Québec Review
July 23rd 2008 23:41
Link: www.putumayo.com/
Putumayo presents Québec
The sheer enjoyment of listening to this sort of music can be a little infectious and you may find yourself seeking out some more material from the artists represented on the album. Putumayo have a vast catalogue of World Music releases; this album was created to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Québec, the only Canadian province whose official language is French. Québec’s local music scene is widely diverse and most definitely essential to the culture. Celebrated music festivals of the province include Montreal Jazz Festival, Les FrancoFolies and the Festival d’eté de Québec. The album has a predominantly acoustic sound and would suit easy listeners as much as French speakers. This is a compilation of polished performers such as two percussionist-singers DobaCaracol and laid back beautiful women, Marie-Annick Lépine, Myreille Bédard among others.
It’s the sort of thing you’d line up for during ant music festival (and be really pleased you did). The freshness and variety of the compilation is consistently relaxing and enjoyable to listen to. I’m not a great speaker of French so I’m oblivious to the content of the lyrics, although I find myself smiling quite a lot listening to the airy jolly sound of La Bottine Souriante a traditional Québécois band – wonderful music. It’s a re playable mini-festival with the tiniest touches here and there that suggest you may be sitting in a cosy Montreal club having a fabulously warm time.
David Jobling
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