eye, does that put you in a different position, as far as doing projects I the community? Take Bono, for instance. He’s big on promoting causes and things like that.

Chéli: Right, right.

AL B: Considering your position in the community, is there anything that you do or that the station does as far as outreach programs?

Chéli: Yeah, for sure! Especially because of our demographic. I mean, it’s mostly kids that watch us. I would say the age group for Musique Plus, without including MusiMax, would be from like 7 to 18. We’re trying to get an older public, like to 24, but right now I would say that’s the biggest. Y’know, the mass. That’s where they are. That’s who’s listening to us. So definitely, we involve ourselves I everything and right now I’m with, most of the VJs actually, who aren’t smokers, are involved in what’s called «la gang allumée»…

***This is when I hear the telltale pop of my audio recorder, telling me that I’ve run out of tape on this side. We make a few joking comments about old school technology as I flip the cassette.***

AL B: Alright, flipped the tape.

Chéli: I love tapes. Okay, so yeah. La gang allumée. That’s a program to just entice kids to not smoke or stop smoking. It’s kind of scary how kids smoke at a very early age now. So we just basically go around now, it’s like a contest. They do a project and if their project is chosen, there’s a VJ that goes to see them at their school.

AL B: Oh, okay.

Chéli: And this is for the whole province of Québec. That’s one thing. The other thing that I love to do—it’s always kids. It’s always related to kids, education and all that. So another thing that I constantly do is go to schools and speak about the importance of bilingualism, because of my job and because I do both. Some of the hosts here do not speak English.

AL B: Really?

Chéli: Yeah, some of them don’t. Or if they do, very little. Not enough to be able to do it on air. That’s why the ones that are fully bilingual are always given the chance to travel, do interviews with major international artists, and also do those interviews live. So I can’t stress more how important it is to be bilingual nowadays. There is such thing as being proud of your language, but you have to have an open mind. We can’t hide the fact that English is the universal language. So that’s another thing. I always involve myself that way and I always go and talk to kids and tell them and explain to them how I got to this point.

AL B: Okay, now the music industry in Québec is pretty much self-sufficient from what I can tell and it’s pretty much also unknown in the rest of Canada. That being said, are there any sort of hidden musical treasures that you would recommend?

Chéli: That are French…?

AL B: La musique québécoise.

Chéli: La musique québécoise. Oh there’s SO many bands! I mean, because if you look at the Maritimes, they love that folkish kind of music, like Blue Rodeo. There’s so many bands that are from there that are big in the rest of Canada, but if you like that kind of music, you have that here à la bonne franquette au Québec! We’ve got les Cowboys Fringants that I think are known pretty well in Canada. Well, they’re not THAT known. That’s the thing.

Um, let’s see, let’s see, let’s see… I don’t know if people know Jean Leloup, but if they know Jean Leloup, a new one that resembles a lot and who’s worked with him, is Anik Jean. She’s a French singer. And then there’s more like, I don’t even know how to describe their type of music, but it’s part of la relève that we call here… Yann Perreau, Ariane Moffat, Pierre Lapointe, Stéphanie Lapointe, who’s nominated for a Juno. Actually Stéphanie Lapointe is nominated for a Juno, along with Anik Jean that I already mentioned.

In terms of the hiphop world, there’s great talent in the hiphop world., that’s French hiphop. Yesterday I went to this launch and his name is SemiBruce. He started this label called Bootleg and the beats, I tell you, the beats are awesome! It’s French rap, but I think it’s great. All these guys, instead of trying to go in through Canada, they have to go in France if they want to enlarge their careers. There’s SO much talent! It’s hard to… there’s also Les Respectables… there’s a bunch, there’s really a bunch to be proud of.

AL B: Okay, now in general, there is almost like an expiration date on the career of any VJ…

Chéli: Yes.

AL B: …because it’s…

Chéli: It’s TV!

AL B: Exactly, it’s TV. So what sort of aspirations do you have when you reach that “certain age?”

