Reluctant

Ambassadors: Harmonium as Progressive Rock and Cultural

Experimentalists

By Jason Eastwood

Term paper for MUSC 5362

Dr. Jrme Blais

December 9, 2011

1
 In September of 1978, filmmaker Richard Fortier followed the Quebec band

Harmonium to America to film a performance at the infamous Starwood club in Los

Angeles. Encouraged by Quebecs newly elected Parti Quebecois government, who

also promised financial remuneration for the tour1, the group invested heavily in the

idea of impressing the American audience. Normally acts that play this type of a

venue do not come in with semis full of equipment, explains Starwood owner David

Knight in Fortiers film documenting Harmoniums Los Angeles experience

Harmonium en Californie.2 The performance was decently attended, though

ultimately it failed to supplant any resonating career for Harmonium in the

extremely profitable American music market. Harmonium also toured English-

speaking Canada, England, and much of Europe where they opened performances by

the British group Supertramp. However, the groups extensive touring outside of

Quebec produced very limited results in relation to residual album sales or

consistent radio play in the Anglophone dominated markets. Harmonium played

their final concert in Laval, Quebec in late 1978.3

The Parti Quebecois first reign of government paralleled Harmoniums

zenith as a band. It can be argued that the circumstances surrounding Harmoniums

career trajectory positioned the group as the subjects of a cultural experiment. This

cultural experiment situated Harmonium as taciturn envoys of Quebec culture in

one of the most volatile periods in history concerning the relations between English-

1 The Return of Quebec Rock, Harmonium, http://www.progquebec.com/harmonium.html

(accessed December 1, 2011).

2 Harmonium En Califonie , Directed by Robert Fortier (Montreal: National Film Board of

Canada, 1980), online.

3 Answers.com, Harmonium, http://www.answers.com/topic/harmonium-band (accessed

December 2, 2011).

2
Canada and Quebec. Christopher Jones elaborates on the political climate of 1970s

Quebec in his article Popular Music in Quebec:

Historically there appeared to be a crescendo of nationalist fervor developing

through the crisis (October crisis) that culminated in the electoral victory of

Rene Levesque and the Parti Quebecois in 1976the language laws

emerged during this period, culminating in the Charter of the French

Language in 1977, which would radically change language use in Quebec,

with French being the official language of Quebec and the language of the

workplace and school for most residents and virtually all immigrants.4

Harmonium indirectly took on the incongruous roll of reluctant ambassadors

of Quebec culture. Harmoniums apolitical reputation and cosmopolitan musical

pastiche ironically positioned the group as the perfect diplomats for Quebec

nationalism. The group was clearly proud of its Quebecois roots, and as Jones

describes, were a major part of the nationalist festivities in Quebec at the time:

two concerts on Mont-Royal in the centre of Montreal grouped Vigneault,

Charlebois, Leveillee, Ferland, and Yvon Deschamps on the first day, and the

new generation including Raoul Duguay, Beau Dommage, Octobre, and

Harmonium on the second. Over the two days 400,000 people attended.

4 Christopher Jones, Popular Music in Quebec, in Quebec Questions: Quebec Studies for the

Twenty-First Century, ed. Jarrett Rudy, Stephan Gervais and Christopher Kirkey (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2011), 217.

3
 This event seemed to define for the foreseeable future that popular music

was the primary expression of an emerging sovereign and francophone

society.5

This essay aims to demonstate that there are subtleties within Harmoniums

work that point to the bands understated commitment to Quebec nationalist

culture. Because these references are for the most part clandestine, Harmonium

becomes an outwardly apolitical symbol of Quebec society and an effective tool for

promoting Quebec outside its borders. In the end, the experiment which saw

Harmonium acting as vehicles for the marketing of Quebec culture seemed to

conclude that the language barrier, and possibly animosity towards the nationalist

Quebec government - at least in English Canada - would relegate Harmonium to an

relatively short and isolated career. The possibility that the additional political roll

the group was inadvertently burdened with imminently led to the groups untimely

demise will also be explored. Musical analysis will be utilized to prove Harmoniums

sincere position as understated Quebec nationalists as well as one of the finest

progressive rock acts to exist in the global popular music scene.

