As Nicolas Boulerice and Frédéric Samson wrap up their COOLTRAD concert tour this summer, two first performances of COOLTRAD in Quebec venues have just been announced. September 26 – Cabaret-Théâtre du Vieux-Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu October 03 – Salle Claude-Léveillée at Place des Arts in Montréal Get
CoolTrad is the third duo album by founding member of Le Vent du Nord, Nicolas Boulerice and his loyal collaborator and double bass player Frédéric Samson. In refreshing contrast to current trends in traditional Québécois music, CoolTrad is a project that brings to the fore writings
What emerges is something immediately touching, authentic and surprisingly modern – LE DEVOIR (excerpt translated from french review to read here) >>> The fruit of a long friendship, the duo formed by Nicolas Boulerice and Olivier Demers was born in 1996 while they were studying
Nicolas Boulerice (also a member of Le Vent du Nord) and bassist Frédéric Samson (also member of Small World Project) released their third album CoolTrad on March 1, 2024.
Resolutely at odds with current trends in Quebec traditional music, CoolTrad is a project whose repertoire is rooted in the North American oral tradition, between improvisation and meticulous arrangements, between poetry slam and turlute.
It’s a song show where a certain kind of slowness and melancholy meets the rhythm of words and swing, on the borders of jazz. It’s a constant dialogue between the trad repertoire and the two protagonists who, through an approach stripped of the markers normally associated with the genre, create a new listening context. Inspired by Cool Jazz and the beatnik movement of the ’50s, the pulse is calmer, the emotion more to the fore, then the stories at the heart of the interpretation.
The album Maison de pierres – Confiné aux voyages, released in November 2020, resonated strongly in the folk community with nominations for Trad Album of the Year at both ADISQ and the Opus Awards, plus a nomination for Vocalist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Confiné aux voyages was also nominated for an Opus régions award in 2021 (15 shows in Montérégie area in Quebec), and for World Music Concert of the Year in 2022, at the same gala (Conseil Québécois de la Musique). It also won the Prix Patrimoine de Culture Montérégie in 2021.
Friends for 30 years, Nicolas Boulerice knew that only Frédéric Samson could bring this musical journey to life with his double bass. This complicity now takes them to stages in Quebec and around the world to offer a repertoire, stories and emotions.
In 2015, Nicolas Boulerice also released the solo album Maison de bois featuring his repertoire as a singer-songwriter with piano and vocals.
Born into a family with a love of words, songs and stories, everything was in place to nurture the young man who was already having fun with his clarinet, the piano in the living room and the books in his great-grandfather’s cupboard. He first studied jazz piano and then discovered the hurdy-gurdy. He built a few himself before joining the group Ad Vielle que Pourra, with whom he began his career in the North American folk scene. Inspired by his grandmother’s songs, he plunged into Quebecois traditional music, where he discovered his voice and his craft. Since then, he has explored the local repertoire and added his own compositions, often singing about the history of his corner of the world. In 2002, he founded Le Vent du Nord, with whom he has produced over 2200 concerts and 12 albums. In 2015, he released Maison de bois, his first solo album as a songwriter, just after winning the Conseil des arts et Lettres du Québec (CALQ) award for Creator of the Year in Montérégie. The traditional lament album Maison de pierres, released in fall 2020, was the second solo album in his trilogy of creations.
He is co-founder of the annual music and dance event La Veillée de l’avant-veille in Montreal (27 editions), La Compagnie du Nord agency, and president of the Festival Chants de Vielles at his home village in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu (20 editions).
Occasionally, he takes the stage with his writer father for Carnets de notes, a poetry and song show. His first collection of poetry has been published by Triptyque (spring 2021). With Leméac, a collective of authors leaded by Normand Baillargeon, he has joined will publish a book on Georges Brassens. In addition to his lectures on the history of trad and turlute, he is writing an introductory guide to Quebec trad music for the Conseil Québécois de la Musique, and is helping to create the first online course for teenagers, TRAD 666, in collaboration with several artists and the Conseil Québécois du Patrimoine Vivant.
His whole life has been about words, songs and stories.
