"Our raison d'être is the music of your life..."

Regular readers will by now know that I'm a bit of a (not-so) closet Francophone and given the (relative) proximity of the Golden State to the French-Canadian province of Quebec (at least compared to La Belle France), I've been eagerly looking forward to the announcement of the nominations for this year's ADISQ awards galas…

This title of this post is actually the mission statement of the ADISQ ('Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo), a nonprofit organization formed with the goal to promote and develop the Quebec music industry on both the national and international stage.

Galas? Yes galas (plural) - apparently there are so many artists and organisations deserving of reward for their contribution to the arts - that the ADISQ requires a whole posse of gala celebrations… 

The lucky winners are awarded a slightly feminine looking Félix statuette (think a less blingy Grammy or a Brit with her hair down - depending upon which side of the pond you're reading this from…)

To be honest I still haven't quite worked out the difference between L'Gala de l'ADISQ and L'Autre Gala de l'ADISQ (not to mention the separate Industry Gala back-slapping exercise) - save there's 5 days between the two; the former and big bun fest is promoted by Radio-Canada (the French language arm of CBC) while the latter, "Other" Gala, has a slightly more edgy list of nominations… However, if there are any readers nord du 49e who can help me out, please feel free to drop me a line…

From a personal perspective, Among this year's nominees for the two artist awards nights are some of this blog's favourite artists - certainly there's a damn sight more than amongst the snore fests of the Grammys, Brits or Mercury Music Prize…

So proving how "cool(ish)" this blog is when it comes to La scène canadienne-française, here's a brief look at this blog's favourite acts that are in the running for a new ornament to dust...

Nominees for the Gala de l'ADISQ:

Adult Contemporary Album of the Year:

"L'escapade", Ingrid St-Pierre (not so sure about the "Contemporary Adult" tag - it's just a damn fine album - and my choice for 2012 album of the year)

Revelation of the Year:

Forêt, Hôtel Morphée, Les sœurs Boulay - Ooh that's tough - I've waxed lyrically about all three, but I've long since nailed my colours to Mélanie and Stéphanie Boulay's mast…

Composer / Songwriter of the Year:

The Boulay sisters for "Les poid des confettis" - no argument here.

Nominees for L'Autre Gala de l'ADISQ:

Alternative Album of the Year:

"Forêt", Forêt - I've just raved about this album… Absolutely stunning.

"Des histoires de fantômes", Hôtel Morphée - I commented on the wonderful Filles Sourires Blog as to how good this album was… "There’s just an undercurrent of folklorique Quebecoise, save that the violin is plucked with a chainsaw. It’s really a fine piece of work… it’s a lot(!) darker than La Patere Rose, more Dead Can Dance or early Arcade Fire with a bit of a hangover…"

English Language Album of the Year:

"The Chase", Groenland - If you want a benchmark of what today's contemporary indie-pop album should sound like, add a pinch of electronica, jazz, classical, country-folk, stir...  and look (or preferably listen) no further than this.

Critics Choice Album of the year:

"Les poids des confettis", Les sœurs Boulay - This critic's choice, for one…

Folk Album of the Year:

"Les poids des confettis", Les sœurs Boulay - I'm worried, I'm starting to rave about Country-Folk artists and their albums. The Music Police are going to confiscate my copy of "Teenage Kicks" with the original Good Vibrations gate-fold sleeve…

Video of the Year:
"Place de la Republique", Cœur de pirate - Might have mentioned this song once or twice before...

The Galas are held later next month (the 22nd for L'Autre Gala and 27th for Le Gala) and I'll update in a later post as to how attuned the voting jury were aligned to my way of thinking...