The National Jazz Orchestra (ONJ) will perform on November 27 in a unique format at the Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts. To pay tribute to the legendary Charlie Parker With Strings, a unique blend of bebop saxophone and strings, the ONJ will be composed primarily of strings. Four Montreal saxophonists will share the role of Charlie Parker, aka Bird. Our contributor Michel Labrecque discussed this with Samuel Blais, himself a saxophonist, who will conduct the Orchestra.
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PAN M 360: Charlie Parker is a monument of 20th century jazz, what can you tell us about him for those who may be less familiar with him.
Samuel Blais: Charlie Parker didn’t live long; he died at 34. He was one of the great instigators of bebop. His importance is immense, indescribable. He is taught in all the major universities. At the time bebop was created, it caused a scandal. Louis Armstrong once said of Parker that his music wasn’t jazz because it was so different from what he was doing. Before that, jazz was more of a dance music, with less improvisation. His influence is endless.
PAN M 360: This episode where he performed with a string ensemble is really very special. How did it go?
Samuel Blais: In fact, it was the producer and impresario Normand Granz, someone who was very important to the history of jazz; he discovered Oscar Peterson, among others. He also produced an album by the singer Billie Holiday with a string ensemble. Charlie Parker was a lover of classical music, particularly Igor Stravinsky. When he heard Billie Holiday’s record, he told Granz, “I’d like to do that too.” So, several sessions were organized starting in 1949. These were small string ensembles. For our concert on the 27th, we’ll have the chance to have many more musicians than Bird ever had. There will be about twenty string players, including a harpist, as well as oboe and French horn. It will be something never heard before! PAN M 360: This cross between Charlie Parker and strings is a very small episode in his history, but one that marked this era.
Samuel Blais: It was a huge commercial success for a jazz album. Some tracks were even played on the radio. It’s worth noting that, for the recording sessions, producer Normand Granz had found some excellent classical musicians. But this intimidated Charlie Parker. There were times when he left the sessions without playing a single note. It was a dream for him; he finally achieved it, and these recordings have become landmarks in jazz history. They include many standards, such as “Just Friends.”
PAN M 360: For Thursday’s concert, there will be not one but four saxophonists to reinterpret Bird.
Samuel Blais : We’ll have André Leroux, Alexandre Côté, Jean-Pierre Zanella, and Rémi Bolduc, four of the best saxophonists in Quebec. My job was to listen to the repertoire and assign each piece to one of the four. We’ve kept the original arrangements, but of course, the saxophonists will improvise, and we don’t want them to imitate Charlie Parker. We’ll also play “They Didn’t Believe Me,” which was written for Charlie Parker but which he never performed. So, saxophonist Rémi Bolduc will have free rein to do whatever he wants.
We have chosen twelve pieces from this repertoire, which I hope will be a hit. For me, it will be a great pleasure to conduct this ensemble, and I warn you, I’m likely to have a huge grin plastered on my face, as we say in Quebec, throughout this entire concert.
Chilean-born jazz saxophonist Melissa Aldana will be in Montreal on Wednesday, November 26, at the invitation of the University of Montreal Big Band, at Salle Claude Champagne. This rising star of contemporary jazz, a Grammy nominee, is compared to the great Wayne Shorter by several music critics. Michel Labrecque spoke with the Big Band’s director, trumpeter and professor João Lenhari, for PAN M 360. In addition to the concert, there will also be a free masterclass open to everyone on Thursday, November 27.
Tamboréal is gearing up to rock Montreal on November 28th at Sala Rosa to celebrate its first anniversary, alongside Forro Rasta Paix. But this first year hasn’t been easy, as this percussion group has already participated in the Syli d’Or competition earlier this year, the Nuits d’Afrique festival, and the Montreal Beer Festival. Eighteen members will be on stage, equipped with all kinds of percussion instruments, ready to deliver a carnival-style evening that Brazilians are eagerly anticipating. Founder Carlos Henrique Feitosa, a music teacher, skydiver, and percussionist for Flavia Nascimento and Thaynara Perí, among others, tells us about the group’s origins and the discipline required to manage his various careers. Sandra Gasana spoke with him for PAN M 360 a few days before the concert.
