Tempo di "bounce, les gros!"

It seems that amid all the "Montreal-is-the-new-Seattle" pants-wetting (thank you, Arcade Fire) that happened last year, domestic and foreign press systematically overlooked a lot of the developments in the Francophone music scene, which has produced some very impressive groups in my estimation. Additionally, there is a fairly thriving "new music" scene here in Quebec, with the SMCQ, the music programs of McGill, Concordia, UdeM and the Conservatoire de Montreal.

And, apparently, they've commingled. Le Consort Contemporain de Québec, led by 25 year old Nicolas Jobin, has gotten his feet wet in the Francophone festival scene - reinterpreting the music of Québecois vedettes through the lens of new music. First it was chansonnier Pierre Lapointe, and here is the CCQ's collaboration with sovereignist hip-hoppers Loco Locass. As a purely social statement/experiment, it's interesting. Musically it's not half-bad, either - an intriguing take on hip-hop, to be sure (percussion is of the pitched variety more often than not). I've always liked the flow of the MCs in Loco Locass.

The video lacks audience shots - I wonder how many of the people at that concert were CCQ followers or new music devotees in general, how many were Loco Locass fans, and how much investigation of the other music occurred after the fact. With all the recent blogging on collisions and the reclamation of new music by bands like Alarm Will Sound and Eighth Blackbird, this seems like as worthy an entry as any.