Altobelli, Babin, Bélanger, Bourque…

Danse des breloques

MFMV 18
2010

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Radio ›› Danse des breloques
Danse des breloques
6250 la track (2009), 2m42s [excerpt]
Track 1 from Danse des breloques
CD: Monsieur Fauteux (2010) MFMV 18
1 July 2011
By Henryk Palczewski in Informator “Ars” 2 #52 (Poland), July 1, 2011

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1 June 2011
By Tiina Kiik in The WholeNote #16:9 (Canada), June 1, 2011

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21 December 2010
By François Couture in CFLX, Délire actuel (Québec), December 21, 2010

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“Cette liste regroupe 50 titres aussi variés qu’étonnants”

L’émission radiophonique éclectique Délire Musical (CFLX-FM, Sherbrooke, Québec) annonce aujourd’hui la liste des 50 disques retenus par son équipe pour son émission de fin d’année. Cette liste regroupe 50 titres aussi variés qu’étonnants, dans des genres disparates comme le folk, le post-rock, le rock progressif, la chanson, les musiques du monde, l’électronique et bien plus.

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14 December 2010
By Stephen Fruitman in Sonomu (UK), December 14, 2010

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“As each new number queues up, a different kind of smile crosses your face.”

Quebec has one of the most heterogeneous avant-jazz scenes in the world, and all that hard work bending the form has found an outlet for at least twenty of them to let off a little extra steam in the form of Fanfare Pourpour.

Under the direction of Jean Derome, the grand poobah of Montréal´s musique actuelle scene, and Némo Venba, who plays trumpet and manages the label, half of them have written tunes hitched together in one fifty-six minute long freight train hurtling along but never going off the rails for this, their fourth release.

Inside the beautifully-designed wallet, there is a photo of the orchestra gathered round the dinner table (stocked with oranges and bottles of wine) which immediately brings to mind the famed portrait of Bob Dylan and The Band on The Basement Tapes. Another crowd of equals vastly enjoying one another´s company. It´s impossible to say for sure, but it seems that everybody gets at least one solo. Still, the main thing is the flawless ensemble play — made more impressive by the fact the whole record was recorded live in the studio.

Literally beginning with a chugga-chugga choo-choo rhythm and conductor´s whistle, we are off on a milk run to Vaudeville with stops at the circus, a gypsy camp, a Balkan booze-up, a Jewish wedding, and a village fête in rural Quebec. Fanfare Pourpour freshens up classic popular music forms like the tango, waltz, pasodoble and chanson, and treats us to unclassifiable anthems to joy like Pour des ours (which ends with a meow).

The band includes actor/guitarist Luc Proulx, who sings the first of only two songs, Partir, like M. Hulot on a day not fraught with small catastrophes. Nicolas Letarte brings out his singing saw. Violinist Guido Del Fabbro, who presides over a large ensemble of young improvising experimentalists in his Mouvement de Musique Présente, has penned three wildly divergent numbers. Argentinian-born saxophonist Damian Nisenson, reputedly ”a man who will say anything and can play anything”, is true to both his roots and the motley nature of this crew helming an hilarious avant-klezmer tushy-shaker which translates as “Big Magpie”. Marie-Soleil Bélanger, experimental vioinist, is right in her element, as her day job is to play with traditional genres.

Also on board are demon accordionist Luzio Altobelli, Dany Nicolas and his banjo and lugging the biggest instrument, Christine Lajeunesse on euphonium.

Lajeunesse gets to blow that leviathan on Willi grosse baleine, big-band reggae showcasing the brass section; the waltz Transport Suzanne by Del Fabbro is diginified and actually quite moving. It´s nice too sit one out, too, and cool off in the tiki-lounge breeze of Croise le pont.

As each new number queues up, a different kind of smile crosses your face.

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6 September 2010
By Dolf Mulder in Vital #746 (Netherlands), September 6, 2010

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Fanfare Pourpour […] celebrates their love for accessible dance tunes coming from a diversity of traditions.”

After their joyful CD with works by Lars Hollmer, who sadly died in 2008, Fanfare Pourpour now returns with a bunch of self-made compositions. One of them is again a homage to Lars Hollmer. And in a way this ensemble is close to the spirit of Hollmer’s repertoire. Folk-based music with dominant melodic and harmonic features. Many of the members of this ensemble we know from more experimental and unusual music. But in Fanfare Pourpour they celebrate their love for accessible dance tunes coming from a diversity of traditions. The title track Danse des Breloques has balkan roots, but elements of tango, waltzes, pasodoble, chanson, etc. also pass by.

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1 September 2010
By Dionisio Capuano in Blow Up #148 (Italy), September 1, 2010

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