The Soweto Gospel Choir’s Peace concert has won Grammy and Emmy awards, dozens of superstars have called on their services, in short, this is one of the most powerful choral singing machines on this little planet. Presented all over the world, this South African choir’s show will be stopping off in Quebec City on December 3. Founded in 2002, this choir has become an institution that magnifies the unifying power of gospel music, which is very important in southern Africa. The Soweto Gospel Choir’s open-mindedness and adaptability have taken it to the highest echelons of international showbiz.
PAN M 360: What is your role in the Soweto Gospel Choir?
Bongani Ncube : I am a singer and the choir administrator. I also serve as musical director when needed.
PAN M 360: The Soweto Gospel Choir has been a veritable institution in South Africa for several decades. Where are we in 2025? Can you explain to me what cycle the choir is in?
Bongani Ncube : In fact, we are still very involved in the national and international music scene. In addition to our own concerts, we collaborate with other renowned artists. We also give master classes and training workshops. We collaborate with other institutions in South Africa, where we can pass on the knowledge and experience we have acquired over so many years. But our main focus remains choral singing and music.
PAN M 360: You have worked with so many artists! Can you name a few who come to mind?
Bongani Ncube : Peter Gabriel, Angelique Kidjo, John Legend, Bono and U2, Kate Bush, Robert Plant, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Leonard Cohen, Pharrell Williams… the list goes on and on!
PAN M 360: What are your most important collaborative projects from the most recent period?
Bongani Ncube : The first one I can mention is the one with Angélique Kidjo. She is our friend. She is very cool!
We also worked with American producer Latroit (Detroit, Michigan) and Australian DJ Groove Terminator, two well-known figures in the electronic music scene. We collaborated with them on a project called History of House, which aims to highlight the African roots of house music.
PAN M 360: Also, I noticed some Afrobeats sounds on your side!
Bongani Ncube : Absolutely! We’ve collaborated with Burna Boy, among others! In 2025, we released the single Dodorima with Mr Dutch and Raybekah.
PAN M 360: Pan-African and global!
Bongani Ncube : Thank you, thank you, we are grateful, we are still on the right track. We take great pride in this.
PAN M 360: Your tour is very intense; you’ve been touring North America all fall.
Bongani Ncube : We are performing until Christmas. Yes, we are very busy with our new show based on our album Hope (2022). This show embodies peace and hope; we could also call it Peace. Several songs from this album are performed. This show is also a reminder of where we are as a country and as a nation. This reminder is expressed through song and dance, which are excellent vehicles for bringing peace between people. This music is also a form of healing therapy. We are healers too!
PAN M 360: And what about the form itself on stage? A cappella? With accompaniment?
Bongani Ncube : It’s a hybrid group. It’s a combination of a choir and musicians.
We use traditional instruments such as djembes, African horns, Spanish cajons, etc. There is also a pianist/keyboardist. A complete sound!
PAN M 360: How many of you are there?
Bongani Ncube : There are more than 20 of us on stage.
PAN M 360: Do you also treat your fans to your greatest hits?
Bongani Ncube : The recent material is the most relevant for us, but people still want to hear some of our classics. So we intersperse a few of those old songs that helped us grow. And that still resonate with people!
PAN M 360: We can conclude that the Soweto Gospel Choir still has its power of influence.
Bongani Ncube : The message of a gospel choir from South Africa, a predominantly Christian country, is powerful and easy to share. We have been sharing it for a long time, and it has lost none of its power. Music evolves, but the message remains the same and is part of our cultural heritage. South African gospel music is also healing for the people who have suffered there, as you know. Gospel played an important role in our liberation struggles and was also encouraged by the Reverend Desmond Tutu, a leading figure in our liberation from apartheid.
PAN M 360: Some tunes are also timeless.
Bongani Ncube : Indeed. Some songs never die. They take on different forms over time, but their essence remains the same.
PAN M 360: Are you leaving North America soon?
Bongani Ncube : At the end of the year. Then we return to Johannesburg, where most of our artists live.
