Whitehorse
Finds new meaning in its songs, and a new audience, by singing in French.
When
Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard praised the merits of bilingualism in the second debate, he was lambasted in many quarters for daring to say that it was a good thing to be able to communicate in both of Canada’s official languages. Only in Quebec.
But Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland — the two members of Toronto roots duo Whitehorse — have no such hang-ups. They are happy to express themselves in French and English. The two musicians — who also happen to be a married couple — decided last year, after releasing two English albums, that it would be fun to record an entire record in the language of Vigneault. The result is Éphémère sans repère, a six-song mini-album given its local launch Wednesday with a set at Mont-Royal Est bar Le Verre Bouteille.
The set features Franco adaptations of four songs taken from their first two albums, one brand-new French tune (Le cadeau) and a moving take on the trad classic Un Canadien errant.
“We both went to French immersion school, so there are French roots,” said Doucet, who grew up in Manitoba.
Doucet and McClelland discussed this venture in an interview in the basement dressing room at Le Verre Bouteille several hours before the show.
“My father is Acadian,” Doucet said. “There’s a lot of francophone culture and influence in my family. So with a name like Doucet, when I come into French parts of the country, I feel a little bit sheepish. My language skills are not as strong as they should be. I didn’t grow up in a francophone household. So there was an opportunity to re-engage with that part of our pasts.”
But it’s not just about per- sonal development for this couple. It’s also about trying to bring Whitehorse to as many Quebec music fans as possible.
“We’ve played in Montreal and Quebec City many times over the years, but we felt there was this huge part of Quebec that we’ve never had the opportunity to play,” McClelland said. “And the way to do that is to connect via language. We thought Quebec is on our doorstep, and we want to travel to these smaller towns and play for these communities.”
There are other Canadian artists from outside Quebec who’ve recorded en français, notably Jill Barber and Emilie-Claire Barlow.
The Whitehorse songs were translated by Quebec producer Pierre Marchand, whom they already knew, since he produced many of Sarah McLachlan’s albums, and Doucet and McClelland spent years singing backup with McLachlan.
“These songs that we have sung a million times in English all of a sudden have taken on new meaning,” McClelland said. “They’re new
“We’re probably taking away more than we’re bringing in.” LUKE DOUCET
interpretations of the songs. So we had to wrap our heads around that.”
Anglo and francophone musicians don’t collaborate nearly enough here in Montreal. All too often, each community is off in their own ghetto. (Though there are significant exceptions to this, particularly in the alternative scene, with artists like Patrick Watson and Arcade Fire showing a refreshing openness to celebrating both musical cultures.)
So it’s interesting that here’s a musical act from the ROC (Rest of Canada), that place that’s supposed to be so uninterested in Quebec culture, jumping right into it with a fully French project. Next time someone suggests English Canada is all about Quebec-bashing, mention Whitehorse!
Doucet says he’ll be happy if they get props for being an anglophone band from Canada that comes to Quebec and makes an effort to play music in French.
“That makes us feel really good. But at the end of the day, we’re probably taking away more than we’re bringing in. We used to have 30 markets in Canada that we could play in. Now we have 50. So our market just grew enormously. So if you want to play music for more people, you don’t have to go to Europe or Australia. You just have to go to Quebec. You’ll have to make a bit of an effort.” And it works both ways, with francophone bands making more efforts to appeal to audiences in the rest of the country.
“If there are bridges to be built, if there are divides to be bridged … artists are often the first people to bridge those divides,” said Doucet. “We were given a lot of encouragement from Quebec artists. They said you should do this. And a lot of anglophone Canadians are coming up to me to talk about francophone bands. They say ‘Have you heard Malajube? They’re amazing.’ And these are not people who speak French. They’re just indie rockers who hear Malajube and say they’re a great band.”