Brochure_Chorale_Apercu(modified)

Spectacle – Bloc Party
dans la cour de l’école
Saint-François-Solano
à Rosemont
En Performance
La chorale Attaque de chœur
et Olivier Bélisle
3580 rue Dandurand
Le vendredi 9 juin
de 19 h 30 à 23 h
Gratuit
Emmenez une couverte,
emmenez le beau temps

1
Dear Government of Canada, Dear Government of Québec,
Thank you so much for the money and support, you’ve been great.
And I’m not just talking about the funding of this project ; it gœs farther back
than that. I’m talking about the 7 $/day daycare I took advantage of for 6
years, which enabled my entire family to enjoy a higher quality of life and
gave us time to breathe. And for all the child benefts : free basic dental, free
basic meds, and a few really nice monthly paychecks for our work as parents.
It makes everything so much easier.
attaque de chœur
I think we’re on to something. I think we’re starting to see the benefts of a
government that invests in its society with arts and programs and funding and
welfare. I can only speak for my little corner of the world here in Montreal,
but the city is looking and feeling fantastic and maybe we should start talking
about everything that’s going right.
And all the possibilities.
We could be a social experiment. Take it all further and see what happens
when you strive to keep education and childcare as inexpensive as possible,
when you value your artists and take their work to the street for the world
to see, and when you plan to pay for it all with a booming party industry.
Québec micro-breweries are bursting at the seams, and luck would have it
that half the world is a heavy drinker. We’d be crazy not to transform rural
Québec into the beer-tour capital of the universe. Bring in the tourism, bring
out the local artists and artisans, and festival the fuck out of this province,
pardon my French.
It’s a grand investment, I know. It’s not a popular stance with everyone, I know.
I can truly understand why someone who works much harder than I do would
think : Why the hell should I have to pay for your party ? I can understand
how someone who can’t get afordable care in a hospice is not necessarily
impressed with tons of money going into transforming a cement truck into a
giant disco ball in the name of public art.
And yet something tells me we need that giant disco ball.
Something tells me we if we take the focus of our problems and concentrate
on feeding our souls and imaginations it will be benefcial for all.
I know I have my part to play as well. I’m not quite sure how to personally
go about this making-the-world-a-better-place business, but I’m convinced
that turning of the news stations, getting the weight of the world of my
shoulders, and getting something going with the immediate people around
me is a good place to start.

2
3
attaque de chœur
// Archives de courriels
→ Salut ! J’espère que vous allez tous bien.
And so I started
with my friends :
Je vous envoie de l’info concernant un projet de chorale, voir si
vous voudriez y participer ou si ça risque intéresser quelqu’un que
vous connaissez.
Je commence par les dates et le lieu, si vous voulez en savoir plus,
read on.
(Je donne les renseignements en anglais, mais les répètes se
dérouleront en français.)
Sur ce, je vous annonce qu’Eric et moi partons au
Nouveau‐Brunswick demain.
Pour 6 jours. De vacances. En solo. Yeah !
Ciao et à bientôt les amis,
xox niki
→ Dear friends,
As some of you know, I’m starting a choir project and looking for
participants who don’t mind getting involved in one that’s being led
by someone who’s not sure what she’s getting herself into.
Basically everything rests on the premise:
How hard can it be to get a bunch of people together
to sing ?
Well I’m about to fnd out.
I can honestly say that sending that initial email has been the most
difcult part so far. What if only 3 people are interested ? It’s going
to be so embarrassing when everyone asks : So what about that choir
thing you were going to do ? And I’ll have to say it was dead before
it even hit the ground ; ouch.

