I LOVE this album, any help with the french?

thanks, but I still don't get it .  I think its better for me not to know what they're really saying.

That's actress/singer Mandy Moore.  I'm a guy.

 

That paragraph refers a lot about Quebec sovereignty that was at his pinnacle when the album was released in 1975.A year later,in 1976, the Parti Quebecois was at the lead of the province and the concept of sovereignty was accessible.Harmonium was associated with the sovereignty mouvement and even appears in some of the Parti Quebecois events.Line by line, it goes something like this:

 

 Si c'tun rêve réveille-moi donc (If it's a dream,just wakes me up)- The dream here is Quebec sovereignty and he wants somebody to wake him and feel that he's not dreaming and it's for real.

 

Ca va être notre tour ça sera pas long(It's gonna be our turn really soon)- That mean here that it's gonna be our turn to acceed sovereignty in a short time.

 

Reste par icitte parce que ca s'en vient(Stay here because it's coming)- He tell the person to whom he is talking to stay her because Quebec sovereignty will be happening soon.

 

3 or 4 years ago, I was a member of Harmonium discussion forum and Serge Fiori came to do a chat session where he answers various questions and somebody ask him the meaning of "Depuis l'automne" and that was his answer.Hope that help to clear the meaning.

 

 

 

Y'a rien là, Bern.Ca me fait plaisir!

For the others, it was a pleasure.

 

"Depuis l'Automne" talk a lot about Quebec sovereignty but they refers to elements that happen really in the history of Quebec.Like on this paragraph:

 

"On voulait chanter dans la rue"(We want to sing on the street)

 Pour être moins perdus (to be less lost)

 P'is c'est la rue qu'on a perdue"(But we loose the street)

 

Those events happen during the St-Jean Baptiste(national day for Quebecois celebrated on June 24)

in 1972 and 1973.In those years,the celebration were held near the Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal and during those 2 years,they finished with a riot and the police arrested  people that makes troubles (destruction of pavillons,drunkness etc.).Harmonium was playing for the celebration in 1973,before the first album came out and the concert also finished in a riot with the police intervention.The year after,in 1974,the celebration of Saint-Jean Baptiste were moved to" Le parc du Mont-Royal " on the mountain for the subsequent years.That explain the line "Pis c'est la rue qu'on a perdue"(But we loose the street).That paragraph explain the sadness of Serge Fiori about loosing the Old Montreal site for the celebration of the Saint-Jean Baptiste and the policeman interventions.

 

 

 

Bern, tu parles français, si ça t'interesses tu peux aller voir l'intégral du chat ici: http://www.harmonium.qc.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=843&sid=d5d879bf11e4c38a8efe34bf0efd3b5d - http://www.harmonium.qc.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=843&sid=d5d879bf11e4c38a8efe34bf0efd3b5d

 

"Depuis l'automne" refers a lot of the events of October 1970(Automne wich mean the fall season) in Quebec(particurally Montreal).For those you don't know, the event of October 1970 were the kidnapping of a british diplomat, James Cross and the Quebec Labour minister Pierre Laporte by the FLQ(Front de libération du Quebec-Front of liberation of Quebec)who where an independantist group that precognize the violence and kidnapping to obtain their goal,wich is the sovereignty of Quebec.They were a kind of terrorist organisation that lead the canadian federal gouvernement(the prime minister was P.E.Trudeau at the time) to adopt the War Measure and arrest anybody that was keen to the independantist ideology.Eventually,some days later after his kidnapping,Pierre Laporte was found dead in a trunk in an abandonned car but James Cross was released.The FLQ kidnappers were arrested several days later.

 

After the discovery of Pierre Laporte body, the FLQ kidnappers hide themselves in an appartement on Côte des Neiges boulevard near the Oratoire St-Joseph in the westend of Montreal.Their appartement were in front of the Oratoire wax museum wich explain the lines:

 

"Une chanson pour repartir"(a song to leave again)

 Loin du grand musée de cire"( Far from the wax museum).

 

The last paragraph of the song clearly describes the relation between the indepandist of Quebec and the canadian gouvernement of the time.The canadian gouvernement was very angry about the sovereignty of Quebec and tries by any ways to pin down the independantist mouvement.It's pretty clear in the last paragraph of "Depuis l'automne":

 

"Depuis que j'sais qu'ma terre est à moé(Since I know that my land is mine)

 L'autre y'est en calvaire(The other is angry).The other is clearly the canadian gouvernement who were against any form of Quebecois nationalism.

Eh!Calvaire on va s'enterrer"(Angry were gonna burry ourselves).Mean that the independantist were tired of war between canadians and quebecois and want to burry the angry feelings between the two founding nation of the country.

 

Hope that help to clear out the mystery a little!

 

Y a rien là!

I don't think I want to know what anything else means. Just more confusing.

