Acadian duo Sirène et Matelot's Lennie Gallant and Patricia Richard bring more than love songs to Festival du Bois
Acclaimed bilingual singers will share music that touches on everything from climate change to mental health at Maillardville’s fest
Patricia Richard and Lennie Gallant make up the Acadian duo Sirène et Matelot, which will be performing virtually at the 2021 Festival du Bois.
Festival du Bois takes place from April 16 to 30 online for free.
SEARCHING FOR ABEGWEIT: The Island Songs and Stories of Lennie Gallant has been described as a love letter to Prince Edward Island. The creator and star of the runaway theatrical hit, Gallant is an Acadian singer-songwriter and member of the Order of Canada who has shared the stage with the likes of Lucinda Williams and Chris Isaak. One of the show’s band members is Acadian songstress Patricia Richard, a prolific musician in her own right who plays bodhran, mandolin, and banjo. Their work together on the production that captured the heart of the “Cradle of Confederation” through heartfelt stories and local legends led to the creation of another Francophone musical act—and a to a blossoming love story.
Both lifelong PEI-ers, the musicians had crossed paths over the years through the Island’s artistic community. In 2014, Gallant asked Richard if she would join his show, which he envisioned running for a single season. It ended up lasting five and went on tour. During that time, the two formed the duo Sirène et Matelot—meaning the siren and the sailor—the act’s name coming from the first track they ever wrote together, a love song.
“We ended up getting engaged,” Richard tells Stir during a phone interview from their home in Mont-Carmel, in PEI’s French Evangeline region. “One of our songs is called ‘Je ne savais pas,’ which means ‘I didn’t know’—as in ‘I didn’t know I was in love.’ We’d known each other all our lives but sometimes you don’t know what’s right in front of you.”
Known for soulful harmonies and rootsy sound, Sirène et Matelot has gone on to release a contemporary album with songs that celebrate love and also weigh in on issues that concern the couple, from mental health to climate change.
Sirène et Matelot is among the many notable bands from across the country participating in the 32nd annual Festival du Bois, B.C.’s largest fest of French Canadian and Francophone music and culture. Maillardville’s annual music festival is going online this year; “Festival à la Cabane”, which people can experience in their own cabane, features concerts, events, kids’ programming, and more from April 16 to 30.
“We pay homage to our roots with a few songs on the album,” says Gallant, who has also released 13 albums of his own and racked up numerous awards and nominations from the JUNOs and East Coast Music Awards. “We make reference to the ocean and the water, coming from PEI.” Adds Richard: “We talk about issues that are on people’s minds these days.”
La complainte de l’ocean is an Acadian lament for the ocean. Après la récolte speaks to harvest, while Les Cloches is a song of warning bells pertaining to the environment. Je ne peux pas te sauver is a song about mental health and the hope and help that exist, which the couple recently performed with Symphony Nova Scotia.
They sing in English and French, but the language of music is universal.
“You don’t necessarily have to understand every word,” Gallant says. “Through the music, you can appreciate the emotion.”
For Festival du Bois, they’ll be singing in studio with many of Gallant’s sister’s paintings as backdrop. Karen Gallant is an esteemed artist whose mystical, mysterious landscapes and seascapes featured prominently in Searching for Abegweit.
Joining Sirène et Matelot on the lineup at Festival du Bois are Innu folk-country singer Florent Vollant; Le Winston Band, a Montréal-based Zydeco group; Genticorum, a power trio that incorporates fiddle, flute, accordion, harmonies, and foot percussion into traditional Québécois music; and Franco-Manitoban singer Jocelyne Baribeau, who blends folk and pop country; among other artists and acts.
B.C.-based talents include Jocelyn Pettit, a fiddler, step dancer, singer, and composer; the duo of fiddle master Pierre Schryer and guitarist-vocalist Andy Hillhouse, who play everything from Irish traditional to Québécois music; and Loig Morin, who draws on his Breton influences in his electro pop songs.
Many of the artists will perform virtually from inside their own kitchens, explains Festival du Bois executive and artistic director Johanne Dumas. “Artists feed off of people, so we wanted to do a kitchen party kind of set up, a very personal-type thing,” Dumas says in a phone interview. “It’s more intimate. We wanted people to feel like they’re coming into their space and to have fun with that.
“Radio Canada’s Monique Polloni is our virtual MC,” Dumas adds. “She’s interviewing every artist about what they’ve been doing in their two square-metre space throughout the pandemic. We thought, ‘Let’s just have fun with this; let’s not take ourselves too seriously.’”
The fest offers cultural features such as how to make tourtière and tarte au sucre, while kids have a chance to learn how one of Quebec’s biggest exports is made: “Most people don’t realize you need 40 litres of fat to make one litre of maple syrup,” Dumas says. Other family programming includes kid-friendly performances by artists such as André Thériault in the sugar shack, Roger Dallaire on his accordion, and Frenchie the Clown reading stories.
Festival du Bois is all about having fun while sharing French Canadian culture, Dumas says, no matter what language you speak.
“There’s cultural and historical information about the community that people can access,” Dumas says. “It’s different not being able to be in person, but I’m really excited about it. There is some stuff in English, but I think it’s about opening our minds and seeing what we have to offer.
“You don’ have to speak French,” she adds. “When I go to Indian celebrations, I obviously don’t speak Hindi or Punjabi, but I go there to experience the energy. That’s what people will find here: good energy.”
“For more information, visit Festival du Bois.
Related Articles