PAN M 360: South Africa has been experiencing socio-political unrest for some time now. What is your perception of this?
Bongani Ncube : There are always efforts to improve the country. There is a lot of political instability, but I observe that it hasn’t really changed the way people view the future. People have developed resistance and resilience in all the cultures and peoples that make up South Africa. Whatever happens, we will continue to sing.
One of the last cultural events of 2025 for Montreal’s Brazilian community is the double anniversary celebration for the groups Forró Rasta Paix and Tamboréal. While the former will be celebrating its second anniversary, the latter will be blowing out its very first candle. To mark the occasion, we met with Fabio Stilben, founder of Forró Rasta Paix, who told us about the band’s origins and, more importantly, the history of forró and its many variations. He took the time to trace the roots of forró back to its founders, such as Luis Gonzaga, and his many disciples. Fabio is a “carioca,” the name given to natives of Rio de Janeiro, but he has always been fascinated by forró, which originated in northeastern Brazil. After several years of playing and singing in various bands in Montreal, an encounter at the Jean Talon Market changed the course of his musical career. Sandra Gasana spoke with him for PAN M 360, a few days before the concert eagerly awaited by Brazilian music lovers.
Florent Vollant is undoubtedly the Indigenous artist who has had the greatest impact on French speakers in America, across all eras. This year, 2025, is one of honors for the Innu singer-songwriter: Innu, a documentary film about his life and work through the forced transhumance of his nation, topped off by his induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on Monday, November 17, at L’Espace Saint-Denis. He thus joins the select group of the country’s greatest songwriters, from Gilles Vigneault to Leonard Cohen. Never before has an Indigenous person from Quebec received such recognition.
PAN M 360: Hello Florent, congratulations! Being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Anne Murray, Bruce Cockburn, Claude Dubois, Claude Léveillé, Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, Harmonium, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Luc Plamondon, Michel Rivard, Neil Young, Robbie Robertson, and Oscar Peterson.
Florent Vollant : Are there many?
PAN M 360: A little over sixty, all eras combined. Finally, what is certain is that for us, French speakers in America, you are the Indigenous artist who has had the greatest impact on our lives; there is no one else but you. In English Canada, it could be Robbie Robertson (The Band), whose mother was from the Cayuga and Mohawk nations on the Six Nations Reserve in Grand River. But for Francophones, the Indigenous artist who has had the greatest impact is you.
Florent Vollant :Yes. Thank you. I am aware of that, but I don’t know how to explain it.
PAN M 360: This explanation is not a concern, I imagine.
Florent Vollant : No, I don’t think about it that much. I’m not trying to demystify the whole thing, it’s just that I was chosen, I’m told I’m talented in this area. I say OK. But I said yes, I’ll go for it.
PAN M 360: Who will be there to welcome you?
Florent Vollant : I don’t know… well… I know there’s one in the gang, it’s Richard Séguin.
PAN M 360: That doesn’t surprise me. Richard Séguin was among the first to recognize your importance, to understand perfectly who you were and what you accomplished.
Florent Vollant : Otherwise, if all this allows me to chat with people like you whom I don’t talk to very often, so much the better. I have to go now. In any case, there is recognition, and I accept it.
PAN M 360: Let’s just say you weren’t exactly lacking in accolades, you’re just naturally humble!
Florent Vollant: I’m learning to accept things calmly, not quickly, but that’s okay.
PAN M 360: It’s wonderful that you can accept. You’ve been through some tough times in recent years with your stroke and its aftereffects. It looks like you’re still recovering well. Your speech is very clear, your ideas are clear.
Florent Vollant : Yes. I have friends around me, my family of course, who encourage me to keep going. So I don’t just sit around doing nothing! I can’t just sit around doing nothing. I have to work on improving my condition, I have to keep moving, I have to sing, otherwise I’ll deteriorate.
PAN M 360: You can still sing, we still want to hear you, we want to know about your work. In your current state, there is still a place for you in the creative world. We still need you!
