The 16' Festival d’été francophone de Vancouver:
Something to talk about!

Last summer everybody was talking about it and rumour had it that
the Festival’s 15¢ annual season would be a hard act to follow!

To meet the challenge, we've had our eyes and ears open since last
summer! The whole team has been on the lookout for current trends
on this country’s music scene and what is happening within our
artistic community.

By a strange coincidence, our featured performers have found
themselves in the limelight in various ways throughout the year.
For one thing, we have seen and heard them very recently as guests
on Radio-Canada’s new Sunday night programme, the darling of the
season, called “Tout le monde en parle”— and their performances
there did not go unnoticed. For starters, there’s Dumas, who has
been rated in the most flattering terms over the past two years with
his new album “Le cours des jours”. With enthusiastic acclaim from
both the public and the industry that has tagged him as the new
standard bearer of young up-and-coming singers, he was not only
nominated in two categories at the ADISQ Québec Music Awards
2004, but was also invited to give two shows.

And then came the shock wave that has shaken up the Québec
music scene more than anything since the Leloup phenomena: Stefie
Shock. He carried off two Félix awards at the ADISQ 2004 in which
he was nominated in eight categories. He'll be coming to Vancouver
for the first time to present his show at the Festival d’été before
heading off to take Europe by storm in the summer of 2005. There’s
no doubt, Stefie Shock’s name is on everybody’s lips, not least
because of his arrangement of the theme music for the popular
programme “Tout le monde en parle”. It goes to show once again
that this is an artist you just cannot ignore!

Last year, we wove a theme into our programming that was a very
significant historic anniversary, namely 400 years of Francophone
settlement in North America. This year, we will do the same with the
commemoration of the 60° anniversary of the end of the Second
World War and the liberation of the survivors of the concentration
camps, a theme that is all the more relevant because in 2006,
Vancouver will host the world forum on peace. To this end, the
Centre has commissioned a show from Isabelle Longnus, one of
our most distinguished artists, known for her ability to write and
produce shows on a grand scale. A recipient of the Galaxy Prize

at the Coup de cceur francophone for the originality of her work,
Isabelle Longnus will take us along on her own exploration into the
history of war songs, as a special way of honoring the memory of
the victims and as an invocation of peace in this new millennium.

And of course, true to the Festival’s artistic direction over many
years, it will offer its audiences the opportunity to follow the latest
developments in francophone vocal music in our province. First,
there will be the launch of Héléne Leone’s new album in a brand new
show, not forgetting the winners of the Gala provincial de la chanson
competition who will open the festivities on West 7th Avenue.

The grand finale of the Festival this year shouldn't be a source of
disappointment to any festivalgoers who want to celebrate St. Jean-
Baptiste Day in grand style. No more line-ups at the Backstage
Lounge on Granville Island! Here’s to Commercial Drive and the
700-seater Croatian Community Centre, big enough for everybody
to join in the song and dance!

Wishing you all a very happy 2005 Festival d’éteé,

Jocelyne Lawson, President