Schedule >

Thursday, February 13, 2003

5:00 pm

Festival Opening

With Patrice Desbiens

Free admission

The 2nd Edition of the FESTIVAL VOIX D’AMÉRIQUES kicks off on Thursday, in the company of Patrice DESBIENS, guest of honour of this 2nd Edition. With his inimitable personality — he is at once unflinching, humble, and moving — Patrice DESBIENS has gained a reputation for his impertinence, humour, and implacable lucidity. His poetry is rooted in reality; his razor-sharp writing, powerful sense of imagery, and tortured yet compassionate texts have seduced audiences and inspired other artists — including Richard Desjardins, René Lussier and Chloé Ste-Marie — to work with him. During the entire festival, the public will have opportunities to meet this leading French-Canadian poet.

8:30 pm

Dérapages de langue

Hosted by Alexis O’Hara. With poets Patrice Desbiens, Robbert Fortin and Karen Ricard; storyteller Michel Faubert; playwright Lise Vaillancourt; novelist Karoline Georges; Frank Martel on an unusual musical instrument, the theremin; singer Ève Cournoyer and anglophone poet Ian Ferrier, who will take the plunge in French. Accompanying them will be master improvisers Normand Guilbeault on bass, Pierre Tanguay on percussion and Jean Derome on saxophone and small instruments.

$6.00

All the performers in this French-language show are renowned for their strong stage presence. Taking advantage of their boldness and willingness to step off the beaten path, we asked them to go further, transgress norms, take risks. They will be joined onstage by experienced, inspired musicians, always ready to take up the challenge of performing live without a net. Slip-ups and slips of the tongue, lapses and miscues, bad words, abuse of language, incorrectness, barbarisms… Everything will be allowed, everything will be forgiven.

The host will be Alexis O’HARA, a pro at steering through the labyrinthine complexities of language. She will guide us with confidence during this perilous excursion into new territory.

The show will be recorded by Radio-Canada’s Chaîne culturelle and broadcast on Friday, March 14, 2003, at 10:00 pm, during the program Les Décrocheurs d’étoiles, hosted by Michel Garneau and produced by Christine Germain.