4 5
But that’s not what happened. What happened is that I got a bunch of positive
responses and the relief was immense.
And if that wasn’t enough to get me motivated, a few weeks later I got news
regarding the grant I had applied for :
→ Bonjour,
C’est avec grand plaisir que nous vous annonçons que
votre projet a été sélectionné dans le cadre de notre programme
e
de subventions communautaires du de 375 Montréal et du 150
e
anniversaire du Canada pour le montant que vous avez demandé.
Vous recevrez une entente par courriel à signer et nous retourner
afn que nous puissions vous faire parvenir la subvention.
Nous sommes enthousiastes et avons hâte d’entendre parler
de votre projet.
Salutations,
Wow. I couldn’t have been more surprised. I had written the proposal in a
very naïve manner, had dreamed up a plan and dreamed up how much it
would cost, but now actually I’d have to go through with said plan. I remember
being nervous before re-reading my application : what is it I said I was
going to do, exactly ?
Please describe your project and its impact
(max 200 words)
What is your project ? What are its goals ? Who will be involved ? How will
it make a difference in your community ?
→ The Heart Attack Choir is a bilingual and intergenerational 30-voice
ensemble composed of professional, semi-professional, and amateur
singers who reunite in the Montreal borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal. Its
mandate is to build a pop-repertoire featuring the songs of many local
artists, for the purpose of lending its work to an “expansion choir” — an
amateur 30-voice choir formed in the borough of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie.
The “base-choir” rehearses once a week from September 2016 to
January 2017, the expansion choir from March to June 2017. The two
choirs will combine for two grand events — one in each borough — at
the end of June.
The main goal of the choir is to get more people singing — for the sheer
pleasure it provides, for its benefts on mental health, and for the sense of
community and togetherness it harnesses. The 2016–2017 pilot project
aims to set a precedent, where on an annual basis the base choir builds
a new repertoire for the purpose of providing an increasing number of
expansion choirs with the material and organisational tools needed to get
their schools/organizations/workplaces united through song.
attaque de chœur
Ok a bit cheesy, but the basic idea is there. The idea that was born out of my
not wanting to get a job. That was the TRUE motivation behind this project, I
have to admit. Being a fulltime housemom was getting me down, but loading
another 35 hours of work to my week ? Really ?
Unconvinced, I dragged my sorry self to the Club de recherche d’emploi
Montréal Centre-Ville anyhow.
It’s a free service that encourages you to get you out of the house while conducting
your job search, in order to be surrounded by others and therefore stimulated.
They make you do all kinds of stuf you don’t want to do, like cold calls to potential
employers and fake interviews. It’s the worst. But it works. (Merci Émilie !)

6 7
What is the mission and purpose of your
organization ? What are the main activities ?
(max 150 words)
→ The Yellow Door mission is to empower young people to initiate
and engage in community and creative projects that promote social
inclusion, combat urban isolation across all generations, and spark
positive societal change.
Our fagship outreach program—Generations—aims to decrease the
sense of isolation experienced by many inner city elderly and to help in
preventing premature institutionalization.
We arrange weekly home visits to seniors and accompaniments to hospital
and other appointments. Other volunteer services consist of running errands
for housebound seniors, helping with computers and other technology, and
organizing social events such as our Social Club, Knitting Club, Book Club,
Movie Club and Art Club. All these services seek to inform and to empower
the elderly, and to uphold their sense of dignity.
Other Yellow Door programs include a lunch kitchen for collective
meals, a food bank for students in need, and a cofeehouse where
performances are held.
attaque de chœur
Way to go Yellow Door.
And so with their backing, I went about following
my ever-so shaky plan.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask strangers for work over the phone, so I’d cheat
and present my hypothetical project to non-proft organizations instead :
→ …J’aimerais vous parler brièvement du projet de chorales
communautaires dont je démarre, dans le but de voir s’il peut faire
bénéfcier votre clientèle…
And going down that list is how I got in touch with Matthew Bouchard,
general director of The Yellow Door. He answered his own phone, said my
project sounded like a good ft for his organisation, and sure I could come
by to talk more about the project. Matthew. Bouchard. Is awesome. Every
other conversation went pretty much the same way.
→ That sounds like a great idea… sure you could hold your rehearsals in
our basement…yep, you can use your afliation with us to apply for
grants, we’ll hold the money for you and then hand it over…yes we’ll be
responsible for insuring your event, yeah I can sign this, no problem, take
it easy, see you later…
He even endured a drum kit in his ofce for a week, ‘cause we had left it in
the basement and it was taking up too much space for all the other projects,
and The Yellow Door is all about making space for projects .

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Faire chanter ceux qui ne chantent habituellement pas.
Voilà le concept qui à mené à Attaque de Chœur, un projet de chorale
au répertoire pop, bilingue et souvent local.
Une initiative de Nicole Carmen Godbout, ayant si souvent entendu
la phrase J’aimerais chanter mais je suis trop poche/gêné/rouillé,
le projet démontre que :
Un mélange de participants expérimentés
et moins expérimentés, âgés de 6 à 66 ans
+
attaque de chœur
Le projet de chant
qui se répand
Une chef de chorale sans expérience
ni connaissances théorique,
qui apprend au fur et à mesure
=
Un environnement propice à la perte
de complexes (et quel joyeux bordel) !
Accompagné d’un fabuleux trio de musiciens,
Serge Lavoie + Dominic Desjardins + Tonio Morin-Vargas
à la guitare à la basse à la batterie
l’ensemble comprend une quarantaine de chanteurs performants
une douzaine de chansons.
Venez découvrir et/ou participer à ce projet en pleine croissance qui est
ouvert à tous et gratuit, grâce à l’implication de l’OBNL The Yellow Door, au
programme de subvention de la Fondation du Grand Montréal, et à l’appui
fnancier du Gouvernement du Canada.

