Although the Fête de la Musique is not officially celebrated on June 21 in Montreal, as it is in France, the timing for Saïan Supa Celebration was just on point. Although they weren’t complete, two of the collective’s members having left the group, they still managed to recreate the festive atmosphere to which they had accustomed us 20 years ago.

A drummer and a keyboard was all they needed in terms of musicians, since the rest was done through singing, rapping and beat boxing. Recordings of vocals could be heard at times, as at the very start of the concert, but that’s all it took for the crowd to start screaming. They opened with Raz de marée, one of their biggest hits from their debut album KLR, released in 1999, a classic of French rap.

Their on-stage energy was unchanged, with some of them looking a little older, while others remained in top shape. In fact, they wanted to see if their fans were just as fit by making them dance, but above all by asking them to get up and down on one of their songs. The average age in the room was around 45-50, but I was surprised to see so many young people in their twenties and thirties.

Short choreographies, breakdancing, jerky dance steps, and total mastery of the stage. With four members, it’s not always easy to find your place and occupy it without it looking too chaotic. Sometimes, one of them was alone on stage, then in a duo, then in a trio, then back to the full band. In short, we were treated to every possible scenario, but each time, the complicity between the artists was palpable, especially in Soldat, when one sings, the other continues with rap.

They challenged the crowd to “see if we have a voice in Montreal”, a challenge they took on proudly. They had fun on stage, teasing each other, interacting with humor, but it was clearly Sly Johnson who stole the show that night. With his chilling soul voice, he performed a short cover of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing, which left no one indifferent. He also masters the art of beatboxing and uses humor on stage.

Of course, they didn’t just play their biggest hits, but also some lesser-known tracks, as well as the previously unreleased Étranger, which they wanted to test on the Montreal audience. We were even treated to a dialogue between beat box and drums, while on À demi-nue, from the album x raisons, they received a very warm welcome from the audience.

We had to wait until the encore to hear THE song I’d been waiting for all evening: Angela, which made this band legendary. Why was Crew replaced by Celebration? It’s a question we’d have liked to ask the band, but the interview request didn’t go through. Perhaps next time? In the meantime, we’ll be content to take a musical trip back in time to our youth.

Photo: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin