La Nef: Montréal la magnifique

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Although few traces remain of Montreal’s Roaring Twenties era, the city was once renowned as an oasis of pleasure and transgression—where cabarets, illegal gambling and prostitution drew crowds in search of daring theatrical presentations and clandestine parties. This cultural and social ferment shaped the city’s nocturnal imagination, an era that La Nef intends to bring back to life with its concert Montréal la magnifique. Presented on April 2 under the direction of singer-songwriter and accordionist Steve Normandin, the show will bring together the talents of Guillaume Bourque (clarinet), Serge Lavoie (guitar), Clinton Ryder (double bass) and Catherine Meunier (percussion).

“Sin City” of the North

At the dawn of the Great Depression, Montreal emerged as a haven of tolerance, in stark contrast to the harshness of Prohibition in the United States. The arrival of new immigrant populations in the city diversified the cultural landscape, while the democratization of music, generated by the rise of recordings and radio, brought about an unprecedented cultural effervescence. Cabarets and speakeasies vibrated to the rhythm of a pulsating nightlife. Omnipresent social and economic divisions fuelled the desire to escape through alcohol and music, bringing crowds together in a common quest for oblivion and pleasure.

Photo of Steve Normandin sitting and holding an accordion against a white backdrop.

Steve Normandin. Photo: Dominic Bérubé

Carte Blanche to Steve Normandin

This is Steve Normandin’s third collaboration with La Nef, continuing a musical journey that has already taken him to the world of sailors’ songs and Sicilian melodies. This time, the accordionist and singer has been given carte blanche by La Nef to devise a program covering both great popular American classics such as Irving Berlin’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Blue Skies, and Quebec works such as Eugène Desmarteaux’s La bouteille de rhum and La Bolduc’s Les américains. The repertoire also includes such iconic tunes as Oh! Gee! Oh Gosh! Oh Golly; Eddie Cantor’s I’m in Love; Dancing with Tears in My Eyes; and Prohibition Blues by Al Bernard, a key Tin Pan Alley figure. The program also explores classics by Fats Waller and Cole Porter, whose witty songs are now timeless jazz standards.

The evening will feature emblematic 1920s and ’30s instruments such as the accordion, xylophone and bass clarinet mingled with Hawaiian guitar to add an exotic tone. Montréal la magnifique promises to take audiences back to an era when popular art and classical aspirations intersected, reviving an idyll where music and hope served as antidotes to the challenges of everyday life. Normandin also praises the openness of Claire Gignac (artistic and general director of La Nef), who allows him to freely explore a musical repertoire that is as rich as it is lively. Enthusiastically, he relishes this unique opportunity to revive timeless songs that still resonate with as much freshness as they do relevance.

Translation: Kaitlyn Chan