Chéli: Well I’m always frightful. I’m telling you, I never feel secure. From the moment I started here to now, I never felt secure. I think that’s, in one way, very important, because you never want to let it go to your head. Anybody can do this job, and that’s what they want. They want to show the public that anybody that watches us could say, “Y’know what? I could do this job.”

So I’d hopefully stay, if I do stay in TV, I want to keep going in this cultural [vein]. Anything that’s culture, basically: entertainment, film, music. Those are all the things that interest me. Because I’m franco-ontarienne, I’m constantly fearing that that I won’t be able to have a job at TQS, TVA, Radio-Canada or y’know, those big stations or big enterprises here because I don’t have a Québécois accent. Sometimes people watch me and think, “hmmph! Maudite anglophone! I don’t understand what she’s saying!” They don’t feel the link. So that’s always been something that gets me that I’ve always feared.

So if ever that doesn’t work out, another thing that always interested me was travel shows and National Geographic, so I might just fall into trying to become a videographer, a photographer or something like that. Y’know, keep my options open, because I think sometimes, especially nowadays, we tend to glamorize artists and people. People are famous for no reason nowadays and I find that very… frivolous. Sometimes I go home, although I love what I do, I love my job, I love music. I love this. It’s fantastic! I couldn’t ask for better stuff, but I go home and you watch Biography channel. You watch National Geographic and you’re just like, “Wow. What am I doing? What is the significance of what I’m doing?” It’s so little. It doesn’t represent anything. I’m not saying I want to go save the world, but I’m saying that sometimes I want to do something that has meaning. And I can actually bring information to people that will be more than just, “Hey! So you’ve made 5 million dollars and you have no talent. Excellent. Love it.” You know what I mean? Sometimes that’s what it is. I’m not degrading or berating what I’m doing because I know that culture and entertainment is a big part of our lives in our society. And people, after a hard day’s work, like to tune into that kind of stuff because it feels better. It’s something light and easy-going. But it’s just that when you’re always in it, sometimes you just get fed up with these people.

AL B (laughing): I totally understand. So my last little question is: do you have any suggestions for me, during my little “voyage of discovery” here, of things that I absolutely must, either see or experience, while I’m here in Québec?

Chéli: Okay. Right, right, right. Okay. It’s funny because I’ve been here 4 years, so I’ve also been discovering. I’m franco-ontarienne, so there’s so many things that I’ve discovered here… You HAVE to go to Québec City. You’ve probably done that, but if you go there in the winter time, during the Carnival, you have to have… what is it called? Caribou! Oh, no. Is it Caribou? Ugh! It’s like a type of alcohol.

AL B: It’s Caribou.

Chéli: Is it Caribou?

AL B (chuckles): Yes.

Chéli: Oh! So you’ve had it?

AL B: I haven’t had it, but I’ve heard of it.

Chéli: It’s not that good, but you still have to have it. And the way to do it is, when it’s the Carnival, you go to that strip of all the bars…

AL B: La Grande Allée.

Chéli: Yes. La Grande Allée. Then there’s a bar—an ice bar—and you go have it there.

AL B: Okay.

Chéli: So that’s cool. Another thing, but you’ve probably already done that, too, is la cabane à sucre. This is the time to do it. You go in the morning, you have your eggs with… okay, they’re like beans, so we call them des bines à mélasses. So you have that there at la cabane à sucre. There’s syrup, you have your bacon with your syrup… it’s really fun! You can go on a horse ride and go get your own maple syrup. There’s des cabanes à sucre everywhere around the region of Montreal, so that’s another thing… Assist to the Jazz Festival, which you probably already did, but…

AL B: I actually only got here in September, so…

Chéli: Oh! So it’s coming up this summer. Right here at the Complexe Desjardins there’s a bunch of different stages… oh then Francofolies, Festival du Jazz, these are all things that are going to happen this summer. This city, in the summer, is amazing. It’s fantastic! You’ll never want to leave Montreal. It’s a beautiful city. It never sleeps and people are so fun! Like I said, «la joie de vivre.» People are dancing in the streets. There’s stages, there’s music. It’s beautiful. So Jazzfest, Francofollies, these are definitely the 2 festivals to look out for this summer.