10 11
Base choir
18–20 participants
October to January 2017
The singing started with the 18 or so
friends who had said yes to that email
I mentioned earlier. What I usually call
my : Chorale de base. We rehearsed
in The Yellow Door basement in the
McGill ghetto, and it was amazing to
see these people show up week after
week. It was usually dark and stormy
out, parking was impossible and the
nearest metro not so close, most were
coming straight from work, some had
very small children at home… We’d
often great each other wondering
where we’d fnd the energy.
Croquis de Anne Stratford,
membre de la chorale
attaque de chœur
And two hours later we were on fre
and disappointed it was already over.
What a fne time we had.
SOPRANOS
Stéphanie Trudeau
Catherine Stuyck
Marie-Pierre Fortin
Christine Légaré
ALTOS
Anne O’Connell
Marie-Maude
Denus-Baillargeon
Josy-Anne Dumont
Caro Caron
TENORS
Fred Boisjoly
Tobo
Maude Rock
Pierre-Alain Faucon
BASSES
Danielle Martin
Erick Jarry
Conrad Jean
Serge Lavoie
Nadia Beaulieu
Nancy McDonald
Anick Beaulieu
Anne Stratford

12 13
The rehearsals culminated in a beneft
show at one of my two favorite bars in
Montreal ; Le Quai des Brumes. One
of the choir members, Caro Caron,
a wonderful person and illustrator
agreed to conceive and hand paint the
poster that I’ve since been using as the
choir’s image :
→ Bonjour vous autres !
Je vous envoie l’image pour notre spectacle ! Libre à vous
de vous l’approprier et de le faire circuler ! Je viens de
parler à Fred qui propose de faire une genre de générale
informelle pour passer en revue encore un peu certains
aspects et arrangements des tounes. Si l’idée vous plait,
j’ofre la maison chez moi et Tob dimanche soir dès 6 h.
Merci vous êtes vraiment chou!
xxx
Caro Caron
What a magical night.
Merci Anne-Claude, merci Véro, merci Quai
des Brumes, et tous les spectateurs… That
show was supposed to be a fundraiser, but
by the end of it I really didn’t feel like passing
hats and such. Bringing up money when you’re
busy celebrating is such a killjoy.
attaque de chœur
Thankfully my friend Nadia took matters into
her own hands, disappeared into the crowd,
and reappeared 10 minutes later with 300 $
for us.
But I admit it was pretty lazy of me, Dear Government
of Canada, to have a room full of people
who are asking to know where they can
drop their cash, and that’s the part I neglected
to organise in advance. Sorry. I know I’m supposed
to pull my weight in this arrangement
and get $$ from fundraisers or sponsors, but
OH GAWD I HATE ASKING PEOPLE FOR
MONEY !!!!!!!!! (Except for you, apparently.)
All eligible projects must match the value of the requested grant, either in cash or through
in-kind contributions. You will have indicated these values in your project budget ; the form
below will help verify that your project has fulfilled this requirement.
Ooops. Ok I have to admit that I haven’t actually asked for contributions from the people I
told you were giving me contributions. Yet.
I think I’m going to bet on one big sponsor instead, and I’d like it to be Les Brasseurs du
Monde. Because I feel more comfortable asking for a beer commandite than cash, because
they ofer commandites, because I really love their beer, and because if there’s one enterprise
I want to promote in these pages it’s our small-scale breweries. You are remarkable at your
craft and we love you.
I write this on May 20th 2017, not having approached Les Brasseurs du Monde yet. If you
see their logo on the back of this booklet, it means that they’ve said yes. I’ll try get to more
sponsors later, I promise.

