Original Gros Bonnet (OGB), winners of the 2019 edition of the Francouvertes competition, kicked off the 2020 edition of the annual competition with a short-but-explosive performance at Montréal’s Lion d’Or on Feb. 10, 2020. This year’s spokespersons are Laurence Nerbonne and Émile Bilodeau, taking over from Sarahmée and Karim Ouellet.
Francouvertes announced the 21 contestants in its major Québec competition, and, SOCAN will once again support it by presenting the “J’aime mes ex” series of concerts – during which 10 Francouvertes alumni will perform as opening acts of the first round, and semi-final round, of the contest.
SOCAN will also present the Paroles & Musique Award, a $1,000 cash prize awarded to one of the semi-finalists for their songwriting talent, along with a one-week writing residency at the SOCAN House in Paris. These prizes are part of a myriad of rewards, grants, and concert opportunities that will be awarded this year.
There will be seven preliminary evenings held at the Lion d’Or, every Monday from Feb. 17 to Mar. 30, 2020.
Preliminary round
- Mélodie Spear—Guillaume Bordel—Embo/phlébite (Feb. 17)
- Ariane Roy—MoKa—Aramis (Feb. 24)
- Jessy Benjamin—La Faune—Narcisse (Mar. 2)
- Vendou—Petite Papa—dope.gng (Mar. 9)
- Jeremy Lachance—Désarroi—La Fièvre (Mar. 16)
- Kanen—thais—Valence (Mar. 23)
- Mclean—Mille Piastres Please—Trop Belle (Mar. 30)
The semi-finals will be held on March 13-14-15, still at Lion d’Or, and the final round will be held at Club Soda on May 4.
The ten “exes” that will open each evening as part of the “J’aime mes ex” series presented by SOCAN are:
- Olivier Bélisle (Feb. 17)
- Alfa Rococo (Feb. 24)
- Gab Paquet (March 2)
- Marie Gold (Mar. 9)
- Émilie Proulx (Mar. 16)
- Jipé Dalpé (Mar. 23)
- Louis-Jean Cormier (Mar. 30)
- Mehdi Cayenne (Apr. 13)
- Laurence-Anne (Apr. 14)
- Lou-Adriane Cassidy (Apr. 15)
To find out more, visit francouvertes.com.