Hmmm. Le Festival du Film du Monde. That’s another one, but that’s more around Fall. That’s films that are from here, films that are from outside, everywhere à l’étranger. That, again, is fun. That’s another thing I love. We embrace different cultures here, more so, I believe than anywhere else in Canada, apart from Toronto, obviously. But stil, I think, here we embrace a lot of outside cultures.

What else? What else? What else? Go on the terrasses in the summer. Drink beer on the terrasses in Old Montreal and you’ll really feel it. I think that’s pretty much it. I can’t think of anything else that’s very “Québec”… If you go to the little bars in Old Montreal, they have little bands, every weekend, every Saturday night, that are very bonne franquette type of music. People are drinking beer, dancing. It’s really good! It’s really fun! So Old Montreal is definitely a place to go to.

AL B: Well, I appreciate your time.

Chéli: My pleasure, my pleasure.

AL B: Thank you very much.

Chéli: I appreciate your questions. They were good! I felt bad. I couldn’t find the words sometimes!

AL B: No, no! It’s alright! It’s okay!

***

So there you have it. Je voudrais remercier la belle Chéli. Elle est très sympathique et très charmante.

I hope you've all enjoyed the interview. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future.

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.

***

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!

***

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.

Interview with Chéli (Part 1)

I'll admit it: I'm a fan. I love television, movies, music--the whole 9 yards. I soak up pop culture and celebrity gossip like a sponge and now, thanks to this site, I've met my first bonafide Québécois celebrity! Technically she's franco-ontarienne, but I'm not going to quibble over details. Now given the fact that I haven't done an interview, face-to-face, in quite some time, I was pretty nervous. Remember how I said I could probably pull off doing the interview in French? Um, yeah. Forget I said that. It felt like my whole vocabulary left my head in the first 5 seconds. Heck, I couldn't even introduce myself properly. «Je suis Alan» is about as fifth grade as you can get. Nice to see that Minor in French paid off, eh?

Thankfully, Chéli is a sweetheart. As we went upstairs to find some place a bit more quiet, I stammered out something about how nervous I was and she just smiled, grabbed my arm and said, "Why be nervous? Let's go shoot the shit." That's when I realised everything would be just fine. We ended up sitting in what I guess would be the staff lunch room. It's definitely a shame that I didn't have more time (and more cassette tapes) because I would have loved to capture more of our conversation for posterity. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

Anyway, I gave her a brief overview of what I'm trying to do with this site and showed her the list of questions I had prepared. I wasn't sure how much she had been told prior to the interview, so I thought it would be a good gesture on my part. After all, she was taking time out of her schedule to talk to me. The least I could do is make sure my questions were clear. So after a quick test of my recorder, we got started. What follows is the transcript of my interview with Chéli, so get comfortable.

***

AL B: So I'm here with Chéli de Musique Plus. Chéli, thank you very much for the interview.

Chéli: My pleasure.

AL B: I've got some questions, if you don't mind. Let's start off with some of the more general ones. My audience tends to be more anglophone than francophone, so chances are pretty good they don't pick up Musique Plus on their local cable.

Chéli: Sure.

AL B: Okay, so, um, where are you from?

Chéli: Originally, I'm from Ottawa. I'd lived there my whole life and when I was 21, after university, I moved to Montreal because I wanted to start a career in television. I studied journalism and I knew that TV was the medium for me. I had done radio and I had done written press at the university and that's when I found out that TV was what interested me the most.

AL B: Okay, so when did you start at Musique Plus?

Chéli: I started in September 2002, which would make me in my fourth year right now. I'm not saying that the school isn't good or that the program wasn't good, but let me tell you, I learned more in one year at Musique Plus than in 3 and a half years of university.

