Richard Desjardins

Richard Desjardins (born 16 march 1948, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada) is a quebecois folk singer and film director. He and his friends formed the country rock ensemble Abbitibbi in the 1970s. Desjardins played piano, guitar, and sang. When the group disbanded in 1982, Desjardins pursued a solo career. He also found work scoring films, especially documentaries. This involvement in the Quebec film industry even led him to co-direct a number of feature length documentaries. As well as his singing career, he is well known for his environmental activism and his support for Quebec separatism.

Biography

Once Desjardins pursued a solo career he puts together an album at once poetic and classic, where his words takes-off with each piano key as writer, composer, performer. His album Les derniers humains is finally launched in 1987, since all the copies are soled rapidly Desjardins starts to compose new songs to put out a second album. Recorded at the historic Bon-Pasteur Chappell in Montreal Tu m’aimes-tu is completed in 1990 and soled 125 000 copies to this day.

1990 marks Desjardins career turning point. The movie Le Party (from Pierre Falardeau), witch he had composed the music has a tremendous success. Quebec city summer Festival attributes him the mirror of the French song prise, the l’ADISQ gala of 1991 discerns him the “ writer composer of the year” and “pop album of the year” prises. Desjardins is then invited to perform in Frances capital and lunches a Quebec tour. Out of these series comes the Richard Desjardins au Club Soda live album, witch includes numerous new songs, monologs and a few titles from his Abbittibbi years. After having produced his solo show about 450 times in Quebec and in Europe, he renews with the Abbittibbi group and produces the album Chaude était la nuit and a live album.

With his friend Robert Mondrie he then decides to tackle the deforestation controversy by conducting an extensive investigation for a documentary. The movie L’erreur boréal is distributed four years later, it aroused many questions about the ways of the official management and made clear that the Quebec forests is in a critical situation. The documentary won many prises. During that time Desjardin works on a tired solo album titled Boom Boom, lunched in 1998.

In the year 2000 Desjardins moves to France where he performs regularly in rural areas. At his return in Canada he tours alone with his guitar and works on his eight album Kanasuta. Kanasuta is a native word meaning “where the devils go to dance”, it is the name of a forest that was saved by the Action Boréal organism that went thought the process. Desjardins is well known for his environmental activism, witch makes his music vivid and interesting to listen.

Discography

Albums • 1981 Boom Town Café (with Abbittibbi) • 1988 Les derniers humains • 1990 Tu m'aimes-tu • 1992 Les derniers humains (new recording) • 1994 Chaude était la nuit (with Abbittibbi) • 1998 Boom Boom • 2003 Kanasuta Live albums • 1993 Richard Desjardins au Club Soda • 1996 Desjardins Abbittibbi Live (with Abbittibbi) Soundtrack • 1990 Le Party

Filmography

• 1977 Comme des chiens en pacage (co-realised with Robert Monderie) • 1999 L'erreur boréale (co-realised with Robert Monderie)

Web Site

• Desjardins' web site.
• Words to 59 of Desjardins' songs.
• Radio Canada (Documentary about Richard Desjardins; in French)

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