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

Born on March 14, 1948 in Rouyn-Noranda, a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada, Richard Desjardins is perhaps the most poetic and personal singer-songwriter in Quebec. Under his mother’s influence he began taking piano lessons when he was nine years old. When he was 16 he accompanied his older brother, Roger, on piano. They performed in coffee houses in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. During this time he joined various music groups, of these the best know was the Fabulous Cascades. In 1969 he started working as a publicity writer for Radio North; a job he held for about a year.

He became friends with the poet Michel X. Côté. It was through Côté’s inspiration that Desjardins started writing poems, which he printed and sold in bars.

The poetry of Mexico and South America interested him, and he traveled to Central and South America in 1971. He found poetry in the villages as well as in the cities. The somber, self-reflective, and marginal nature of this poetry struck a deep cord in Desjardins; and lack of money gave him a taste of a truly subsistence life-style – he lived on the beaches and ate fruit and fish.

At the age of 23 he was back home where he began to write his own songs in French. With little or no money Dejardins went to the Municipality of Baie-James, Quebec and found what work he could – such as gas station attendant.

Then, in 1975 he and four friends formed a country-rock group called Abbittibbi, they played in hotels in northern Ontario, and performed the popular Anglophone songs of the day. Dejardins wrote some songs in French which Abbittibbi performed but according to Dejardins, “At the time these were as welcome as a strip-tease artist in Teheran.” After only a few months the group broke up. But that was not the end of the influence that this group had on Desjardins or the last time they played together.

In 1976, he and some of his Abbittibbi friends move to Montreal. They began performing in the metropolis, but in spite of hard work they did not get much in the way of appreciation or money.

In 1977 a call from [Robert Monderie] redirected Desjardins’ life. Monderie asked Desjardins to make a documentary with him in honour of the 50th anniversary of Rouyn municipality. The documentary was called “Comme des chiens en pacage” (best translated as, “A Raging Disaster”). This documentary traced the troubled beginning of the region of Abitibi and the Rouyn municipality. It also drew attention to present day concerns such as lack of work, the control big companies had and still have on Rouyn’s development, and their responsibility for the surrounding environmental degradation. This documentary was the first in a series of attempts by Dejardins and Monderie to bring into public awareness the environmental problems that Quebec faces.

Desjardins also began to write scores for films. His first was “L’ Hiver bleu” (“Blue winter”) directed by André Blanchard (1978). Although the music in the film is credited to “Les Anonymes d'Évias“, Desjardins was the anonymous composer. All during this time he continued to perform with Abbittibbi.

Then finally, in 1981, Abbittibbi recorded its first album, “Boom Town Café”, unfortunately the original tapes of the recording session have been lost. The group disbanded in 1982 because of record company problems.

That same year, 1982, Desjardins again teamed up with Robert Monderie, this time to make a documentary about the life of a Quebecois country and western singer known as Mouche à feu (Firefly), which is also the title of the film.

At this time, 1982, Desjardins went out as a solo performer, accompanying himself on guitar and piano. He wrote songs and sang in bars, and, in short, “paid his dues” as a singer-songwriter for the next few years.

But composing music for films, whether they were fictional or documentaries, was never something Desjardins ignored. He composed music for “Depuis que le monde est monde” (Since the world is world) (1981) and “Le doux partage” (Soft Sharing) (1983) both written and directed Sylvie van Brabant. In 1984 he wrote the music for Robert Monderie and Daniel Corvec’s “Noranda” (1984) and in 1988 he wrote the music for [Jean Chabot]’s “La Nuit avec Hortense” (“The night with Hortense”).

And, in between all of his work on film, Desjardins managed to write the music for and was musical director of a performance of a play by Bertold Brecht, ”Têtes rondes et têtes pointues“ ("The Roundheads and the Peakheads") at the Brecht International Festival in Toronto, he also taught music to Inuit children in northern Quebec, and put out his first solo album called, “Les derniers humains”, (“The Last Humans”). He produced and recorded this album with the help of friends, who were given a copy of the album in return for their financial support.

“Les derniers humains” was relatively successful and brought him a larger audience. Desjardins was inspired to continue to write songs, songs that would appear on his next solo album. In 1989 Dejardins gave his first concert in Paris.

The year 1990 was a turning point in his career. The film “The Party” (directed by Pierre Falardeau), which Dejardins wrote the music for (and had a small role in), dramatized a maximum-security prison's annual variety show.

That same year, unable to find producers willing to back the production of his next solo album, and with the continued financial help of some of his supporters, Dejardins produced the album himself. The album was called "Tu m'aimes-tu" (You, you love me). It was a resounding success. Although some critics thought the album too raw in imagery and language, Dejardins’ poetic sensibility is remarkable both for the depth of such songs as “Nataq” and for the humor of songs such as “Le bon gars” – in any case, he found a wider and a very appreciative audience. He was invited to perform at the Quebec Summer Festival. His performance was an extraordinary success, and he was awarded the Festival’s Prix Miroir of the French language song. The following year [ADISQ] awarded him with three Felix awards; one for “Writer-composer of the Year”, another one for “Popular Album of the Year”, and one for “Producer of the Year”.

His success spread to French speaking Europe where his artistry was acknowledged by critics, by award winning performances, and by a rapidly growing audience. In 1993, Desjardins was invited to go to Paris and perform at the Paris City Theatre. For three nights he magnetized the audience. This marked the beginning of several years of concert performances and awards both in Canada and in Europe. It also marked the beginning of other performers recording his music, artists such as Francis Cabrel and Karen Young (Canadian jazz singer) recorded songs from "Tu m'aimes-tu".