Florent Vollant : I’m slow by nature, really slow. And so with my leg and arm paralysis, I’m even slower. That pretty much suits me fine, haha!
PAN M 360: But your condition is improving anyway! And when you reach your late sixties, you age very quickly if you are no longer active. You start to think slowly.
Florent Vollant : Yes, that’s right, I realized that. If I don’t move, I regress. I don’t want to go there.
PAN M 360: We know your career since Kashtin in the 1980s, we know your solo albums, we know you made one of the most beautiful Christmas albums in our recording history. But we haven’t talked much with you about Indigenous values, about what shapes your thinking and your sensibility. Personally, I believe we have a lot to learn from Indigenous thought and sensibility. And also from the future as seen by Indigenous peoples.
Florent Vollant : People ask me about this so that I can find answers. But I am not a philosopher or a political scientist… What interests me is that people can emancipate themselves. Truth & reconciliation, that’s not something I’ve been thinking about since the beginning of the week! I learned this more than 30 years ago. Throughout my professional life, I have lived with this idea of reconciliation. I wanted it then, and I still want it now. I have friends everywhere outside the Innu nation, I am still learning, I exchange ideas, and I remain open-minded.
PAN M 360: The emancipation of First Peoples remains fundamental. In Quebec, we talk about the Inuit peoples of the Abenaki, Algonquin, Attikamekw, Cree, Wendat, Innu, Inuit, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Micmac, Mohawk (Kanien’kehà:ka), and Naskapi. Where do you stand on this issue?
Florent Vollant : People show me things, they send me political information about Indigenous peoples. Yes, we are different and we are proud of that difference, but I don’t think we are stronger than anyone else. Difference makes us grow. I learn from my Quebecois friends, I learn from my friend Richard Séguin, and my friends learn from me and my fellow Indigenous people. We don’t have time to waste on wars; there are far too many of them.
PAN M 360: I sincerely believe that we must recognize Canada’s three founding peoples equally: the First Peoples, the Anglos, and the Francos. These three nations must listen to each other and accept each nation’s right to self-determination.
Florent Vollant : Yes. Listening to each other and living together. Not preventing others from living. Helping others to grow. I think that’s how we’ll ensure a future for our children.
PAN M 360: If there is mutual respect and recognition of each person’s autonomy, the egalitarian mixing and merging of peoples is possible. The more equal it is, the more harmonious it is, and the more it ends up blending together.
Florent Vollant : And it all comes together. My music, for example, has been sung in Innu by Quebecers. Francophones singing in Innu, girls, guys, groups—I appreciate it. It touches me. Music makes these experiences possible.
PAN M 360: Absolutely. It’s a change from the old dynamic. If a people’s rights are violated, as has been the case for indigenous peoples since European colonization, it can’t work.
Florent Vollant : If a people grows by harming its neighbors, that people is growing in the wrong way. We cannot destroy others in order to grow. Something is wrong. It seems to me that we should move on to something else. In any case, we must not forget this and make room for those who follow. I am aware of the new generation coming up, more open to communication, more open to the Internet. Young people have a phone at their fingertips, and this change makes them more global.
PAN M 360: Exactly. Younger people are much closer to the entire planet than to a single territory in which they grew up.
Florent Vollant : That’s what I discovered, and that’s what I’m discovering. Does that mean we’ve become better humans? I don’t know. But the young people coming up are asking good questions. They know their culture, they know what an Atikamekw is, they can even teach their parents.
PAN M 360: Today, there is an impressive diversity of Indigenous artists across all musical genres, from Innu soprano Élisabeth St-Gelais to visionary singer-songwriter Jeremy Dutcher. This diversity is also evident in Maliotenam, where hip-hop is also present.
Florent Vollant : Yes, music has changed a lot. Now we have access to all kinds of music, we see that among young people. This is just the beginning, anything is possible.
PAN M 360: Getting back to your music, are you still riding high on your latest album, Tshitatau, released in 2024?
Florent Vollant: Yes, that’s right.
PAN M 360: Are you preparing another one?
