As a musician, organizer, label boss and all-around local hero for decades, Joane Hétu has a deep, deep Rolodex. The contact list came in handy, as she assembled a 20-piece vocal choir at FIMAV.
Composed and conducted by Hétu, alongside Danielle Palardy Roger and Jean Derome, Joker was part dramatic presentation, part group exercise, and perhaps the most artistic game of Simon Says ever. With participants in costume, and some "ringers" like Lori Freedman and Alexandre St. Onge armed with musical instruments, the principals directed the group in several rounds of glossolalia and controlled outbursts. There was an air of city council meeting gone wrong.
Eventually aided by occasional explanatory lyrics in French and English, the core tale came into soft focus. Something about fireflies and the light between heaven and hell. It was very soft focus, but the verve with which the participants played out their parts carried the show. But questions about the semiotics of wearing stripes, polka dots and yellow accessories remain for a future instalment to explain.
Composed and conducted by Hétu, alongside Danielle Palardy Roger and Jean Derome, Joker was part dramatic presentation, part group exercise, and perhaps the most artistic game of Simon Says ever. With participants in costume, and some "ringers" like Lori Freedman and Alexandre St. Onge armed with musical instruments, the principals directed the group in several rounds of glossolalia and controlled outbursts. There was an air of city council meeting gone wrong.
Eventually aided by occasional explanatory lyrics in French and English, the core tale came into soft focus. Something about fireflies and the light between heaven and hell. It was very soft focus, but the verve with which the participants played out their parts carried the show. But questions about the semiotics of wearing stripes, polka dots and yellow accessories remain for a future instalment to explain.