 

To your question, freebird, Harmonium is definitily a good start if you want to explore Quebec progressive music.Harmonium is mainly a folk-prog group and doesn't have any electronic elements.The electronic groups were not common in Quebec in the 70's because at the time, it was cool to be back to the roots and that's why a lot of Quebec band had the "folk-rock" sound.But the three Harmonium albums are really good and are important:

 

   

    2.Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison-If we need a fifth season(1975)- Personnally, I think this album is a masterpiece.at that time Harmonium add 2 musicians, a keyboards player,Serge Locat who add mellotron and minimoog to the sound of Harmonium and Pierre Daigneault who is a wind player (flutes,clarinet,saxophone) and add a surreal sound to the band.This album is a lot more progressive than the first but still retain the folk sound with no drummer.This album is very pastoral and made me think of the nature here in Quebec each time I listen to it.It's a must buy for every prog amateur.

 

   3.L'Heptade(1976)- the last studio album by Harmonium.It's a concept album about the 7 states of conciousness, a concept that is often shown in various eastern philosophies.It's a very good album and Serge Fiori translates these difficult concepts into "everydays" life words.The sound is very symphonic anmd at the time, they were seven in the band.They had a female singer,Monique Fauteux who also play Fender Rhodes and other keys and an electric guitarist,Robert Stanley who was in another good Quebec prog band called Contraction.This is the most progressive album of Harmonium and the closest they came to the symphonic sound.This album is considered one of the Quebec Music greatest achievement.

 

   4.En Tournée-In tour(1980)-Harmonium had breaking up when this album came out.Essentially the song of l'Heptade in concert.This album was recorded in 1977 in Vancouver,B.C for the count of the CBC.The whole album was apparently recorded in "one take" and the versions of the songs of l'Heptade are very different than the studio album.The feel is jazzier and Serge Locat keyboards are more present than the studio version,specially the mellotrons who where very discreet in the studio album.Personnally, I like this album more than l'Heptade because it's a more spontaneous performance.

 

These albums are all available on CD and if you live in Canada, you will find these easily. There's are others progressive rock band in Quebec, Here's a few of them:

 

1.Pollen-s/t(1976)- a very good band in the style of Gentle Giant.The lyrics are pretty good and sung in the Quebecois language.It's a shame that this band only released one album.After that album, they separated and went to work with others artist of the Quebec pop scene.Their keyboard player,Claude "Mego" Lemay now work with Celine Dion.This album was recently released on CD.

 

2.Etcetera-s/t(1976)-another Gentle Giant influenced band.This album is dominated by Marie Bernard wonderful Ondes Martenot sound and beautiful soft voice. She is the one who play the Ondes Martenot on Harmonium "Si On avait besoin d'une cinquième saison" a year earlier.Etcetera is a very good album and it's worth hearing.Available on CD.

 

3.Dionne-Brégent-D'eux(1977)-Perhaps the group who had the more electronic elements (like you want to search,firebird).It's a keyboards and percussions duo and can be compared in style to what Tangerine Dream where doing in the early 70's.A lot of vintage keyboards and synthesinzers with primitive percussions and early drum machines.Just a problem,I don't think this album was released in CD and maybe you gonna have problem finding it in vinyl outside Quebec.

 

4.Opus 5-À contre-courant(1976)-A very good band inspired by Gentle Giant and Genesis in a jazz-rock style.Very good album and available on CD.

 

5.Maneige-all of their album from s/t(1974) till "Libre-Service"(1978)- a very good band in the tradition of the Contemporary music mouvement and not far from what Gentle Giant had done (they were very popular in Quebec).Dominated by the vibraphone and xylophone, those albums are magic and are really worth.Personnally, my favorites are "Les Porches"(1975) and "Ni vent ni nouvelle"(1976) but all of them are very good.Recommanded.

 

6.Contraction-s/t(1973) and "La bourse ou la vie"(1974)-I discovered them recently and they made 2 wonderful albums.They were formed for the "Dimension M" album from Franck Dervieux(1972),who is considered one of the first prog-rock album in Quebec (along with "Vos Voisins" in 1971).Franck Dervieux died in 1973 and the band deicide to continue doing progressive music in his memory.Contraction is influenced by jazz rock fusion and mix electric instrumentation with african percussions.They were very original.Drummer Denis Farmer and guitarist Robert Stanley were later in Harmonium during l'Heptade et "En tournée" albums.Contraction albums were recently put on CD.

 

They are tons of others too numerous to count.I hope it answers your questions a little.

 

That was a pleasure.The best store for progressive rock in Montreal is Free Son and it's located in 1477 Mont-Royal street in the corner of Fabre,between Christophe Colomb and Papineau.Here's their website: http://www.freesonrock.com/ - http://www.freesonrock.com/

 

You will be able to find the CD of Pollen,Contraction,Opus 5,Etcetera and Maneige there.For the Harmonium albums,there al easily available in the commercial music stores like Archambault,HMV and Music World stores.The best place for that is on St-Catherine street,downtown of Montreal where these stores all had outlets.For the used market, the majority of them are located on the Mont-Royal street near St-Denis street, like Tuyau,l'Échange and several others are all located in this sector near the Mont-Royal subway station.The Free Son also sold used CD but not vinyls and they are specialized in prog rock and metal music.If you go in the west direction after going to the Free Son you will find a lot of used records stores.