Harmoniums genesis in 1973 involved only three members: Serge Fiori on

vocals and guitars, Michel Normandeau, also on guitars and vocals, and Louis Valois

on bass. The group was initially categorized as a folk trio after becoming extremely

popular playing small clubs and cafes around Montreal. In 1974 they recorded their

5 Christopher Jones, Popular Music in Quebec, in Quebec Questions: Quebec Studies for the

Twenty-First Century, ed. Jarrett Rudy, Stephan Gervais and Christopher Kirkey (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2011), 219.

4
first album, Harmonium, with the addition of Regean Emond on drums for several

tracks.6 The album featured all acoustic instruments, inadvertently again situating

the group in the folk genre. Although the folk genre quite frequently, and

traditionally, signals some political aspirations of the artists within the music,

Harmoniums Harmonium7 was distinctly apolitical on the surface. The groups

lyrics instead revolved around introspective, existentialist themes commenting on

personal consciousness. Pour un Instant, in English For an Instant, exemplifies

the groups lyric poetry-inspired texts surrounding self reflection:

For a moment I forgot my name

It allowed me to finally write this song

For a moment I returned to my mirror

It allowed me to finally see myself better

Without stopping, I ran into the dark

Trapped as a wolf that has no hope

I lost my time to save time

I need to find a story to tell myself

For a moment I breathed deeply

It allowed me to visit my body

6 The Return of Quebec Rock, Harmonium, http://www.progquebec.com/harmonium.html
(accessed December 1, 2011).
7 Harmonium, Harmonium, Polygram, 1974.

5
 Strangers living within myself

I, who had accepted their laws

I wasted my time

For a moment I forgot my name

It allowed me to finally write this song8

The lyrics to Pour un Instant are ambiguous and universal, focusing on self-

reflexivity by presenting a dialogue occurring within the mind of the singer, or

listener when brought into the esoteric world of the song. The song is easily

relatable to most audiences being that almost everyone has had the experience of

being lost in the moment. However, if a listener quarried deeply enough, the line

strangers living within myself, I, who had accpepted their laws could be perceived

as indirectly political. The strangers being the English-Canadian government in

control of Quebec, and I being the Francophones who had accepted their laws.

The political climate in Quebec at the time of Harmoniums release was shifting to

Francophone control, yet the British and English-Canadian influence on law was still

strong. Robert Bourassas Liberal government was still in power and didnt make

French the official language of Quebec until Bill 22 was passed in 1974, after Pour

un Instant was written.9

8 Harmonium, Harmonium, CD, Polygram, B000007WWQ,1974.
9 John Dickinson and Brian Young, The Quiet Revolution, in A Short History of Quebec,

(Montreal: McGill-Queens Universtiy Press, 2008), 324.

6
 Although one could make some nebulous political connections within some

of Harmoniums lyrics, the group is clearly not a protest band, or an overtly

nationalist organization, positioning them as the perfect under zealous diplomats of

Quebec culture. The groups second album, Si On Avait Besoin d'une Cinquime

Saison10 (1975) expanded on the metaphysical themes hinted at on Harmonium. The

group enlisted wind player Pierre Daigneault and keyboardist Serge Locat for Les

Cinq Saisons and the bands sound became decidedly more orchestral. The albums

lyrics considered esoteric, universal themes once again. This is demonstrated in the

albums title, which in English translates to If We Needed a Fifth Season. The song

Vert, or Green, characterizes the groups further embrace of universal ambiguity:

Green, yellow and red and blue

I have the sun in my eyes

Before we say goodbye

I dont know which of us

Who will look down

He just started to go down

Before going there

Hell show us his colours

As if he had been afraid

He went to blush elsewhere

10 Harmonium, Si On Avait Besoin d'une Cinquime Saison, CD, Polgram, 8339902, 1975.

7
 Grey and black in the distance around

Joined by the forest

Like the play of a magician

The forest holds him

I started to go down

Before I go

I must invent other colours

Its like I was afraid

To find myself elsewhere

Forget about you for a whole year

A year to forget

Bring the madness, go wild

But I feel like catching myself

To find myself11

The five songs on Les Cinq Saisons present a more cosmopolitan sound than

the American-folk-influenced songs of Harmonium, leading the band into more

progressive rock territory, even though the album does not feature any drums.