Florent Vollant : No, not yet, I had things to finish. I’m going to calmly finish what I have to do, then I’ll start on another project. I’m taking it one step at a time, you have to take it slowly. One of my arms can’t play the guitar the way I’d like it to. But I still have my voice. I just need to find someone to play guitar alongside me. I have friends, good friends who are willing to work with me, like Eric Poirier.
PAN M 360: There was also Réjean Bouchard, who was a valuable colleague and who died prematurely.
Florent Vollant : It’s really sad. He was an excellent musician and an excellent person. He used to come and work at Makusham Studio, at my place. He was a pillar of strength. When he left, it was a huge blow. He played bass on my latest album. We traveled together. We went to the South, the North, the West. We went everywhere together.
PAN M 360: Are you working more with your son Mathieu McKenzie and your circle of friends from Maliotenam?
Florent Vollant : We built the Makusham studio over 25 years ago, with soundproof walls, flooring, and everything else. We’ve added more space over the years. We’ve had all kinds of projects for adults, seniors, girls, and children. It’s truly a place for creativity. I’m there often, and sometimes I don’t say a word; I’m just there to observe in silence. Sometimes people ask me what I’m doing there. I tell them I’m there to applaud! (laughs)
PAN M 360: You feed off what happens there!
Florent Vollant : Sometimes I applaud, sometimes I don’t applaud at all. Sometimes I don’t get involved, sometimes I do. Sometimes I’m asked, sometimes I’m not asked, sometimes it’s okay. When it’s my turn, I take up more space. I can sing, I can move, I can listen. I still have good ears.
PAN M 360: I take your word for it! You have to keep going.
Florent Vollant : People come up to me and say, “Hey, you, you’re not allowed to stop.”
PAN M 360: They’re right! There’s no way you should stop. We don’t stop. People like you should only stop when they die.
Florent Vollant : That’s exactly what they made me understand. If I want to live a little longer, I have to work, and this is the work I know. It’s what I know how to do, it’s what I have to do.
The program Songe d’une nuit andalouse (A Night in Andalusia) will be presented at the National on Saturday, November 15, as part of the Festival du Monde Arabe. It is a concert by the Asala Choir, conducted by Ghada Harb, a Syrian musician who moved to Ottawa two years ago. Michel Labrecque spoke with this seasoned artist about her career and the concert she will be conducting in Montreal.
PAN M 360: Hello Ghada, you are not well known outside Arab communities. Could you describe your musical journey in Syria?
Ghada Harb: I graduated in classical music from the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus. I then taught choral singing and opera, among other subjects, at this institute.
PAN M 360: When you talk about classical music, are you referring to Arabic classical music or Western classical music?
Ghada Harb: Absolutely Western. I have sung in many well-known operas in Syria and elsewhere. I am first and foremost a classical musician who later became interested in Arabic music.
PAN M 360: You also made a name for yourself in Syria by daring to do something: creating an all-female choir called the Gardenia Choir.
Ghada Harb: This choir has received numerous awards in the Arab world. We have sung at many festivals, including in Dubai, and have performed concerts for international organizations such as UNICEF.
We started out singing classical music, then evolved to sing Arabic music, as well as Abba and the Bee Gees, in addition to Sufi music.
PAN M 360:After that, you weren’t done with choirs!
Ghada Harb: I undertook a major choir project with the theme “peace through song.” The ensemble was called Harmony in Arabic. We had over 300 members from all over Syria. As the country was at war, we wanted to express our desire for peace and social cohesion. But it was very difficult to get everyone together.
PAN M 360: It must not have been easy to be an artist during those years of war in Syria?
Ghada Harb: It was indeed very difficult. And I ended up making the difficult decision to seek to emigrate. First and foremost for my children, my family. I was selected by Canada through an immigration program for artists. I had to leave behind my friends, fellow singers and musicians, my students, etc. And I arrived in Ottawa in 2023 to start a new life.
PAN M 360: And that’s how the Asawa Choir was born, which we’ll hear at the Arab World Festival.