AL B: So how did you learn that you got the job as a VJ? Like, did somebody call you... ?

Chéli: Actually, it was really lucky. I mean, a lot of it has to do with contacts nowadays. That's why I'm always telling kids when they come and see me and ask me about it, I always tell them: don't be afraid of making contacts because that's the best way. Market yourself. A lot of it has to do with PR. There was a friend of mine who knew somebody who worked here as a videographer, so they gave me his phone number. I called him and he said, "Listen, send me your CV with a picture and, I won't guarantee anything, but we can try it out..." So that's what I did.

I sent my CV with a picture and then, maybe 3 weeks later, they called me. One of the producers, or at that time she was a producer, called me and said, "We're looking for on-air personalities." I was floored by this because I was ready to be a concierge here. I was ready to do anything here, just to be IN Musique Plus! So she said, "First we want to see if it's worth doing a screen test." So before even testing me out in front of a camera, they wanted to meet and see how I was. So we met for 15 minutes, then I did a screen test. They gave me a few things to prepare, so I did that, and then the last part of it was to meet the Vice-President of Musique Plus, Pierre Marchand, and then a month later they told me I had the job. I was pretty lucky.

AL B: Okay, so when you first found out you got it, like when you FIRST heard the news, what was the first thing you did?

Chéli: Oh God! Well, the way they did it was interesting because they wanted to film it. They wanted to show, on air, how some of us went through it, so they made me come in, along with another girl that has the job now (they hired about 5 of us at the same time), and when they called me I thought that this was it. I had the job. The way they were talking on the phone, it sounded pretty good. "Come in, we just need to finalize some things." So I get here and go to a conference room and I'm with the other girl who got the job and then about 5 other girls show up. I'm like, "Geez, I thought I had the job, but I guess not. It's still a competition." What I didn't know was that these other girls were just posing there. They were girls that already worked here. So they made us do this test and I mean it was a really hard written test with Claude Rajotte. I don't know if you know Claude Rajotte...

AL B: Um, not at this point, no...

Chéli: He's like a Musique Plus icon because he was here from the beginning on and he knows like, everything, about music, so it was kind of intimidating to have him ask us the questions. We had to write down [the answers] . All this was being filmed and as I'm writing the questions, I barely wrote any answers 'cause I didn't even know HALF the answers to these questions. In my head, I was going, "Well, at least they they still have the screen test..." To me, I didn't have the job, but they knew all along that I had it. So when they announced that, "Okay, you guys have the job," the first thing I did is, I immediately ran all the way from here, which is Bleury, to Crescent Street 'cause I worked at a place called New Town. I think I lost about 10 lbs running! So I just came in and went into the office and they knew right away 'cause the knew I was trying out. They were like, "Okay, so when are you quitting?" And I was like, "Next Monday! I have to be at work on Monday!" So they were very nice and the whole thing was a great experience.

AL B: Cool, cool. Now obviously you would have imagined what your daily life would be like as a VJ before you got the job...

Chéli: I did, but it wasn't the same.

AL B: So then, what is the biggest difference between what you imagined and what the reality is?

Chéli: Um, I would say that we easily do 60 hours a week here and you don't realise it. I had never done really practical work. It was all theoretical in university, so to actually do journalism, that's one part of my job. Not only do we prepare all the questions for the artists, we do the interview and then we're the ones who do the editing. So that, in itself, takes a lot of time. Then the thing with me is, because I'm a VJ, I also prepare my live stuff. So between editing and preparing live, you're all over the map. I think it's more the practical work of it all that I didn't expect. It's also, I mean 4 years later, it's the people recognizing you on the street or you're buying groceries and people are just talking to you. I always think I studied with them or something. They approach me right away and I'm always thinking, "Hey! Alright, do I know this person?" So that, too. I'm not used to that.

***

Alright folks, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, I'm going to stop here. In the next installment, Chéli and I discuss Québécois culture, the differences between MuchMusic and Musique Plus and assorted other goodies. Continue to Part 2 Here.