Québécois artists discuss culture, music

De Temps Antan, the band of three native Québécois, incorporates harmonica, accordion and various stringed instruments in its take on traditional call and response folk music.

For Nomadic Massive, quick multilingual rhymes carry the eight-member band’s multicultural hip-hop beats.

Though the two bands have distinct styles, band members said they believe they bring music of the past to the present music scene in Quebec.

This past weekend, they brought a piece of Quebec to Lotus Festival.

But before any of them took the stage, the Indiana Daily Student had the chance to speak to Pierre-Luc Dupuis of De Temps Antan and Lou Piensa of Nomadic Massive to find out more about their formation, influences and what they have planned for the future.

IDS How did your band form?

Dupuis We started to work together in another big, big band here in Quebec (La Bottine Souriante). Eric (Beaudry) and I joined the band in 2003, and André (Brunet) was playing with the band during that time.

The second year we were working, we just decided to have another side project.

Piensa The birth of our band came out of a project at the international Habana Hip Hop Festival in 2004 in Cuba. We were going down individually but were given a collective slot, so that’s what gave birth to our collaboration.

We became friends as musicians and slowly as friends. When we came back to Montreal, we tried to keep that going.

IDS How did you come up with the name for your band?

Dupuis It’s a play on words. It’s the same as “de temps en temps,” (“once in a while”) but the way it’s written, “antan” means olden. This is why we decided to use this word. It made sense to call the band “once in a while” (in French).

It’s not a side project anymore. It’s a main project now for us.

Piensa We grew up in different parts of the world, and we wanted to go to various parts of the world. That constitutes the nomad.

Massive comes from different parts of the world.  It also comes from Jamaican dance hall music. They have what they call “massive” that goes around and performs collectively.

That’s what we were — a big traveling group.

IDS How did you decide to be a hip-hop/traditional French band?

Dupuis Our first contact with the music was our family, so we had the chance to grow up in a big family where traditional music was very important. So we really learned how to sing or play a traditional instrument.

When we were teenagers, we all played other music like jazz. André studied Indian percussion, and Luc played many kinds of music, like bass guitar for rock.

Our musical background is very different, but we love all music.

Piensa Everybody has a different story, but we all have a sense of identity in hip-hop that is reflected in our backgrounds.

There’s a creative aspect, and there’s an international aspect.

Also, social justice is at the root of hip-hop culture. It’s about bettering your community and making something positive out of a bad situation. We try to pass that on.

IDS What sort of messages do you try to convey in your songs?

Dupuis The lyrics are pretty basic. It’s more about the call and response song the traditional way. There’s a lead singer, and then the other guys will respond the lyrics. Sometimes we talk about travelers, sometimes about war, a lot about drinking. The traditional music is played during traditions, so traditional music and celebrations are close.

We like to celebrate with the crowd, but it’s always also fun to just tone it down a bit during a show and get a little darker.

Piensa We come from all different situations and cultural backgrounds and have something to share. In our songs, we try to push making the best of a situation and being part of a solution. The work that we do is related to hip-hop — it’s a tool. We all work outside of hip-hop and do work with the community, from working in a community studio in a music program to helping young people in trouble with the law.

We also love to joke around and have fun too, though. We love to enjoy life and celebrate life. We like people to come party and get down with us.

IDS What are your future plans?

Dupuis We want to continue to tour, to play around the world. For the next year, we’re going to be on tour mostly all the year. A lot of shows in Europe.

Piensa We want to keep working on a full album. Our last record was in 2009, but we did a mixtape and an EP this year in April. Right now we’re working on a new record.
After this festival, we’re actually taking a break from touring to put together an interesting new record.

Follow reporter Amanda Arnold on Twitter @Amanda_Arnold14.