Richard Desjardins | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 16, 1948 Rouyn, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, film director |
| Years active | 1981-present |
| Website | www |
Richard Desjardins (born March 16, 1948) is a Québécois folk singer and film director.[1]
Career
Desjardins and his friends formed the country rock ensemble Abbitibbi in the 1970s; Desjardins played piano, guitar, and sang. When the group disbanded in 1982, Desjardins pursued a solo career. He released a number of solo albums, including Tu m'aimes-tu in 1990[2] and Boom Boom,[3] which appeared on the RPM 100 Top Albums list in 1998.[4]
Desjardins also found work scoring films, especially documentaries. This involvement in the Quebec film industry even led him to co-direct a number of feature-length documentaries. He was known for his environmental activism, especially with regards to protecting forests from over-exploitation, and to promote this he created the documentary film L'erreur boréale in 1999.[5] In 2007 Desjardins, along with Robert Monderie, created The Invisible People, a documentary about the Algonquin nation in Quebec.[6]
Desjardins went on tour in 2013, promoting his album L'existoire; after that he made occasional live appearances, including the 2018 Festival guitares du monde in Abitibi.[7]
In 2017 a group of singers came together at Steve Jolin's Rouyn-Noranda record company to record Chanter Richard Desjardins, a tribute album of Desjardins' songs.[8][9]
Discography
Albums
- 1981-Boom Town Café (with Abbittibbi)
- 1988-Les derniers humains
- 1989-Le trésor de la langue (with René Lussier)
- 1990-Tu m'aimes-tu
- 1992-Les derniers humains (new recording)
- 1994-Chaude était la nuit (with Abbittibbi)[10]
- 1998-Boom Boom
- 2003-Kanasuta
- 2011-L'existoire
Live albums
- 1993-Richard Desjardins au Club Soda
- 1996-Desjardins Abbittibbi Live (with Abbittibbi)
Soundtrack
- 1990-Le Party
DVD
- Kanasuta - Là où les diables vont danser (2005)
Filmography
- 1977 - A Raging Disaster (Comme des chiens en pacage) by Desjardins and Robert Monderie
- 1978 - Firefly (Mouche à feu), by Desjardins and Robert Monderie
- 1999 - Forest Alert (L'erreur boréale) by Desjardins and Robert Monderie
- 2007 - The Invisible Nation (Le peuple invisible) by Desjardins and Robert Monderie
- 2011 - The Hole Story (Trou story) by Desjardins and Robert Monderie
Music for films and theater
- À double tour (English title: Twice Convicted), by Marie Cadieux, 1994
- The Party (Le Party) by Pierre Falardeau, 1990
- La Nuit avec Hortense (The night with Hortense), by Jean Chabot, 1988
- Noranda, by Robert Monderie and Daniel Corvec, 1984
- Le doux partage (Soft Sharing) by Sylvie van Brabant, 1983
- Depuis que le monde est monde (Since the world is world) by Sylvie van Brabant, 1981
- Blue Winter (L'hiver bleu) by André Blanchard, 1978
- Beat by André Blanchard, 1976 (Desjardins and Abbittibbi as well as other musicians)
- Composed music for and was musical director of ”Têtes rondes et têtes pointues“ ("The Roundheads and the Peakheads") by Bertold Brecht, at the 1986 Brecht International Festival in Toronto.
Bibliography
- Carole Couture, "la parole est mine d’or", Éditions Tryptique, Montréal, 1999.
References
- ^ Larry LeBlanc (27 January 1996). "The Fix on 96". Billboard. pp. 75, 80. ISSN 0006-2510.
- ^ Colin Larkin. The encyclopedia of popular music. Oxford Univ.; 2000.ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4. p. 865.
- ^ Le nouvel observateur. 1998. p. 65.
- ^ "Top Albums/CDs". RPM, Volume 68, No. 5. Oct 26, 1998
- ^ The Canadian forum. Canadian Forum,Limited; March 1999. p. 37.
- ^ "Cousins d’Amérique : encore deux jours". la Nouvelle Republique, 19/10/2019
- ^ "Retrouver Richard Desjardins". La Presse, 29 August 2019 Josée Lapointe
- ^ "Richard Desjardins, tu nous aimes-tu?". Le Devoir, Sylvain Cormier, 22 avril 2017
- ^ "Le défi Richard Desjardins". La Presse, Alain de Repentigny, 1 May 2017
- ^ Landscapes and Landmarks of Canada: Real, Imagined, (Re)Viewed. Wilfrid Laurier University Press; 28 March 2017. ISBN 978-1-77112-203-0. p. 173.
External links
- Desjardins' web site.
- Words to 59 of Desjardins' songs. (site down)
- Radio Canada (Documentary about Richard Desjardins) (in French)
- Radio France, France Blue (Interviews with Desjardins) (in French)
- Summary of Desjardins Life’s work (in French)