Ghada Harb : Yes, Asala means “origins.” They are people from different Arab countries. Twenty people, men and women. We sing Mouachahat, songs based on classical Arabic poems from Andalusia (the southern part of Spain where the Moors lived for a long time). They are beautiful, complex melodies accompanied by percussion, keyboard, flutes, and oud. We have six musicians accompanying us.
PAN M 360: What will we hear this Saturday at the Arab World Festival?
Ghada Harb : You will hear Mouachahat, but also other mixes. We will also pay tribute to Ziad Rahbani, a great Lebanese composer who died in July. He is the son of Fayrouz, the famous Lebanese singer. You will hear Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian music, among others. Andalusian music is a blend of European and Arabic music. It is so closely linked that it is inseparable.
PAN M 360: Now that Syria is changing and the war is over, would you consider returning there?
Ghada Harb: Not at all. I think the situation is still very unstable and that, for an artist, there is absolutely nothing certain. I have decided to rebuild my life here and I am gradually creating projects. We’ll see how it goes. But I always think of my friends in Syria and wish them all the best.
PAN M 360: Thank you very much and good luck to you!
A Swiss citizen of Amazigh (Algerian Kabyle) origin, Flèche Love, whose real name is Amina Cadelli, uses her body, her guts, and her sensitivity to musically transcend the idea of healing, which is also the title of an album whose live version concludes a long cycle of performances, where “a body and words provoke sensations, emotions, and dazzling images.” Intellectually strong, which enriches her artistic uniqueness, Flèche Love is on a highly ambitious artistic quest, and it is no surprise that she has gained international recognition, starting with the French-speaking world. She is back in Montreal on a Friday night at the Plaza Theater, as part of the Coup de cœur francophone festival.
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Presented on Saturday by Codes d’Accès, an organization whose purpose is to promote the work of emerging composers, the electroacoustic program Troubles et méandres (Turmoil and Meanderings) presents “innovative artists whose works blur the lines of musical and performance conventions.” For those who responded to the call, PAN M 360 is posting their responses online and wishes them a long and fruitful creative career! Here is Maxime Gordon, who is presenting the piece Retrieving Currents, for loud speaker array at the Espace Bleu du Wilder.
PAN M 360: This is your chance to increase your visibility, so introduce yourself!
Maxime Gordon: I’m a Montreal-based music producer and sound artist. Since 2015, I have been been creating and performing experimental electronic music under the name Bénédicte. My practice expanded into spatial sound art in 2017 during an internship at the Spatial Sound Institute in Budapest. I have since performed and presented work across North America and Europe, notably at MUTEK, CTM and Akousma. Her music has been released on Blueberry Records (NYC) and Casual Chain (Montreal).
PAN M 360: Present your work in the program: title, subject matter, content, form, stylistic references, instrumentation, performers (if any), live performance, angle of approach:
Maxime Gordon: Retrieving Currents is a spatial sound art piece about memory. In this piece I weave together field recordings from personally significant landscapes and explore water as a site for personal memory. Each location, tied to a specific memory, was revisited – an act of re-listening, re-feeling, and re-inhabiting. The piece is made entirely from these recorded sounds, which were then spatialized, layered, and digitally altered to form an exploration of place and memory. Recording locations include Montreal, Toronto, and Trois-Pistoles. Memories date back 4, 13, and 24 years.
PAN M 360: How are you connected to this program, whose title Troubles et méandres seems to suggest a theme? Or to the organization Codes d’Accès? Or to an emerging cohort on the creative music scene?
Maxime Gordon : I was an artist in residence for Codes d’Accès and prim and am premiering the work I created during this residency. It was a great experience and I got to really dive into field recording for the first time, use new recording gear and work in a professional studio.
PAN M 360: What are your upcoming projects or events?
Maxime Gordon: I’m currently working on my next Bénédicte album.