Dejardin’s next album was recorded live at the Club Soda in 1993. He performed some new material and some songs from the Abbittibbi days, and he included a humorous monolog or two for good measure.

Never far from the big screen, Dejardins, along with Karen Young, wrote music for Marie Cadieux’s film “À double tour” (“Twice Convicted”). A film about a woman’s prison.

In 1994 Desjardins realized an old dream, the reunion of Abbittibbi. He brought the group back together and they recorded an album called “Chaude était la nuit” ("The night was hot"). They performed concerts in Quebec and in Europe and the group played at the 1995 Quebec Summer Festival and were awarded the Prix Miroir of the French Song at the Festival. They continued to perform for the next couple of years and wanting to get the feel and energy of a live performance Desjardins had them record a live performance. In 1996 they put out "Desjardins - Abbittibbi Live ".

His third solo album appeared in 1998, it was entitled " Boom Boom ". He continued to tour and to perform for the next two years.

While touring with Abbittibbi in Quebec, Desjardins’ concerns about the effects of deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation became an issue he wanted to tackle in greater depth. With his friend, Robert Monderie, Dejardins began to document the extent and the consequences of deforestation – to their own surprise; they seemed to be the first to thoroughly investigate the problem. They collected a vast amount of information. A few years later their efforts resulted in a ground-breaking documentary film, “L’erreur boréal” (English title: “Forest Alert”).

In 1999, “L’erreur boréale” was released. Its effect was profound. The government of Quebec quickly tried to discredit the film. But it was factual and accurate and its message could not be subverted.

The film proved its relevance, its accuracy, as well as Desjardins and Monderie’s creative presentation of the information, by garnering many awards, among them were:

• Prix Jutra du meilleur documentaire (Jutra Prize for the best documentary film in 1999). • Prix Robert-Claude Bérubé, décerné par l’Office des communications sociales. • Prix du développement durable en milieu rural, (Prize for Durable Development in Rural Areas) Festival international du film environnemental Ecofilm de Lille, en France. • Prix du reportage magazine (Prize for Journalism), Festival international du film d’environnement de Paris. • Grand Prix du festival, mention environnement, (Festival Grand Prize Environmental Citation) Festival international du film nature et environnement de Grenoble, en France.

And to cap the year of 1999 all off, Dejardins was chosen as man of the year by the magazine L’actualité.

In 2000, Richard Desjardins moved to Toulouse, France for a year; where he occasionally performed in the surrounding area. And he found time to travel as a “tourist”, Spain was his favorite destination. During his stay in France he also collaborated with his sister, Louise and others, in the formation of an organization dedicated exclusively to collecting data on the condition of Quebec forests. The organization is called “L’action boreal” (Boreal Action).

He returned to Canada in 2001. For the next couple of years not only songs but the idea for a different presentation of them was brewing in Desjardins head for his next album. Desjardins toured about 50 towns in Quebec; the tour was called “Desjardins et sa guétard” -- once again he performed solo accompanying himself on guitar and piano.

In September 2003 the CD “Kanasuta” was released. The name of the album is taken from an area in Abitibi-Témiscamingue named Kanasuta or « Là où les diables vont danser » (“There where the Devils Dance”) -- an area which was preserved through the efforts of l’action boreal.

On “Kanasuta” Desjardins had his words and music produced and arranged by Yves Desrosiers. On the resulting recording Desjardins sings and the Desrosier’s arrangements employ a variety of musicians and instruments. The words to the songs display, among other things, an unfaltering love for this region of the province of Quebec.

In 2004 Desjardins put together a touring performance of Kanasuta with Normand Guilbeault (bass), Claude Fradette (guitars), Marie-Soleil Bélanger (violins) et Didier Dumoutier (accordion). But he expanded his Kanasuta project even further with a symphonic concert at Montréal, with 50 musiciens from the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières under the direction of Gilles Bellemare. Dejardins received five Félix awards for the CD and for the Kanasuta touring performance, among them were: the “singer-songwriter of the year” and the “Performance of the Year”. He brought a performance of Kanasuta to the Olympia in Paris, which also toured in Europe and Quebec. In 2005 Desjardins’ Concert Symphonique was performed at the Summer Music Festival of the City of Quebec, again under the direction of Gilles Bellemare. He was awarded the “Prix Miroir du spectacle le plus populaire” of the Festival for Kanasuta. Desjardins also released a DVD version of Kanasuta appeared that year.

Desjardins was chosen “Environmental Hero of the year 2005” by the readers of The Reader’s Digest Selection. In its January 2006 issue, when the award was announced, the magazine underscored Desjardins’ unfailing commitment to protecting the Quebec forests and acknowledged the respect of its readers.

In January 2006 Le Journal de Montréal began printing a series of articles written by Desjardins underlining the urgency of acting to save the forest by putting as much pressure as possible on the logging companies and the government officials that have okayed the logging company operations removal of the forest. The six articles appeared day after day starting with the January 30th issue.

Desjardins’ current project is a documentary film about the Algonquin people and about the unacceptable conditions that they live under. He is collaborating with Robert Monderie on this film. It will be produced by the National Film Office. It is expected to be released in 2007.

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 Sites

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