They are singers, comedians, writers, documentarians.
If you, like me, are sometimes worried about our cultural future, these artists give us reason to hope.
Here is a list (too short!) of artists and works (sometimes known, sometimes less so) who brought Quebec culture to life in 2024.
The King, the Rose and the Lou[p]
Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Lou-Adriane Cassidy have traveled across Quebec in the last two years with their show. The best I’ve seen in 2024. Deep lyrics, catchy melodies and this rare ability to navigate between sweet and party.
Their show claims to be the legendary show I saw the wolf, the fox, the lion of Vigneault, Leclerc and Charlebois. There is nothing more beautiful than artists who modernize Quebec song according to our times while remaining part of its tradition.
The three friends sing in French, and they are proud of it. As they say at each of their shows: long live Quebec music!
Rue Duplessis: my little darkness
Sociologist and radio host Jean-Philippe Pleau explored the concept of “class defector” in his autobiographical essay. Pleau recounts his social class uprooting and its violence.
It is a touching book of truth and sensitivity.
Brick & Brack
If I tell you that two actors, with flourishing careers on TV and in the theater, decided to come together to form a humorous duo of revolutionary sovereignist poets, for whom “[sa] dependence is independence”, does that intrigue you?
This humorous duo succeeds in combining absurdity, intelligence and Quebec references. I have rarely laughed as much as at their special Midsummer show.
Fear in my stomach
In his documentary Fear in my stomachLéa Clermont-Dion accomplishes real journalistic work: she highlights the North American anti-abortion movement.
The strength of this movement in the United States is known, that in Canada is more nebulous.
The documentary filmmaker offers us an incursion into this movement, which is more organized than one might think and above all supported by conservative elected officials in Ottawa.
If you see my country
Colleague Joseph Facal, with his two-volume book, digs a not enough explored furrow in Quebec literature: the historical novel.
We feel, through small and large details, the atmosphere of the 1840s and Lower Canada. A beautiful expedition through the Patriot Rebellion, a love story, the organized crime of the time and the beginnings of our industrialization.
The Unsightly
I like works that take me out of my reality. This is exactly what journalist Claudia Larochelle achieves with her book The Unsightlywhich relates three stories based on his memories: the first at his high school, the second when he entered journalism and the third in a love quest.
It highlights the beauty of sisterhood.
The Battle of Saint-Léonard
Félix Rose has become an essential documentary filmmaker.
His latest documentary, The Battle of Saint-Léonard, retraces a significant moment in our national history, that of the linguistic crisis of the late 1960s. Rose portrays Mario Barone, activist for free choice at school, and Raymond Lemieux, defender of schooling. obligatory in French.
Lemieux, a somewhat forgotten activist, finds a light again and the place he deserves: that of one of the founding pillars of our law 101.
