Reach to teach

>> Les Jeunes Musiciens du Monde
sows the seeds of sound

A GOOD MIX FOR A GOOD CAUSE:Ghislain Poirier

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

“I think it’s the first time I play a benefit show,” laughs Montreal’s master of bouncy beats, Ghislain Poirier, but he chose a good place to get started. It’s not just that his appearance at the fifth annual Jeunes Musiciens du Monde show this weekend wedges him in with notables like Jorane, Ariane Moffatt, Mara Tremblay, Michel Rivard, Lilison Di Kinara and Ben Charest, though he’s happy about that. “We don’t come from the same scene, but I think that’s cool, that it’s not just the underground or pop scenes represented. It’s a good mix.”

The real reason Poirier digs JMM is where the money’s going once the dust settles. “I like the fact that it’s aimed at more than just one country or place in particular—it helps people here as much as abroad in India.”

Described by co-founder Mathieu Fortier as “a charitable NGO which aims to set up free-access music schools focused on traditional music, to help working-class kids blossom and create a better future for themselves,” les Jeunes Musiciens du Monde has in its half-decade so far established three fee-free schools—one here in Montreal, one in Quebec City and one in India.

“We don’t deal with the kids as though they’re underprivileged,” says Fortier of the two local schools, “but music lessons are a luxury for them in many cases. Also, French Canadians have, in some ways, lost touch with their real traditional music. It’s important to get the kids to remember their roots, so they can figure out better where they want to go.”

So far, the bands assembled from JMM’s Quebec students have gone to a number of high-profile festivals in the province (they’ll be on hand on Saturday too). The students in India, meanwhile, are acing things as well. Nine were sent to complete regional academic exams this year, says Fortier. “They all came back with honours, and one of them got the highest mark of all Karnataka state. There are 55 million people in that state, so you can imagine the amount of kids who show up.”

Now imagine where JMM might go in the year to come. Fortier predicts “some kind of small international network of various schools, on different continents, linking all these kids together through music. Now, with technology, these kids could get on recording sessions from one continent to another, and maybe even meet to tour together.”

At l’Olympia de MontrÉal on
Saturday, Dec. 8, 8:30 p.m., $30