Raôul Duguay

Raôul Duguay (born February 13, 1939) is a Canadian artist, poet, musician, and political activist in the province of Quebec, Canada. He has been an active performer since 1966. Duguay is a longtime supporter of the Quebec sovereignty movement and has run for public office on at least two occasions.

Artist

Duguay was born in Val-d'Or in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, an event that he later chronicled on the semi-autobiographical track "La bittt à Tibi" on his first album. He began writing poetry in the 1950s, and his first two anthologies were published in 1966 and 1967.

He met Walter Boudreau in 1967, and the two artists formed L'Infonie shortly thereafter. This project was intended both as a music group and a new approach to collective improvisation; Duguay published its manifesto in 1970. The group released a number of albums on the avant-garde side of Quebec's progressive rock and jazz-rock scenes before dissolving in 1973.[1] Boudreau and Duguay have re-united on occasion since then, including in 2007 for an Orgues et Couleurs festival.[2]

Duguay released his first solo album in 1975, entitled Alllô tôulmônd; this album features "Tôuttt etô bôuttt," one of his best known tracks. The following year, he performed in front of 400,000 people at the province's Fête nationale, an annual Quebec nationalist cultural event.[3] Duguay released several more solo albums in the seventies, eighties, and nineties; after a gap of eleven years, he returned with J'ai soif in 2010.[4] His song "La bittt à Tibi" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.[5]

Duguay also provided the music for the film Les Fleurs Sauvages (1982), for which he received a Genie nomination.[6] In 1984, he took part in a musical collaboration with Parti Québécois legislator Gilles Baril.[7] In 1996, he provided the text for a revised version of Terry Riley's In C.[8]

Duguay has continued to publish works of poetry. His sixteenth volume, entre la lettre et l'esprit, was issued in 2001.[9] He has also worked in the visual arts as a painter and sculptor.[10]

Politics

Duguay is a longtime supporter of Quebec sovereigntism. In his poem Trente Lettres (1995), he described Canada as a father who "never gave mother [Quebec] an orgasm."[11] In 2010, he signed a public letter criticizing the organizers of Quebec City's Festival d'été for booking mostly anglophone acts to perform.[12]

Duguay ran for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1972 federal election as a non-affiliated candidate in Longueuil, under the name "Raôul Wéziwézô Duguay." He finished well behind Liberal candidate Jacques Olivier.[13] In the 1998 provincial election, he ran as a candidate of the governing Parti Québécois in Brome-Missisquoi.[14] He finished second to Liberal incumbent Pierre Paradis.[15]

Discography
  • Alllô tôulmônd, 1975
  • L'Envol, 1976
  • M, 1977
  • Vivant avec tôulllmônd, 1978
  • On s'm ô Kébek, 1979
  • Le Chanteur de pomme, 1982
  • Tout ce qui compte, 1983
  • Douceur, 1985
  • Nova, 1989
  • Monter en amour, 1993
  • La Santé par la Rire (with Jean Drouin), 1995
  • Caser, 1999
  • J'ai soif, 2010

Anthologies
  • ruts, 1966
  • or le cycle du sang dure donc, 1967
  • Manifeste de l'Infonie, le ToutArtBel, 1970
  • Musiques du KébèK, 1971
  • Lapokalipsô, 1971
  • D'amour, 1976
  • Mainmise, 1976
  • Quand j'étions p'tit, 1977
  • Le poète à la voix d'Ô, 1979
  • Les Saisons, 1981
  • Chansons d'Ô, 1981
  • KébèK à la porte, 1993
  • réveiller le rêve suivi de ruts et or le cycle du sang dure donc, 1996
  • nu tout nu, le rêveur réveillé, 1997
  • L'Infonie, le bouttt de touttt, 2000
  • entre la lettre et l'esprit, 2001

Legacy

His name appears among the friendships of Arcimboldi in Woes of The True Policeman by Roberto Bolaño.

Electoral record
1998 Quebec general election: Brome-Missisquoi
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalPierre Paradis18,12757.17−3.95
Parti QuébécoisRaôul Duguay9,78930.87+1.07
Action démocratiqueEric Larivière3,59911.35+4.58
Natural LawJean-Charles Rouleau1940.61−0.30
Total valid votes 31,709 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 258 0.82%
Turnout 31,96780.56-3.51
Eligible voters 39,680
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
1972 Canadian federal election: Longueuil
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalJacques Olivier22,12944.62
Social CreditEmile-A. Vadeboncoeur12,09124.38
Progressive ConservativeMarcel Robidas7,01514.14
New DemocraticRobert Mansour4,5489.17
IndependentJacques Gendron2,0204.07
Non-AffiliatedRaôul Wéziwézô Duguay1,6253.28
Marxist–LeninistAndré Pesant1700.34
Total valid votes 49,598 100.00
Total rejected ballots 2,977
Turnout 52,575 72.56
Electors on the lists 72,458
Source: Official Voting Results, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (Canada), 1972.

Bibliography
  • Raôul Duguay et al., Raôul Duguay ou : le poète à la voix d'ô, Montréal, L'Aurore, 1979.

References
Citations
  1. Québec Info Musique: Raôul Duguay, Biographie, accessed 14 December 2010.
  2. Arthur Kaptainis, "Heavens, what a concert," Montreal Gazette, 29 September 1998, E5.
  3. Juan Rodriguez, "Music is the Message: How Quebec artists seize the moment to fuel a movement," Montreal Gazette, 22 October 2005, D1.
  4. Québec Info Musique: Raôul Duguay, Discographie, accessed 14 December 2010.
  5. "kids in the hall (of fame)," Toronto Star, 28 February 2008, E01.
  6. Jay Scott, "Top Genie prospects for Jack Miner move," Globe and Mail, 10 February 1983, p. 23; Vincent Canby, "SCREEN: TWO WORKS BY CANADIAN DIRECTOR," New York Times, 9 November 1984.
  7. "Young legislator rocks for charity," Globe and Mail, 16 July 1984, M9.
  8. Arthur Kaptainis, "SMCQ turns 30, unveils new season," Montreal Gazette, 21 September 1996, E9. Walter Boudreau also participated in this project.
  9. Raôul Duguay, écrivain, Raôul Duguay home page, accessed 14 December 2010.
  10. Raôul Duguay, le sculpteur, Raôul Duguay home page, accessed 14 December 2010; Raôul Duguay, le peintre, Raôul Duguay home page, accessed 14 December 2010
  11. This turn of phrase is referenced in Ray Conlogue, "Quebec artists face the fear," Globe and Mail, 14 October 1995, E1. The original was, of course, written in French.
  12. Marianne White, "Festival d'été draws ire of sovereignists," Montreal Gazette, 7 May 2010, C10.
  13. History of Federal Ridings since 1867: LONGUEUIL (1972/10/30), Parliament of Canada, accessed 14 December 2010.
  14. Hubert Bauch, "Marquee candidates getting hard to find," Montreal Gazette, 19 October 1998, A1. This article described Duguay as a "hippie/New Age poet-philosopher."
  15. Official Results, Government of Quebec, accessed 14 December 2010.

Further reading
  • L'Heureux, Christine, et al. Raoul Duguay, ou, le Poète à la voix d'Ô, in series, L'Aurore. Montréal: Éditions Univers, 1979.
  • Gilmore, John. Swinging in Paradise: The Story of Jazz in Montreal. Montreal: Véhicule Press, 1988; Victoria: Ellipse Editions, 2011.
  • Gilmore, John. Who's Who of Jazz in Montreal: Ragtime to 1970. Montreal: Véhicule Press, 1989.
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