Québec's influence elsewhere in Canada and around the world

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think Loco's point (which I tend to agree with) is that the drop-off between major cities and smaller cities/towns in Quebec does not appear to be as dramatic, on average.

Since there are very few true small town denizens on SSP Canada, the chances of this remark offending someone aren't that great. Which is a big reason why I felt comfortable making it!

That's exactly the point I was making! Just go to TripAdvisor and pull up all of the restaurants in Timmins and then the ones in Rouyn-Noranda. Both cities have about the same population. Look at how Timmins is loaded with chains while Rouyn has mostly independently owned establishments and many with fancier, more sophisticated cuisine.

[Loco101]

Just had to add that we get a lot of musical artists, entertainers and comedians performing in Timmins who are francophone and from Quebec.

I don't know who any of them are except for La Chicane!
Some ads I've seen lately are for:

La Chicane (they are from Val-d'Or, another gold mining city, and I saw them perform in Chapleau a number of years ago)

Peter MacLeod

Mariette Croteau

Hugo Lapointe and Alex Nevsky

Stéphane Côté

King Melrose

Are those names familiar to the Quebecers on here?

And in 2018 for the Stars and Thunder festival in Timmins, the francophone performers from Quebec are: (and I know who they are)

Éric Lapointe

Roch Voisine

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by Loco101

[...]
Are those names familiar to the Quebecers on here?
[...]

All of them yes except Mariette Croteau !!
And Roch Voisine is a Brayon from le Nouveau-Brunswick (Madawaska).

[p_xavier]

Roch Voisine is from NB. (too late to press enter, sorry!)

[le calmar]

Roch Voisine is very well-known in French Canada and francophone countries, he also sings in English so I would say the name might ring a bell to a few people in English Canada.

I didn't know La Chicane still existed. The lead singer (Boom Desjardins) had a successful solo career at some point. Hugo and Éric Lapointe are brothers, Peter MacLeod is a humorist. I have heard about Alex Nevsky and King Melrose on the radio but I could not tell what their success hits are. (I would most likely recognize them if I heard them though). I have never heard of Mariette Croteau and Stéphane Côté, I am not sure they are "famous" but I might be wrong.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by le calmar

Roch Voisine is very well-known in French Canada and francophone countries, he also sings in English so I would say the name might ring a bell to a few people in English Canada.

I didn't know La Chicane still existed. The lead singer (Boom Desjardins) had a successful solo career at some point. Hugo and Éric Lapointe are brothers, Peter MacLeod is a humorist. I have heard about Alex Nevsky and King Melrose on the radio but I could not tell what their success hits are. (I would most likely recognize them if I heard them though). I have never heard of Mariette Croteau and Stéphane Côté, I am not sure they are "famous" but I might be wrong.

That's a name I haven't seen for quite some time. For some reason his career in English seemed to peter out. Back in the day, his looks more than made up for any vocal limitations ....

[MolsonExport]

To borrow a (hated) phrase from a famous (ex) SSP forumer, Franco-Ontarians punch above their weight in terms of cultural and other contributions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Franco-Ontarians

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

To borrow a (hated) phrase from a famous (ex) SSP forumer, Franco-Ontarians punch above their weight in terms of cultural and other contributions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Franco-Ontarians

Given how many of them there are, istm that they "punch" about where one might expect.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

All of them yes except Mariette Croteau !!
And Roch Voisine is a Brayon from le Nouveau-Brunswick (Madawaska).

I knew that Roch Voisine is originally from NB but he did move to Quebec with his family when he was 12 years old. I have read that he lives in both Montreal and Paris, France.

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I knew that Roch Voisine is originally from NB but he did move to Quebec with his family when he was 12 years old. I have read that he lives in both Montreal and Paris, France.

He grew up in Notre-Dame-du-Lac (now called Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac), his father was actually a English teacher in my High School and then was the mayor of the town for some years.

[Acajack]

Roch grew up both there and in St-Basile NB near Edmundston.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I didn't know La Chicane still existed. The lead singer (Boom Desjardins) had a successful solo career at some point.

People are telling me that it's a reunion tour and that Boom Desjardins and Dany Bédar will be performing with the current members of the band.

[SaskOttaLoo]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I thought it was clear he was talking about places in the world where people speak French.

Yeah, I embarrassingly learn about Quebecois singers (particularly older ones) from people I meet in DRC. I think it's easy to argue that Quebec is much more prominent within the francophone world culturally than Canada is in the English-speaking world.

[Acajack]

Learning about French Canadian singers (even from my own province which was not Quebec at the time) from foreign francophones when travelling abroad was what triggered my francophone awakening in my twenties. I was borderline clueless about francophone culture at one point. Much of my family still is btw.

[Acajack]

The first jarring instance was a Moroccan girl on a train who recognized my accent and wanted to sing the songs of Luc Plamondon's rock opera Starmania with me. I had never heard of it.

[tremblay]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

Yeah, I embarrassingly learn about Quebecois singers (particularly older ones) from people I meet in DRC. I think it's easy to argue that Quebec is much more prominent within the francophone world culturally than Canada is in the English-speaking world.

Whereabout in DRC? It's funny since I had my "francophone revelation" while doing humanitarian work in DRC -Katanga. It's that moment I realized, as a Québécois, that I shared more cultural background with my fellow congolese colleagues than with workers from non-francophone european/north american countries. I also got a tiny glimpse of what Americans must feel traveling across the world and seeing how many are receptive to their cultural output...

[SaskOttaLoo]

Originally Posted by tremblay

Whereabout in DRC? It's funny since I had my "francophone revelation" while doing humanitarian work in DRC -Katanga. It's that moment I realized, as a Québécois, that I shared more cultural background with my fellow congolese colleagues than with workers from non-francophone european/north american countries. I also got a tiny glimpse of what Americans must feel traveling across the world and seeing how many are receptive to their cultural output...

Kinshasa nearly exclusively...I've been once out to Bas-Congo / Kongo Central, but I'm nearly always in the capital. A side benefit as a Canadian working in francophone Africa is that the likelihood of Canadians on the project is much higher than elsewhere!

That's interesting that you found that. I think Brits must feel the same in terms of sports - the number of Man United fans in Africa is mindblowing.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The first jarring instance was a Moroccan girl on a train who recognized my accent and wanted to sing the songs of Luc Plamondon's rock opera Starmania with me. I had never heard of it.

heheh. We learned all about Starmania from our French Literature instructor, back in Grade 7 French Immersion.

She was a huge fan, to say the least.
• Video Link

[Acajack]

Hein? A young Francis Martin was in one version of Starmania? (This show has been revived many times since the 1970s.)

I did not know that. Francis Martin has been through a number of name and career changes over the course of his life (James K. Field, Kaya) and was a favourite whipping boy for stand-up, TV and radio comics here in Quebec.

The things you learn on SSP Canada... even about Quebec culture!