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Presented on Saturday by Codes d’Accès, an organization whose purpose is to promote the work of emerging composers, the electroacoustic program Troubles et méandres presents “innovative artists whose works blur the lines of musical and performance conventions.” For those who responded to the call, PAN M 360 is posting their responses online and wishes them a long and fruitful creative career! At the Espace Bleu du Wilder, Kasey Pocius will present Hollow Points on Saturday, which aims to separate the components of a recording and then combine them into a new piece. Here is his background:
PAN M 360: The goal is to make you more visible, so introduce yourself:
Kasey Pocius: I am a gender-fluid multimedia artist and researcher based in Montreal, originally from Newfoundland. I completed my BFA in Electroacoustics at Concordia and a Master’s degree in Music Technology at McGill. Currently, I teach electroacoustic composition and improvisation at Concordia in the Music Department. I am very interested in mixed-media and mixed-medium works, and in the textural and spatial possibilities of digital systems.
PAN M 360: Present your work to the program: title, subject matter, content, form, stylistic references, instrumentation, performers (if any), live performance, angle of approach.
Kasey Pocius: For this program, I present a fixed media work entitled “Hollow Point.” I use algorithms designed to separate a complete mix of a song into its basic elements (guitar, vocals, drums, etc.), but I apply them to field recordings from Sydney and Glace Bay (lookout points in Nova Scotia). The new files sound “hollow” due to the inaccuracy of these algorithms and the musical assumptions built into these systems, and artifacts remain. However, when all the files are combined, these imperfections cancel each other out, recreating the original audio. By keeping the layers separate, they can be processed individually, creating new textures and spatial effects that are difficult to achieve with the source file alone. Exaggerating these artifacts can generate new musical patterns and materials, and makes the imperfections more apparent to the audience. PAN M 360: How are you connected to this program, whose title Troubles et méandres (Troubles and Meanders) seems to suggest a theme? Or to the organization Codes d’Accès? Or to an emerging cohort on the creative music scene?
Kasey Pocius: My piece is a meander, a long sound environment in which one takes a sound walk on one side that is fictional and another side that is based on the real environment of Nova Scotia. It also draws attention to disturbances: on one side, the assumptions and biases of machine learning systems, and on the other side, the problems of noise pollution created by boats and other mechanical systems. With this work, I return to a concept that interests me greatly: sound environments that are both delicate and heavy at the same time.
This is the third concert with Codes d’Accès that I have participated in as a composer, and I am grateful for their continued support of my work. I am always pleased to see that the organization continues to program a wide variety of voices from the creative music scene.
PAN M 360: What are your upcoming projects or events?
Kasey Pocius: I will be presenting a live performance with video and the T-Stick at LIVE@CIRMMT on December 12.
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Presented on Saturday November15, by Codes d’Accès, an organization whose purpose is to promote emerging composers, the electroacoustic program Troubles et méandres features “innovative artists whose works blur the lines between musical and performance conventions.” For those who responded to the call, PAN M 360 is posting their responses online and wishes them a long and fruitful creative career! Loic Minty was going to present Amour/Mort on Saturday, a piece based on the notion of cyclicality that highlights a musical-light instrument of his own creation. This set has been cancelled and/or postponed. Nevertheless, here is the creator’s background.
PAN M 360 : Le but étant de vous rendre plus visibles, présentez-vous !
Loic Minty:
I recently graduated from UdeM’s school of Musiques Numériques. I did it out of curiosity for what challenged me the most in my personal life. I was afraid of integrating technology into my own music because I felt technology was alienating me from my environment. It seemed cold, noisy and heartless but at the same time, electronic music is what was speaking to me the most. All this to say, I approached it with a lot of resistance, carefully inspecting how the tools were being used rather than what was being produced.
I realized the electroacoustic “in the box” practice didn’t match the physicality I sought from music. It came to a point where I felt that the intentions behind the technology I was using had more influence over what I was producing than myself. Thankfully, the teachers there are very open minded about this stuff. I decided to break out of DAW’s, and dove into instrument building with more of a sociological sensibility.
The way I see it, our current sequential interfaces are not only limiting the affective potential of human-computer interaction, but are also very linear in their conception of time. I decided to build something that could bring me closer to circular time, to the trance effects of Sufi music, or the idea of gong cycles in Gamelan music. They form a paradigm that reflects a deep difference from ours in our perception of life and death.