Although the group was branching out and incorporating a more postmodern

compositional approach combining orchestral wind parts, electric guitars,

dulcimers, female vocals, ondes Martenot, ocean sounds and clarinets, they still

provided ample evidence of their Quebec heritage. Dixie, an incredibly convincing

11 Ibid., Vert.

8
tribute to Dixieland jazz, could have possibly been a nod to the Acadians who were

forced to relocate to Louisiana during le Grand Drangement. Accordion and

mandolin work on En Pleine Face conger reminiscences of traditional Quebec

music; especially given the 2/4 jig type rhythm that constitutes the end of the

recording. Much of Quebecs music culture historically relied on Celtic jigs for

melodic and rhythmic inspiration in the music of artists such as La Bolduc and Felix

Leclerc. The accordion is a fundamental instrument of Cajun music, also relating to

the Acadians.

The third track on the album, Depuis lautumne, or since the fall, could be

perceived as the bands comment on the October crisis of 1970. Lines such as une

chanson pour ici, pour nous dire qu'on a refroidi, loosely translated as a song here

to tell us we are cooled, possibly references the fact that five years after the crisis,

cooler heads have prevailed and now it is time to reconsider what happened back

in the fall. Other incidentally provocative phrases from the text of Depuis

lautumne that at least connote images of the 1970 October uprising include: they

wanted to destroy, an agreement that gives us all, what is expected in the fall, we

wanted to sing in the street, to be lost unless, worse is the street has lost, a song of

a party, we could part by, and since I know my land is mine, the other is an ordeal.

These subtle, yet effective, references to Quebec culture are veiled in the epic

instrumentation and production that make Les Cinq Saisons a progressive rock

masterpiece. Assuredly any prog-rocker, regardless of nationality or native

language, would contend that the seventeen-minute instrumental opus Histoires

Sans Paroles is a world class composition which demands the respect of even the

9
most cynical of music critics. The composition begins with a field recording of ocean

sounds leading into a beautiful prelude featuring an ethereal flute solo over an

expanding bed of synthesized orchestral strings and acoustic guitars. The guitars

then weave delicate lead lines over arpeggiated piano textures leading into an

impressionistic breakdown featuring winds and percussion. Histoires Sans

Paroles features a vocal solo entirely sung pseudo scat style on universal syllables

such as la. This artistic choice could be construed as an attempt to break language

barriers by creating a universal musical gesture for the purpose of reaching a wider

audience outside Quebec. Being that Histoires Sans Paroles is the longest and

most involved song on Les Cinq Saisons, it was possibly coordinated that the piece

would have no French text and therefore could attract listeners of all language

persuasions while still delicately promoting the Quebec culture, and possibly

nationalism, thinly veiled within the aforementioned lyrics that constitute the rest of

the album.

Harmoniums next studio effort, LHeptade12, took the group to innovative and

unexpected places. For the LHeptade sessions the group acquired the services of

concert music composer Neil Chotem (1920- ) and the Montreal Symphony

Orchestra. Chotem is a western Canadian who was born in Saskatoon, then

spending his adolescent years in Winnipeg. The then fifty-five year old Chotem

acted as composer, orchestrator and arranger on parts of LHeptade constructing

12 Harmonium, LHeptade, CD, Sony Music Canada, 003047376, 1976.

10
rich and challenging symphonic statements as segues between Fioris songs.13

Chotems Anglo-Canadian-ism added to the cosmopolitan aura of Harmonium. The

Composers eclectic embrace of many genres and styles made him a perfect fit for

the group. Chotem comments on his diversity as a composer relating to his work

with Harmonium:

at the moment it's hard to say where I'm going as a composer. I'm looking

around, as are all composers, and I'm exploring without committing myself to

a particular route. I'm aware there are categories: classical music,

contemporary music, jazz, Harmonium. But it's a real mistake to think only in

terms of labels. In the long run, if you succeed in ignoring the existing

categories, you end up creating a new one.14

LHeptade took Harmoniums existentialist themes beyond both Harmonium

and Les Cinq Saisons. The double album is a conceptual work with each song dealing

with the various levels of consciousness. Michel Normandeau provided many of the

lyrics for the project, but then left the group during the rigorous recording process

and was replaced by Robert Stanley. The songs on LHeptade utilized stream of

consciousness lyrics. A listener could argue that the texts found on LHeptade avert

13 The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada Online, Neil Chotem,

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000709
(accessed December 2, 2011).
14 Ibid.

11
any sort of logical narrative. Here is an example from the song Le Ciel Premier, or

The First Heaven:

Each becomes the first man

Out another form

The land provides him with a face

The moon gives his speech

If he could see the first heaven

Before they clip his wings

Eye, it can mix everything

At the first light

Hand, it remains tightly closed

When all else is afraid

Love has found a lover

Lying on a silver cord

A black rose between the teeth

The child will grow up

When his toys live on site

It has left its mark

A voice that trembled the first time

It says anything

Fingers, it brings everything back towards you

It's anything

12
 Only like a king

He is only the echo of his voice

Alone in her skin

He lost a round in the water

The wheel rotates

Will fly to see the first heaven

He lost his wings

It can climb itself in its scale

Breath a little, it needs air

It is you who share the current

It is you, the air stream

It's you who runs by blowing

Cries a little, we need water

It is you for who the current rises

It is you who share the boat

It is you who came out in tears

Burns a little, playing with fire

It is you who light the current

It is you who share the fire

It is you who seeks burning

Bleed a little, I baptize the earth

It is you who passes in the course

It is you who feeds the soil

13
 It's you who dies in your blood

All the sounds of the first heaven

Are below, as a call15

Although there is a clear religious connotation to these lyrics, the flow of the text

and the specific words seem to be chosen more for their sonic characteristics in

relation to the musical line and rhyme scheme than their literal meaning. This is

evident if the French text is examined showing a beautiful and thoughtful

consideration for rhyme scheme and syllabic placement:

Chacun devient le premier homme

Sorti d'une autre forme

La terre lui fournit un visage

La lune lui donne son langage

S'il pouvait voir le premier ciel

Avant qu'un lui coupe les ailes

Des yeux, a peut tout mlanger

la premire lueur

Des mains, a reste toujours bien fermes

Quand tout le reste a peur

L'Amour s'est trouv un amant

Couch sur une corde d'argent

15 Harmonium, LHeptade, CD, Sony Music Canada, 003047376, 1976.

14
 Une rose noire entre les dents

L'enfant deviendra grand

Quand ses jouets vivront sur place

Il aura laiss sa trace

Une voix, a tremble la premire fois

a dit n'importe quoi

Des doigts, a ramne tout vers soi

a fait n'importe quoi

Seul comme un roi

Il n'a que l'cho de sa voix

Seul dans sa peau

Il se perd comme un rond dans l'eau

La roue qui tourne sur elle

Va s'envoler pour voir le premier ciel

Il a perdu ses ailes

Il peut grimper lui-mme dans son chelle

Souffle un peu, on a besoin d'air

C'est toi qui part le courant

C'est toi, le courant d'air

C'est toi qui court en soufflant

Pleure un peu, on a besoin d'eau

C'est toi qui monte le courant

C'est toi qui part le bateau

15
 C'est toi qui sort en pleurant

Brle un peu, joue avec le feu

C'est toi qui allume le courant

C'est toi qui part le feu

C'est toi qui cherche en brlant

Saigne un peu, baptise-moi la terre

C'est toi qui passe dans le courant

C'est toi qui nourrit la terre

C'est toi qui meurt dans ton sang

Tous les sons du premier ciel

Sont plus loin, comme un appel

This style of text setting featuring a more musical, less narrative, format for

lyrical expression positions the specific textual content as less imperative. With the

lyrics being less tangibly important, the focus of the listener is shifted more to the

distinct feeling he or she absorbs from the music rather than a specific narrative.