14 15
Now back to the fun stuff.
In February, when the base choir was all over and we thought we would not
see each other ‘til June, Frank Martel, co-owner of my other favorite bar in
town, came to me with an idea.
Subject : On nous a lancé une SUPERBE proposition...
Pour les 30 ans du Cheval Blanc
→ AllÔ AllÔ belle gang!
J’espère que vous vous êtes bien reposés depuis notre dernière aventure; il
y a quelque chose qui se trame.
Le Cheval Blanc fête ses 30 ans le samedi 8 avril. Il s’agira d’un vernissage
(une rétrospective de tous les posters d’événements qui ont eu lieu au cheval
depuis trente ans) et d’un spectacle. Se réunira pour l’occasion, la formation
originale du groupe JEREMI MOURAND!!
Comme si cela n’était pas une excellente nouvelle en soit, on nous a
proposé de les accompagner. Wow.
C’est une opportunité de rêve pour plusieurs parmi nous qui sommes fans
fnis du groupe.Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas encore, ce sera toute une
découverte; ça bûche.
Pour ceux qui voudront/pourront y participer, voici l’horaire. SVP m’écrire
un p’tit mot si vous choisissez d’y participer…
→ Wow! Avec Jeremi Mourand!! Si c’est pas un problème que
je manque la première pratique, J’EMBARQUE !
Merci Nikki !
→ Présent !
→ Waw malade I’m in !!!!!!!!!
→ I’m in !
→ Yé ! J’y serai ! xx
→ We’re so in !!!! Yaaaaaaa
→ Fan fnie sera présente !
Heheheheh...
→ I’m in ! Vraiment cool
→ Bonjour Nikki, moi ça m’intéresse
beaucoup. Si tu veux de moi j’y serai
Conrad
→ T’es don ben drôle Conrad... Si je veux de toi... C’EST CERTAIN !! Je
pensais peut-être que ça ne tombait pas à un temps idéal pour toi et ton
travail, alors c’est bien tant mieux! Je te donne plus d’info sous peu, et
laisse-moi savoir quand tu auras une date en vue avec Erick et Anne pour
les rapports d’impôt. Les mardis et les mercredis ne sont pas possible pour
moi, mais à part de ça c’est beau !
À bientôt, xox niki
attaque de chœur
Yes, our family accountant is in the choir. And what an accountant. He only
works for artist-types and other poor souls who are really bad at keeping track
of their income tax. He says that those who are on top of their game can go to
a regular accountant. He comes in once a year with his briefcase and his latest
homemade crafts, be it a bookmarks made out of flm pellicule or notebooks
with album covers for the front and back, or clay penholder he carved a scene
into and painted…
He also got a hold of the recordings of our 2 performances and made CDs
for us. Here’s the pocket he designed as a wonderful souvenir from our night
at Cheval Blanc.
Merci Conrad, Merci Michel Thibault pour les photos, et merci pour cette soirée
inoubliable Cheval Blanc.
Bon anniversaire !

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Chorale Rosemont
30 participants
March to June 2017
And here is where the kids come in.
I thought I would have do a recruitment campaign to get the second choir going,
but just through word of mouth — and perhaps because children of all ages were
welcome to accompany their parents — I had 30 participants lined up in no time.
And where would we put all these beautiful people ? After one rehearsal in a space
that was too small, my friend Sandy told me about a woman she had met that was
running a café/resource centre for new parents :
attaque de chœur
Which brings us to
Ressources Café… Café familiale, ludique et créatif, situé sur la promenade Masson
dans Rosemont. Retrouvez-nous au deuxième étage Masson coin 3e avenue (2710 rue
Masson). I could not have dreamed up a better space ; because of its size, because
of the kids’ area, and mostly because of the owner, dear sweet Cécille. Many of the
kids are too small to be interested in singing for 2 hours —or at all — and so Cécille
keeps them occupied with all kinds of great projects. Collages and popsicle-stick
houses and homemade tattoos and sidewalk drawings… And I have to INSIST on
paying her, because she seems to despise talking about money even more than I do.
Un gros merci Cécille, tu es géniale et les enfants t’adorent ! And what can I say about
this group ? Well it should have been absolute chaos in there, but I was somehow
surrounded by the most easy-going people in the world, and it’s been a joy.
SOPRANOS
ALTOS
TENORS
BASSES
Dominique Gratton
Marie-Josée Gagnon
Fred Boisjoly
Gérarld Grimp
Hanane Chouikh
Catherine Stuyck
Stephanie Trudeau
Christine Légaré
Marie-Ève Morasse
Véronique Michon
Isabelle Boulet
Véronique Fortier
Jean-Sebastien
“Sebstar” Jasenovic
Lisa Gordon
Serge Levesque
Conrad Jean
Yves Jalbert
Danielle Martin
Anne Pangaud
ENFANTS & ADOS
Simone Fung
Éliane Ledoux
Alice Garcia
Élie Villeneuve
Camilla Castro
Bastien Robert
Eva Villeneuve
June Villeneuve
Jacob Bourque
Simone
Laforme-Jasenovic
Marianne Bourque

