A view of the Roman skyline as seen from Villa Borghese Gardens, on a beautiful day of fall.
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It’s that time of the year again! One of the first signs that the warm season is on it’s way: all the summer festivals are starting to release their lineups.
Montreal has it’s fair share of festivals, especially in the months between June and September. Everyone is sure to find something they like (cinema, african music, jazz music, LGBT culture and comedy all have their big celebrations scheduled in the upcoming months).
Yesterday, the Francofolies festival indoor lineup was announced.
The Francofolies is an annual music festival held during the month of June in the core of downtown Montreal, at the Place des festivals and at concert halls in the surrounding area. The artists that participate in this 10 day long event all hail from francophone countries (in Canada, Europe and Africa).
If I may say, I personally find the lineup to be disappointingly safe so far, but I will wait until the outdoor concerts are announced, as we tend to be pretty lucky in terms of artists that are invited to give free shows (in the past, we’ve had great concerts by some of my favorite artists like Angélique Kidjo and Thomas Fersen).
Nevertheless, here are a few artists who’s presence is already confirmed and that deserve to be checked out according to me (either in concert or via Youtube, if you can’t make it to Montreal) :
Avec pas d’casque: Gorgeous, at times intricate, other times raw lo-fi folk/country music.
1995: Clearly influenced by french rap of the nineties (hence the name), this young sextet is made up of 5 MCs and 1 DJ.
Violett Pi: Hard to describe, this group’s music is a hybrid of many things, including punk, funk and screaming. Not for everyone but adventurous ears shall be rewarded.
Cargo Culte: The coarse rhymes of rapper Séba, over heavy, dark beats composed by seasoned local musicians Alex Mcmahon and JF Lemieux. Click here to watch video (embedding denied)
Mama Rosin: You’d think this band was born in a bayou but they are based in Switzerland. These Cajun-style rockers have garnered many fans during tours across Europe and the Southern United States, but they are still relatively unknown here, where they are opening for a bigger name: Lisa Leblanc.
Eiffel: French rock band that would rather not be compared to their (somewhat overbearing) older brother Noir Désir (but the link in sound and style is inevitable). Nevertheless, they’ve managed to carve their own sound by going towards melodies that are more influenced by pop and even the electro stylings of such groups as Gorillaz.
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A common sight in Italy: Scooters lined up by the sidewalk in the beautiful city of Verona. -
These gorgeous (and delicious) blood oranges don’t seem to know if they want to be red or orange.
(See below for the blood orange and fennel recipe. Voir plus bas pour la recette de salade au fenouil et orange sanguine)
When I finally mustered the will to cut these pretty things, I made the following recipe with them:
Fennel, blood orange and walnut salad
Ingredients for the salad: (serves 2)
1/2 bulb of fennel, cut into julienne slices
Handful of walnuts
100g Mesclun salad
2 blood oranges, each slice cut in half
1 Ryvita sesame rye cracker, broken into small bits
Ingredients for the dressing:
2 tablespoons Olive Oil (choose your favorite but lighter tasting is better in this case)
1 tablespoon Honey Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper
How to serve it:
You can mix all the elements together in no particular order, or you can dip the cracker bits in the dressing for a few minutes, then put them and the remaining sauce into the salad.
Salade de fenouil, orange sanguine et noix de grenoble:
Ingrédients pour la salade (pour 2 personnes)
/2 bulbe de fenouil, coupé en juliennes
Une poignée de noix de grenobles
100g de salade Mesclun
2 oranges sanguines, chaque tranche coupée en 2
1 craquelin au sésame et seigle Ryvita, cassé en morceaux de petite taille
Ingrédients pour la vinaigrette:2 cuillères à table d’Huile d’olive (choississez votre préférée, mais une huile plus douce complémentera mieux le goût des oranges sanguines)
1 cuillère à table Moutarde de Dijon
1/2 cuillère à table Vinaigre de Xéres
Sel et poivre
Comment la préparer:
Vous pouvez mélanger les éléments sans ordre particulier, ou vous pouvez tremper les morceaux de craquelin dans la vinaigrette pendant quelques minutes, puis les mettre avec le restant de la sauce avec la salade.
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I’ve decided to write a post to share the music I’ve been listening to in these past few weeks. I’ll try to make it a monthly feature on this blog as of now.
Most people love music. I’d consider my feelings for music as a bit superior to love (yup, quite a big deal). One of my great regrets so far is that I haven’t learned an instrument yet. I intend to change that as soon as possible (right now I’ve got a few other things to work on, like learning Spanish, writing and getting to know my new camera).
This means that for the moment, I just enjoy listening to others playing it.
I’m not so trendy and am often a bit late on the new good bands to discover, but I’m curious and I like to dig around so I often end up finding some interesting stuff that isn’t popping up in the mainstream. The musical styles I listen to go all over the place and I’m sure everyone will find something they enjoy!
Here are a few bands that I’m liking right now (the quasi total female domination is purely coincidental):
Les Hay babies, a folk trio that hails from Eastern Canada. They sing pretty prose (in French and English) over sweet/sad banjo and guitar melodies.
A storytelling home by Léa Plourde-Archer 