Less commitment is needed to understand the words in a phenomenological sense

and hence also the language. This idea is key to Harmoniums progression as a

universally marketable ensemble and, potentially, also consummate exporters of

Quebec culture. The vague ambiguity of Harmoniums lyrics positions the group as

conceivably more accessible to an Anglophone audience. Harmonium band

manager Paul Dupont-Hebert elaborates on this idea in Harmonium en Californie

16
when asked if he believes it is possible for Francophone artists to be successful in

Anglophone markets:

Well see, but I have already seen that in Toronto and Vancouver and in

Kingston that the people, for sure are sometimes disappointed because they

dont really understand all the lyrics, but, they get the feeling; they get the

vibe. And now we say to the people (I believe he means what the people

say), you know, I have been listening to Harmonium for five years and I dont

know the lyrics by heart, I dont listen to the lyrics. I receive the vibe and I go

with it.16

Following the release of LHeptade Harmonium made a concerted effort to

break through with audiences outside of Quebec. In 1977, after touring Europe in

support of Supertramp,17 the group ventured west to Vancouver. At this point the

Harmonium live show consisted of a front to back performance of LHeptade. The

monumental Vancouver concert in support of LHeptade was recorded and

eventually was released posthumously as the double live album En Tournee.18 In

1978, the group diversified their live show to also include songs off of Harmonium

and Les Cinq Saisons. The band would take the Harmonium experience to Los

Angeles on the infamous trip captured by Fortier in Harmonium en Californie.

16 Harmonium En Califonie, Directed by Robert Fortier (Montreal: National Film Board of

Canada, 1980), online.

17 The Return of Quebec Rock, Harmonium,

http://www.progquebec.com/harmonium.html (accessed December 1, 2011).

18 Harmonium, En Tournee, CD, CBS, PFC2 80045, 1980.

17
 Approaching the bands eventual demise, which would come only a few

months later, the Los Angeles venture represented the climactic apex of

Harmoniums trajectory as a cultural experiment. Fortiers film offers a revealing

look into the bands dilemma. As subtle purveyors of Quebec culture, Harmonium

were put in a unique position for a rock band as representatives of the Quebec

nationalists. A scene in the film that features Serge Fiori casually cavorting with

Rene Levesque at a cocktail party provides evidence of this relationship.

Apparently the PQ government offered to pay for the LA tour but then reneged on

their promise.19 However, the band dealt with universal themes that were possibly

only covertly political as previously discussed in this paper. This strange dichotomy

between just playing the music and becoming ambassadors of Quebec culture

seemed to be pulling at the seems of the Harmonium organization during the film.

Serge Fiori illustrates this contrast with a statement near the end of the twenty-

eight minute film:

We dont feel the need to succeed anywhere, its just a question if we can play

in the US the way we are, thats fine. There was a couple of experimental

groups from Italy that changed all their thing, that put English lyrics to their

wordsthe problem for me is that everybody sounds like everybody else.

The thing thats important for me is Quebecs culture, and all that involves

19 The Return of Quebec Rock, Harmonium,

http://www.progquebec.com/harmonium.html (accessed December 1, 2011).

18
 you know...just being with the American people it showed us what we are

even more, and the differences.20

Further suggestion of Fiori and Harmoniums quandary as the reluctant

ambassadors of Quebec culture can be witnessed in the opening scene of

Harmonium en Californie when Fiori awkwardly addresses the crowd at an intimate

show somewhere in the Los Angeles area. Its really nice to be here, its our first

time in the states. I dont know if you heard this, but we sing in French. Fiori

follows this statement with a burst of uncomfortable laughter followed by his

incredible surprise when he realizes some of the people in the audience actually

understand his French.

