Live from Montréal and Gaspé, members of the groups The National Parcs and Gatineau will perform in the context of the PropulseART project’s final unveiling. This innovation allows telepresence in a performance context and was created by the SAT’s research and development team.
The musicians will unify the Society for Arts and technology to the Cégep de Gaspé in this unique and experimental concert. Separated on two different stages, members of the groups will integrate the possibilities allowed by the PropulseART system into an explosive show created specially for the event.
924 Km in 0,1 second, when frames become virtual and the stage has no more limits… Come and take an active part in creation!
This activity is part of the 475th anniversary of Gaspé.
Where: Société des Arts Technologiques and Cégep de Gaspé
When: Thursday May 14th
Time : 8h30pm
Cost : 10$ at the door
Emerging from the depths of Québec, Malawi and British Columbia, these three young men evolved in the Montréal jungle and its hum of international accents. For them, nature transforms itself into a studio and their songs spring to life with the help of audiovisual material drawn from the wild.
The members of the group progressively joined Freeworm’s concerts since 2001. At that time, they already had a fascination for exotic and syncopated rhythms coming from sugar shacks and canoe runs. Montréal discovered that year their stage performance combining audio and visual sampling: their show at the Club Soda during the Montréal Electronic Groove Festival was awarded with the MIMI award for best show of the year.
The National Parcs remind us that freedom will always be found in the depths of nature… human nature. May everyone join the celebration and let it continue forever.
VINCENT LETELLIER (AKA Freeworm), MUSIC AND LYRICS
Vincent hails from Luskville, a tiny community in western Quebec. In 1992, as a young multi-instrumentalist intent on stretching the potential of his electric guitar, he left his first band to seek cross-cultural inspiration in Montreal. Vincent’s debut record as Freeworm, 2000’s Vegetation = Fuel (Hydrophonik/Indica), spun organic samples into an urban playlist of breakbeats, drum and bass, liquid jazz and hip hop. The Quebec music scene paid notice. He was soon doing remixes for Bran Van 3000 and Adam Chaki, and collaborated with Daniel Bélanger on Rêver Mieux. He is also sought after for his soundtrack work. He has traveled in Europe, Brazil, Vietnam and West Africa, and the talent that has accumulated around him shone through on the critically acclaimed Solar Power (2003), which featured no fewer than 27 collaborators. Timbervision marks an ambitious multimedia return to an ongoing concern: integrating the sound of the back woods with cutting-edge pop exploration.
CHIMWEMWE MILLER, MUSIC AND LYRICS
Arriving in Montreal from Malawi at the age of seven, Chimwemwe stepped directly onto the local stage where he continues to this day. Since his teens, a variety of bands and ensembles have benefited from his drum, trumpet, piano and vocal training. In the nineties he joined the People’s Gospel Choir of Montreal, where he went on to be tapped as baritone/bass soloist.Chimwemwe has pursued also storytelling for many years, and in theatre has acted, written, directed and taught, most notably with the Black Theatre Workshop. He first lent his stage presence to Freeworm’s live show in 2001, stunning audiences with his charismatic percussion and beatboxing skills, and now joins the rechristened National Parcs for their trip into the woods. He holds a BFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Concordia University.
IAN CAMERON, DIRECTOR
Ian also lived in Africa as a child, but left Côte d’Ivoire to grow up mostly in Aylmer, Quebec, just downriver from Vincent’s hometown. On his way to a BFA in film production from Concordia University, he built strong credentials in music video production, and in 2000 broke into the domain of live video mixing (VJing). He has since performed alongside most of the world’s highest-paid DJs, worked the main event at large festivals. Although he enjoys the spontaneous collaborations that live video mixing may offer, his work with The National Parcs lets him take the fusion of image and music image into unexplored territory. Timbervision is his first opportunity to create an album-length visual experience. He also works as the Video Production and Post-Production Coordinator for Concordia University’s Intermedia/Cyberarts Major.
Séba or Mc Brutalll, the Gainsbourg and Gainsbarre of québecois hip hop, started beatboxing in the 90’s with C-Drik and IBM Crew. He then allied himself with Sa Sucreté (who became Keük), the Hyde to his Jekyll, and formed the nucleus of Gatineau.
The group offers a heavy dose of experimental and vivacious hip hop. Séba flows in ‘joual’ with real and raw lyrics that mesh and accentuate the shifting soundscape of Sa Sucreté. Both artists have benefited from various side projects; Sa Sucreté is linked to Vander, the Meï Teï Sho and Métatuque, while Séba has collaborated with Ghislain Poirier, writes for theater and is involved in the spoken word scene.
In no time, they were able to give tons of shows and also reach large outdoor festivals like the FrancoFolies. In the process, Dom Hamel (from Motus 3F) and Burne MacPherseünd joined the team and became full-fledged Gatinois. In the spring of 2007, they released their EP Intégralll and in the fall of that same year, an eponymous album was celebrated by the masses.
At the SAT, the idea of doing audiovisual transmission in an artistic context goes far back. The first experience, “Rendez-vous… sur les bancs publics”, was presented in 1999 when telepresence stations had connected the space in front of the entrance of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal to the Place d’Youville in Québec. This concept developed by Luc Courchesne and Monique Savoie, had allowed passersby from both cities to exchange messages. The artistic intent was to connect two locations into a combined space removed from the conference room.
PropulseART has evolved since then with a desire to create integrated sytems that answer the real needs of all those that would necessitate an audiovisual network to connect various scenes together through the use of computers.
On May 14th, the final experiment will take a whole new dimension in front of a live audience.
Come and take a part in the experience!