Valence, winner of the 2020 edition of the Francouvertes competition, kicked off this 25th Anniversary edition of the annual event with a short but explosive performance at Montréal’s Lion d’Or club. Due to the health measures still being enforced, the seven evenings of the preliminaries of the 2021 edition will be held without an audience and live-streamed on lepointdevente.com. Thanks to a brand-new integrated voting platform, the audience will not only be able to view the performances, but also read the lyrics of the artists’ songs, consult the program, vote, and comment on the performances.
Once again, SOCAN will be part of the event by presenting the “Skátne” series of performances. The purpose of this series is to give greater prominence to First Nations and Inuit artists and their languages. The guest artists will be:
- Laura Niquay (March 15)
- Anachnid (March 16)
- Sylvia Cloutier (March 22)
- Kanen (March 23)
- Sandrine Masse-Savard (March 29)
- Samian (March 30)
- Willows (April 5)
- Matiu (April 26)
- Dan-Georges McKenzie (April 27)
- Scott-Pien Picard (April 28)
SOCAN will also present the Prix Paroles & Musique SOCAN, a $1,000 cash prize to be awarded to one of the semi-finalists, in recognition of the writing talent behind the creation of their song. The cash prize also comes with a one-week writing residency at the SOCAN House in Paris. These prizes are part of a plethora of rewards, grants, and concert opportunities to be handed out this year.
There will be seven preliminary evenings held at the Lion d’Or every Monday from Feb. 17 to March 30.
The contestants of the preliminary round are:
- Bermuda, Lampion, Super Plage (March 15)
- Mada Mada, Douance, Phil Bourg (March 16)
- Mayfly, Issa Karim, Vendôme (March 22)
- tremble, Perséide, oui merci (March 23)
- FIDÈS, A.M., Calamine (March 29)
- Sandrine St-Laurent, Ambre ciel, Étienne Coppée (March 30)
- Malaimé Soleil, Sylvie, BAIE (April 5)
The Francouvertes hope to be able to present the semi-finals (April 26, 27 and 28) and the final at Club Soda (May 17) in a hybrid format, live with an audience, and streamed online.
To find out more about the 25th edition of the Francouvertes, visit francouvertes.com (French only).