18 19
Le propriétaire, John Fogarty, tient à ofrir des produits de qualité qui
proviennent du Québec au rythme des saisons : des petits fruits au maïs,
en passant par les tournesols et glaïeuls du Québec, et sans oublier les
courges et les citrouilles qui clôtureront la saison estivale.
Ne pas oublier la Cabane à sucre, ouverte de la mi-février à la mi-avril
au même endroit ! Vous y trouverez des produits d’érables de toutes sortes
d’une grande qualité.
I suppose this is goodbye for now,
please take good care.
attaque de chœur
Well this more or less brings us up to date. I have to wrap this up because the
booklet has to be at the printers shortly, and the graphic designer is waiting
on me for this last piece of text. The graphic designer is Marie Chénier, and
what a precious encounter. I met her only four days ago, and had to explain
that she would have but a week to put all of this together. Not an easy task
for anyone, but she took it on graciously and is doing a fantastic job. You can
visit her impressive work at www.mariechenier.com and contact her directly
at info@mariechenier.com.
I don’t know how the grand fnale bloc party is going to go, wish us luck,
dear Government of Canada, Dear Government of Québec. I hope you
haven’t minded my addressing you as if we were old high school buddies,
We’ve been part of each other’s lives for quite a while now ; I fgured it was
time to introduce myself as my true self & let you know what I’ve been up to
with your contributions.
I’ll be doing my best to develop this project on my own from here on in, but I
thank you immensely for the initial push. Now it’s just a question of momentum.
Gotta go,
it’s springtime in Montreal.
Much love,
xox niki
Oh ! you’ll be happy to know that I’ve found a sponsor ! Actually, my dear
friend Fred Boisjoly found him for me. His name is John Fogarty and he is
the owner of the Kiosque Mont-Royal, where Fred works. Now besides his
forthcoming contribution he’s given me a great gift, because he has yet to
ask me for a formal request for sponsorship, there’s been no paperwork… I
have yet to meet the man. And it gives me the greatest feeling to know that
somewhere out there is a boss who is willing to support one of his employees’
choir project, just because that’s the kind of guy he is. Merci de ton support
M. Fogarty, au plaisir de vous rencontrer !
And again, what a great establishment to promote :
→ Le Kiosque Mont-Royal est établi depuis 1983. Il ofre une grande variété de
produits alimentaires et horticoles. Situé sur le site du métro Mont-Royal, angle
Berri et Mont-Royal, le marché public est ouvert de mai à octobre, et cela 24
heures sur 24.
Le Kiosque Mont-Royal propose à sa clientèle: annuelles, vivaces, plantes
d’intérieures, ainsi qu’un service de feuristerie diversifé. De plus, vous
y retrouverez un grand choix de fruits et légumes et un service de repas
rapide : sandwichs, salades, crudités et fruits coupés.

20
Remerciements
Merci Fred Boisjoly
pour ton gros cœur, ta passion pour ce projet, ta douceur
et ton amitié.
Merci Marc-André Lefebvre
pour les enregistrements vidéo et les photos, et d’avoir accepté
de me suivre dans ce plan très fou.
Merci Erick Jarry
pour la direction technique, la séance d’enregistrement,
et la grande générosité de ton temps, non seulement avec moi,
mais avec tout l’monde autour de toi.
Merci Serge, Tonio et Dom
pour votre participation, pour la séance d’enregistrement
et pour votre GROS talent.
Merci Patrice Caron
de m’avoir accueilli et guidé dans les tout débuts,
lorsque j’étais vraiment perdue.
Merci à Noah et Louisa
de nous avoir prêté votre chez-vous pour les répètes
du Cheval Blanc.
Merci à tous les bénévoles.
Merci à ma famille
Elie, Eva, June et mon Johnny baby, grand capitaine qui s’occupe si
bien de nous.
Et merci aux chanteurs
pour votre amour immense qui fait vibrer.
Design graphique
Marie Chénier
Illustrations Anne Stratford (p. 11)
Caro Caron (p. 13)
Photographies
Textes
Marc-André Lefebvre
Nicole Carmen Godbout