root salad f18 Nicolas Pellerin
Nicolas Pellerin & Les Grands Hurleurs are big in Quebec. Tony Montague explains why.
“The way I see our tradi-
tion it’s not something fixed, or frozen in a particular time, but in constant evolution,” he says, from across the table of a Montreal café, with a suitably howling wind out- side. “It’s natural to want to give the music your own colour, to add to the reper- toire rather than trying to reproduce what people were doing 100 years ago. Having said that, before you start mixing things it’s important to know your sources well and tap the spirit behind it all – where the material comes from, who sang and played it, how it developed, whether it was for dancing or accompaniment.”
Pellerin’s own roots lie deep in the village of St Élie- de-Caxton where he still lives, midway between Mon- treal and Quebec City. “When I was a kid there were big parties at my grandmother’s house, with family members and local old-timers singing or telling stories round the piano. They left a lasting impression, and by good fortune much of it was preserved –my grand- mother hid a tape recorder behind the piano, without anyone knowing!”
N
icolas Pellerin et Les Grands Hurleurs [the Big Howlers] may be the busiest folk band in Quebec these days. Since coming together
in 2009 they’ve toured relentlessly across North America and made regular forays to Europe, revitalising old songs and tunes from their homeland with verve and flair.
Fiddler and singer Pellerin, guitarist Simon Marion, and bassist Simon Lepage are sonic adventurers who bring elements of classical, world music, jazz, and electro- funk to their intelligent arrangements of traditional texts and original melodies. Pellerin does most of the composing, and adds the occasional new lyric.
Eventually Pellerin inher- ited 42 tapes, including over 900 songs – a wellspring from which he continues to draw inspiration. He began as a singer, then learned some guitar and percussion, but was 19 before he picked up a fiddle for the first time. “It was the 26th December 1999,
at 12.15,” Pellerin recalls with exactitude. “I’d been to a show by Le Rêve du Diable the previous day and spent that evening singing with the musicians. The fiddler sug- gested I try playing a violin, so I did. It was like being struck by a thunderbolt.”
Putting aside his ambitions as a high- flying maths student, Pellerin devoted himself to the instrument, madly practis- ing a minimum of eight hours a day for several years to make up for lost time, and performing with the band Les Langues Fourchues. Soon his vigorous, fluent fiddle style caught the ear of Yves Lambert, La Bottine Souriante’s former frontman, who enlisted Pellerin for his own quintet.
T
hen in 2007, as a side-project, Nicolas put out an album of traditional music with his older brother Fred, a hugely popular storyteller less well known as a talented singer and musician. Though the siblings never toured to promote the disc – Fred Et Nicolas Pellerin – they still managed to sell an amazing 50,000 copies and bagged a Félix, Quebec’s top music award. Buoyed by this success Nicolas went on to form Les Grands Hurleurs. “We chose the name to represent the energy and character of our sound. Howling for me is a cry from the heart, something that’s deep and true – and connects.”
Within a few months the band was recording a self-titled debut, which also won a Félix. Among its many highlights is a powerful rendition of the lengthy naval ballad Corsaire that brings out the story’s drama through drones and strings, and a shift of key mid-song.
2011’s Petit Grain D’Or finds the trio tighter and even more imaginative in its treatment of folk material, with all the melodies new. The album hits the ground running with the Breton song Trégate, Lepage’s bubbling bass and Pellerin’s cájon percussion teaming up with a clas- sical string quartet to carve a propulsive, resonant groove. The title track is a lulla- by and children’s song recast in minor key, with Pellerin’s clear and penetrating voice set off by cello, viola, fiddle, piano, and guitar in the funky, spacious arrangement.
“Among other things I use my fiddle like a ukulele, and create chords as if it was a mandolin. We’re always looking for new sonic textures rather than just using regular chords. We want to draw out the distinctive character of each piece, always keeping things varied and unusual. That’s also why we have more guests on this album – like Martin Lizotte, an exceptionally creative musi- cian who plays piano, Hammond B3 organ, synthesiser, and ‘prepared piano’, with pieces of metal placed under the strings to give a unique sound.”
It may seem a long way from the sing - arounds in St Élie, but Pellerin sees that the music’s survival as a genuinely popular form depends on its openness to integrat- ing new influences, and its presentation in new settings. “I’d love to have our shows become more like happenings or specta- cles, so it’s not just a band playing its songs and tunes but a multi-faceted event – where we can invite guest artists of all genres, and where the spirit of our tradi- tion reaches out to other cultures.”
www.nicolaspellerin.com F
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