«What do the members of the supergroup Le Vent du Nord doing during the corona lockdown? Of course, they do more personal projects: Nicolas Boulerice, is releasing another solo album five years after his album Maison de Bois, with thirteen traditional pieces. The special thing about it is that Boulerice is accompanied only by Frédéric Samson on double bass, apart from a few appearances guest including Olivier Demers. Interestingly, the concept the concept works - an unusual listening an unusual listening experience, but one that you to»
«Distinct from the major currents of Quebec trad, CoolTrad carries the texts, poetry, North American oral tradition, melody and turlute of the ancients, but places it all in a context akin to modern jazz, with a cool tendency to boot.»
«Contemplative album - effectively cool, hushed ambiences featuring inspired bass lines, sometimes accompanied by a melodica solo or a hint of percussion; the songs, on the other hand, stand on their own, with or without jazz: at the heart of the record, La Californie, Testament and Humains (more blues than jazz, half-recited, half-sung) are precious.»
«A beautiful approach to a beautiful repertoire. Inspiring! This marks a gradual evolution of Trad towards new forms and, above all, new content. Good for you! »
«A new way of hearing: Maison de pierres takes the musician back on the path of exploring our collective memory. His minimalist, jazz-tinged vehicle is the keystone of a bold effort marked by the zeitgeist. The result is spellbinding, in tune with the troubled times we're living through.
»
★★★★
«Maison de pierres takes the musician back on the path of exploring our collective memory. His minimalist, jazz-tinged vehicle is the keystone of a bold effort marked by the zeitgeist. The result is spellbinding, in tune with the troubled times we're living through.»
«It's our Christmas present... A piece of robot for the title! (Maison de pierres- Confiné aux voyages ) Magnificent double bass and what a beautiful approach!»
«This magnificent voice, that of a local great, and this phenomenal double bass!»
«Boulerice's rich voice is magnified by the natural acoustics of the Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu church. The result is spellbinding”».
★★★★
Nicolas Boulerice solo
Un spectacle intime, piano et voix, parcourant d’abord les chansons du disque Maison de bois, quelques chansons traditionnelles de son répertoire ainsi que ses nouvelles compositions. Un concert à petit déploiement avec anecdotes et poésies.
Confiné aux voyages
Nicolas Boulerice (aussi membre du groupe Le Vent du Nord) et le contrebassiste Frédéric Samson s’unissent pour vous offrir le spectacle envoûtant Confiné aux voyages qui met de l’avant de magnifiques complaintes et chansons traditionnelles accompagnées d’ambiances sonores captées à Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu. Cette rencontre, qui est d’abord celle d’un territoire et d’un répertoire, puis celle d’une voix et d’une contrebasse, se déroule sous le thème du voyage, de la mémoire et de l’amour. Sur scène s’ajoute un personnage seul, confiné dans son salon, qui permettra au public d’entendre des chants d’outardes, de sorcière de vent et de moteur de bateau en plus de voir des images de l’infiniment petit et de l’infiniment grand. C’est un moment pour écouter des histoires, remonter dans le temps et s’inventer des souvenirs. Ce concert est inspiré de l’album Maison de Pierres réalisé lors de cet étrange printemps en confinement.
Les carnets de notes
Spectacle de Jacques et Nicolas Boulerice entre la poésie et la chanson. Un spectacle intimiste sur le temps qui passe entre père et fils, à leur façon, la vie en feuilles et en portées, le père est au lutrin et le fils au piano.
Pierre angulaire de la transmission orale, «la turlute est une forme d’expression musicale folklorique qui consiste à chanter des mélodies sur des onomatopées». Entre la Renaissance italienne et madame Bolduc, redécouvrez cet art populaire.
Le Trad québécois – qu’est-ce que notre musique nationale ?
La musique traditionnelle québécoise est aujourd’hui présentée sur plusieurs scènes du monde. Cette musique remarquable est le résultat de nombreux métissages. Née de la culture populaire, elle est maintenant reconnue, au même titre que le jazz ou le blues, comme un style musical en soi. Avant d’être une musique de concert dont la pratique s’est professionnalisée, elle est d’abord issue de l’oralité, voyageant dans la mémoire du peuple et à travers ses histoires.
L’importance des rituels et des nombreux symboles liés à la vielle en font un instrument presque sacré. Son réglage, geste d’artisan fait résonner battement de cœur directement sur nos trippes. La vielle marque le temps aussi bien qu’elle le transcende. L’archet infini devient magnétique, cycle lunaire ou machine à voyager au bout des rêves.
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