Along the way I’ve been inspired by the words of Donna Haraway, Philippe Breton and Pia Baltazar, to name a few. I think if anything, I’m even more apprehensive about technology today than ever, the difference now is I know where I stand.
PAN M 360: Present your work in the program: title, subject matter, content, form, stylistic references, instrumentation, performers (if any), live performance, angle of approach.
Loic Minty: The instrument is lumino-sonic, meaning the music and sound exist as one experience. The engine is based on the most simple sound manipulations you could make in a DAW, scrolling and looping, but with a renewed form of interaction and visually reconstituted in a circle. I’ve been working with it for a while now, always tweaking it when I can. I’ve come to a version now that I’m happy with. I can be quiet as I can be loud, and it’s chaotic enough that I really need to listen to what I’m doing in order to get any meaningful sound out of it.
The performance is completely live and mostly improvised. There is no backing track, no plan b. If I leave the stage or if the patch crashes (which I can only pray it won’t), it would be dead silence. Musically I wanted to make sure the content of it doesn’t solely rely on technology. I will be using my voice and bringing in samples from The Fall. It has a dark, introspective touch, as the title Troubles et Méandres appropriately suggests, but it’s also slightly grimey with sections of noise and ambient.
PAN M 360: How are you all connected to this program, whose titleTroubles et méandres seems to suggest a theme? Or to the organization Codes d’Accès? Or to an emerging cohort on the creative music scene?
Loic Minty: On the same bill with me are several people who I studied with. As a cohort I feel like we collectively broke the mold of what Musiques Numériques was previously like. We arrived in a transitional period where, after the pandemic, younger teachers were opening the gates of the “high-art” acousmatic music towards more interdisciplinary practices. We were ready. Electronic music sounds amazing, but its appreciation in the context of a performance is still nebulous, there’s a lot to explore in order to make it a living art. There have been some incredible shows that came from that period: Nicolas Bourgeois, Graham Hudson-Jameson are some names to look out for. Then obviously Alexandre Sasset Blouin’s Permutations, which is played by UdeM’s orchestra of synthesizers. I have seen it before, it’s an impressive piece.
PAN M 360 : Vos prochains projets ou événements?
Loic Minty: In the short term if I want to keep playing this instrument and develop on some of the musical concepts I discovered in preparing the show. In the long-term, my objective is to make the instrument fully transportable on a bicycle and tour around different parts of the world collecting sounds and sharing them between communities.
Publicité panam
On Saturday, November 15, and Sunday, November 16, at Salle Bourgie, French-Armenian violinist Chouchane Siranossian will conduct the Arion Baroque Orchestra in a performance of two well-known symphonic works and a rare piece from the violin concerto repertoire. From the 9-year-old Mozart, we are treated to a symphony written during the Dutch leg of his European Grand Tour with his father and sister: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, K. 22. From Haydn, the unique Farewell Symphony, which subtly hints to his patron, Prince Esterházy, that the musicians in his orchestra are longing for a break. At the heart of the program, the violinist and guest conductor has included a little-known violin concerto, introducing us to the German violinist and composer Andreas Romberg, an admirer of Mozart and Haydn who rubbed shoulders with Beethoven at the start of his career.
PROGRAM :
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Symphonie n° 5 en si b majeur, K. 22 Andreas Romberg (1767-1821) Concerto pour violon n° 7 en la majeur, SteR 47
Intermission
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Symphonie n° 45 en fa # mineur (« les Adieux ») Hob. I: 45
Saturday: pre-concert talk Take advantage of this opportunity to meet our double bassist Francis Palma-Pelletier during a lively discussion led by our artistic director Mathieu Lussier. Francis will present his new instrument, a replica of the double bass used in Haydn’s orchestra.
Meet us on November 15 at 6:45 p.m. in the lobby of Bourgie Hall, near the bar, and get your questions ready! Sunday: youth pre-concert The first part of the concert on November 16 at 1:30 p.m. will feature a performance by the baroque ensembles of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, accompanied by members of Arion. The program will include music by F. Couperin, Lully, and Purcell!
Free admission for Arion concert ticket holders. A great opportunity to discover the next generation of artists!
Publicité panam
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