Les Cowboys Fringants | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Repentigny, Quebec, Canada |
Genres | Néo-trad, alternative rock, folk punk, folk rock |
Years active | 1995 | –present
Members |
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Past members |
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Website | cowboysfringants |
Les Cowboys Fringants is a Quebec folk rock music group formed in 1995 in Repentigny, Quebec. The French word fringant can be translated as "dashing", or "frisky". [1]
They perform Québécois néo-trad music (modernized Quebec folk music with a rock flavour) and draw on country music. They have an international underground following, especially in France, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland. Band members hail from the Montreal suburbs of Repentigny and L'Assomption. The entire band collaborates on the lyrics, although guitarist Jean-François Pauzé often contributes more than the others. [2] The band are known for their live performances, captured on the Attache ta tuque! live album and the Centre Bell 30 décembre 2003 DVD.
The band has won 17 Félix Awards, including five at the 2020 edition of the ceremony. [3] [4]
Les Cowboys represent an important part of modern Québécois music. They are part of the néo-trad movement that appeared in Quebec around the turn of the 21st century, and they embody a resurgence of political songwriting. As the néo-trad movement adapts Quebec folklore into contemporary crafts, the political message of the band is a re-occurrence of 1970s chansonnier activist messages of left-wing solidarity and, recently, sovereignism. [5] They also sometimes adopt a minimalist and dadaesque style, a trend of the Quebec music scene of the 2000s – a decade of voluntary simple yet nonetheless quite intelligent and joual lyrics, therefore subversive and akin to a sort of lyrical naïve art.
The group's songs cover environmentalism, and poverty, as well as the denouncing of consumerism, exploitation, state-controlled gambling, and political apathy. While some of those subjects are serious in appearance, they are often treated in a light manner, sometimes even in a fun or ironic way. The band also deals with themes of Quebec history, Quebec independence, suburban life, childhood and adolescence, kitsch, relationships and sports. Their songwriting is renowned for having woven an elaborate tapestry of fictional characters with interpersonal relationships, and sometimes a number of these characters appear in more than one song. Much like their writing, the clothes of the male members of the band are quite unique, sometimes purposely normal or kitsch and something of a postmodern, second degree artistic statement.
The band themselves are noted fans of Passe-Partout composer Pierre F. Brault and have performed shows in his honour. They have also been influenced by French singer Renaud, and his songs with political messages and local popular language.
Many of the idiosyncrasies of their music stem from Marie-Annick Lépine, a versatile musician, who makes the band line-up distinct from the conventional guitar-bass-drums-singer. Her talents contribute to the vivacious sounds of instruments like the violin, mandolin and accordion.
The band went on tour in summer of 2011, visiting cities in Quebec, France and Switzerland.
In 2021, the band released a concert film, L'Amérique pleure, featuring songs performed in wild locations in Quebec, directed by Louis-Philippe Eno. It was released as an on-demand digital film. [6]
In 2022, the group's lead singer, Karl Tremblay, announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. [7] They paused most recording and touring activity as he pursued treatment, except for a performance at the Festival d'été de Québec in July 2023. [8] Tremblay's death was announced on November 15, 2023. [9]
Their 2023 album En concert avec l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (sous la direction du chef Simon Leclerc), recorded with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, won the Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2024. [10]
Current members [11]
Previous members
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The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orchestra in the world that possesses an octobass.
Repentigny is an off-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Charlemagne were the first towns off the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal. Repentigny is part of the Lanaudière region.
The Félix Award is an award, given by the Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian province of Quebec.
Néo-trad is a musical style from Quebec that arose around the turn of the 21st century. It can be considered a subgenre of Québécois folk music. The term combines the Greek prefix neo, meaning new, and the contraction of the word traditionnelle, as in traditional music.
Passe-Partout was a Quebec French-language children's television program produced by Radio-Québec that was originally in production from 1977 to 1992, and was revived in 2019 with a new cast.
Motel Capri is the third album by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants.
Karl Tremblay was a Canadian singer. He was the lead singer of Les Cowboys Fringants, a group he founded with Jean-François Pauzé.
Break syndical is the fourth album by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants.
Route 131 is a Quebec highway running from Lavaltrie to Saint-Michel-des-Saints in Lanaudière. This route, combined with Autoroute 31, provides the key route to Joliette, and then continues northward through Saint-Félix-de-Valois, Saint-Jean-de-Matha and Saint-Zénon for a distance of approximately 125 kilometres (78 mi).
La Grand-Messe is the sixth album by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants.
Dumas is a Canadian musician a from Victoriaville, Quebec.
Enfin Réunis is the name of the fifth album by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants. It's a double album. This album is actually the first two albums by Les Cowboys Fringants 12 grandes chansons and Sur mon canapé. It was created due to high demand as the two first albums were desirable object to hard core fans[...]despite the musical errors, simple songs, and the "cheapo" side of recordings.
Elisapie Isaac is a Canadian Inuk musician, broadcaster, documentary filmmaker, activist, and actress. She spent her childhood in Salluit, Nunavik, Quebec, and moved to Montreal in 1999 to pursue communication studies in order to become a journalist.
Jean Vallerand, CQ was a composer, music critic, violinist, conductor, arts administrator, writer, and music educator from Quebec. As a composer he was active from 1935 to 1969. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was appointed a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1991.
L'expédition is an album by Les Cowboys Fringants. It was released in 2008 and reached the number one spot on the Quebec music charts.
En concert au Zénith de Paris is a live album recorded in Paris, France, which was released in 2010 by the Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants. This album mainly features songs from their 2008 studio album L'expédition. The group wanted their fans to have access to other songs recorded on the night they made the live album, so each week since the release of the album, a bonus song was released on their official website.
Sur un air de déjà vu is a studio album released in 2008 by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants. This album mainly features songs with a lighter tone compared to the band's first few albums.
Gus van Go is a Canadian-American producer, mixer, and musician best known for his work with The Beaches, Metric, Arkells, The Stills, The Sam Roberts Band, Lowell, Whitehorse, and Hollerado. Some of his other work includes Wintersleep, Michael Rault, Terra Lightfoot, Said The Whale, The Trews, and Priestess. He is also a member of the band Megative, along with Tim Fletcher and Jamaican reggae vocalist Screechy Dan.
Que du vent is a studio album released in 2011 by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants. It reached number 1 in Quebec music charts during the week of November 14–20, 2011, and peaked at number 60 on the charts in France for the week of November 21–27, 2011.
Octobre is a studio album released in 2015 by Québécois néo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants. It reached number 1 in Quebec music charts during the week of October 23–29, 2015, and peaked at number 107 on the charts in France.