Customer Reviews

En Spectacle

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Before Genticorum, before Le Vent du Nord, there was La Bottine Souriante. They began as the mentioned traditional folk groups of Quebec, that is, a small handful of talented musicians, but today they are an institution with a large band that includes piano, horns, and dancers and a bevy of foot tapers. I saw a short video of a concert performance and was amazed by their energy and verve. This was not an intimate coffee house group but a mass audience frolic. Naturally, I desired to obtain a live recording, and this album of a 1996 event, where they perform some of their popular tunes from their studio albums going back to 1978, accomplished that nicely. While I truly enjoy the pure small folk group sound, this jazzy big band treatment is so joyous that you cannot but share in the enthusiasm of both audience and band. There is not a bad or indifferent track. The sonority of trombones and trumpet, the sweetness of accordion and harmonica, the tapping of feet and drum and piano, the melody-making of violin and guitars, and the unique vocal sound of Canadian French: fun stuff!

I went to go see them last year at the Flynn center. Their music is so lively, that I can't help but tap, clap, sing or dance to it. When I listen to the music , I feel like I'm back home in Quebec.