André Duchesne (musician)

André Duchesne
Born 1949
Montreal, Canada
Genres Experimental music, contemporary classical
Occupations Musician, composer
Instruments Guitar
Years active mid-1970s – present
Labels Ambiances Magnétiques
Associated acts Conventum, Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar, Locomotive

André Duchesne (born 1949[1]) is a Canadian experimental music guitarist and composer. He was a co-founder of Ambiances Magnétiques, a Canadian musical collective and record label, and formed several experimental music bands, including Conventum, Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar and Locomotive. Duchesne has also released five solo albums.

Biography

André Duchesne was born in Montreal, Canada in 1949.[1] As a teenager he learnt acoustic guitar, but was not satisfied with the popular rock music being played at the time. In the mid-1970s he formed an avant-garde folk-rock group called Conventum with René Lussier, Jean Derome, Jean-Pierre Bouchard, Jacques Laurin, Bernard Cormier and poet Alain-Arthur Painchaud.[1] Conventum was described by Allmusic as a mixture of "Quebec's folk roots with absurd poetry and progressive arrangements".[2] They released two albums, À l'Affût d'un Complot in 1977 and Le Bureau Central des Utopies in 1979.[2]

In 1983 Duchesne, Lussier, Derome and Robert M. Lepage formed Ambiances Magnétiques, a musical collective and artist-run record label specialising in avant-garde music. Duchesne released his first solo album, Le Temps des Bombes on the new label in 1984.[2] Then he began writing contrapuntal compositions for a guitar quartet, and formed Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar (The 4 Guitarists of the Apocalypso-Bar) with Lussier, Bouchard and Roger Boudreault to perform the pieces. Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar was a concept band that Duchesne said was from post-apocalypse Canada "inspired by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix".[3] They premiered at the 4th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) at Victoriaville, Quebec in October 1986,[4] and continued until 1989, touring Canada, the United States and Europe. They also released two albums in 1987 and 1989.[3]

After the success of Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar,[3] Duchesne returned to FIMAV in 1989 to premier "his most ambitious work ever",[2] L' Ou 'L,[5] a composition that explored different styles of chamber music.[1] In 1991, he formed Locomotive with Claude Fradette and Rémi Leclerc, which also performed at FIMAV in 1991.[6] Locomotive recorded an album of the same name in 1992, which Allmusic called "the pinnacle of André Duchesne's discography".[7]

During the mid- to late-1990s, Duchesne formed several rock bands, but they never recorded. In 1999 he released Réflexions, an album of classical guitar solos,[2] and in 2001, Polaroïde, a free improvisation session for guitar, viola and percussion.[1] Duchesne returned to FIMAV for its 21st edition in 2004 to premier Cordes à danser, a new project of his featuring a string quartet and a "power trio" of guitar, bass and drums.[8][9]

Solo discography

Source: Allmusic[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Scaruffi, Piero. "André Duchesne". A History of Rock Music. http://www.scaruffi.com/vol6/duchesne.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Couture, François. "André Duchesne". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/andr-duchesne-p10466/biography. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  3. ^ a b c Couture, François. "Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/les-4-guitaristes-de-lapocalypso-bar-p212580/biography. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  4. ^ "4th Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville". International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville. http://www.fimav.qc.ca/en/1986/. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  5. ^ "7th Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville". International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville. http://www.fimav.qc.ca/en/1989/. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  6. ^ "9th Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville". International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville. http://www.fimav.qc.ca/en/1991/. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  7. ^ Couture, François. "Locomotive". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/locomotive-r43481/review. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  8. ^ "21st Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville". International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville. http://www.fimav.qc.ca/en/2004/. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  9. ^ Beaucage, Réjea. "André Duchesne (FIMAV): Vieux de la vieille" (in French). Voir. http://www.voir.ca/publishing/article.aspx?zone=1&section=6&article=31077. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  10. ^ "André Duchesne discography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/andr-duchesne-p10466/discography. Retrieved 2011-01-19.