Harmonium was caught in the eye of a nationalist hurricane; their universal

brand of progressive rock music became one of Quebecs most promising exports.

Rene Levesques recently elected Parti Quebecois knew this fact and pledged

financial support for the groups groundbreaking American tour. Perhaps Levesque

saw Harmonium as an ideal vehicle for marketing Quebec culture, not Canadian

culture, to the Americans. Nathalie Petrowski a music critic from the Montreal

newspaper Le Devoir elaborated on the ideas surrounding Quebecs cultural

exports in and interview in Harmonium en Californie. She also struggles with the

dichotomy of global commerce versus cultural protection:

20 Harmonium En Califonie, Directed by Robert Fortier (Montreal: National Film Board of

Canada, 1980), online.

19
 Question: Do you think it is important for a Quebec group to make it big

outside of Quebec?

Nathalie Petrwoski: Well of course because first of all the market here is too

small, nobody can live here so you have to go out, you know. And everybody

has had a lot of problems going out, has had to invest a lot of money and

nothing ever came out of that. Now maybe with this group that has put

together a very good organization maybe we can reach out. I mean, its a

basic principle, we have to go out! We cant (stay) or else were going to die

here. And we have to also tell others that its a very active community. There

are a lot of things culturally that are happening and we just cant keep it to

ourselves, we have to tell others and others have to be conscious of that.

Weve taken enough of everybody elses culture its time that there is an

exchange between us (Quebec) America, Europe, whatever. There is just the

problem of the language. I dont think they could make it in French because

usually if the kids dont hear the words usually in rock they still.you have to

talk in the same language. I mean its the very elementary principle of

communication. If they would do it in English then I think there would be no

problem just market them well, maybe play on the fact that they come from

Quebec? I mean, weve sold Levesque to the Americans why cant we sell

Harmonium?21

21 Ibid.

20
 Ironically it is Starwood club owner David Knight, an American, who disputes

the fact that the language barrier will hinder Harmoniums plight outside Quebec:

Music is a universal language, and our audience will listen to the music. If the

music is there the language really does not make a difference. Especially

after listening to the sound check, a little bit of the music, especially with this

kind of music, I think the music can speak for itself. The basic trick to playing

a club is to be good musicians.22

This statement from Knight is filmed before the show by Fortier and his Quebec film

crew so there is a substantial chance that Knight is simply posturing for the

Harmonium and Quebec audiences. However, the interviews with audience

members following the Harmonium performance prove to be a revealing snapshot

of the general tone of Harmoniums Anglophone admirers at the time. Of course

consideration must be given to Fortiers biases as a filmmaker and those biases

affects on his choice of sound bites for the film. Nonetheless, a good cross section of

the audience seems to be acknowledged. The first clip features a male in his

twenties who comments, I didnt understand the wording, but it didnt matter.

Next we are presented with a twenty-something woman who counters with the

statement, it wouldve been nice to hear a song in English, but otherwise it was

really nice. These two statements epitomize the issues surrounding Harmoniums

experiments with Anglophone audiences. The language barrier is surreptitiously

22 Ibid.

21
dismissed while in fact it is more problematic than originally perceived on the

surface. The contradiction between musical universality and the need for cohesion

of language is glowingly apparent in the testimony of the next audience member - a

twenty-something male who speaks with the tone of seasoned rock critic: As far as

the music industry is concerned its (the language) going to be a big problem.

Everyones going to say why dont they play in English, theyll never sell. Musically

I think much like a band like Genesis or Gong, or like that, the people are going to

listen and once the music is established the lyrics are secondary.

Perhaps the most culturally revealing audience responses come from two

Anglo-Canadian concert attendees. The first, a young woman, conveys some

acrimonious sentiment:

Should I feel nationalistic or something about this group? UmNo because

Im an English-Canadian and these are French-Canadians and I feel that their

nation isnt our nation and theyre feeling like strangers in our country, like

its not theirsso.

Question: You dont feel as though youre sharing a culture?

Answer: Id like to but I think there is such a deep crevasse between the two

cultures that to them Im more American than French.

These sentiments could possibly be representationally applied to many citizens of

Anglophone Canada. It is evident that the commonly disregarded language matter

concerning Harmoniums music is clearly an issue to some. Although on the

22
contrary, many Anglo-Canadians can appreciate Harmoniums hyper-musicality

regardless of the language discrepancy. This becomes apparent in the final fan

interview in Harmonium en Californie when a young male Anglo-Canadian currently

living in Los Angeles proclaims, this is one of the few Canadian bands that I can

come and see and admit to people in the audience that Im Canadian.

In 1980, two years after Harmonium had dissolved, the band released what

would prove to be their final recorded work, En Tournee. The double live album

recorded in Vancouver, BC in 1977 featured the group performing a verbatim

concert version of LHeptade. According to Internet reports, the band only

posthumously released the album to pay for the Los Angeles tour after the PQ

government defaulted on their agreement to pay the bills.23 Irony again shows its

grinning face here as the apparent frugalness of the PQ government actually ends up

instigating the release of an album that is a great addition to the canon of Quebec

produced culture. Harmoniums relationship with Quebec culture, and furthermore

Quebec nationalism, is a complex and precarious one. Although the band recognizes

its staunch individualism, Harmonium are also extremely proud of their heritage. In

a fickle and many times one dimensional music industry, it seems as though

Harmonium said what they had to say as artists and left it at that. Serge Fiori

possibly put it best when asked about the reception to Harmoniums Los Angeles

performance when he said, its just a question of being yourself, we didnt do any

funny compromise or anything.

23 The Return of Quebec Rock, Harmonium,

http://www.progquebec.com/harmonium.html (accessed December 1, 2011).

23
 As a popular music act Harmonium progressed more in five years than many

acts do in much longer careers. The catalogue of work the ensemble leaves behind

speaks for itself. Harmonium were willing test subjects in a cultural experiment that

pitted politics against, and with, music in a very understated way. The final word in

this paper goes to Harmonium manager Paul Dupont-Hebert who during

Harmonium en Californie illustrates the complexity of layers facing Harmonium in a

time when making great music was possibly not enough.

Were maybe the most important band in Canada, and were French. Were

not selling politics, but we are from here (Quebec) and we want people to

know it. You know for me the political situation in Quebec is cultural, it

started there, so it goes together, you know.24

24 Harmonium En Califonie, Directed by Robert Fortier (Montreal: National Film Board of

Canada, 1980), online.

24
 Bibliography

Dickinson, John and Young, Brian. The Quiet Revolution. in A Short History of
Quebec. (Montreal: McGill-Queens Universtiy Press, 2008).

Fortier, Richard. Harmonium En Califonie. (Montreal: National Film Board of Canada,
1980), film, online.

Harmonium.En Tournee. CD, CBS, PFC2 80045, 1980.

Harmonium. Harmonium. CD, Polygram, B000007WWQ, 1974.

Harmonium. LHeptade. CD, Sony Music Canada, 003047376, 1976.

Harmonium. Si On Avait Besoin d'une Cinquime Saison. CD, Polgram, 8339902,
1975.

Jones, Christopher. Popular Music in Quebec. in Quebec Questions: Quebec Studies
for the Twenty-First Century. ed. Jarrett Rudy, Stephan Gervais and Christopher
Kirkey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada Online. Harmonium.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ART
U0000709 (accessed December 2, 2011).

The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada Online. Neil Chotem.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ART
U0000709 (accessed December 2, 2011).

The Return of Quebec Rock. Harmonium.
http://www.progquebec.com/harmonium.html (accessed December 1, 2011).

25