White out

>> Bob Sinclar and the Bal en Blanc gang promise a blinding good time

by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT

Like being presented with 10,000 silver spoons when all you need is a freaking steak knife, life is not lacking in imitation-of-art irony. In the intro skit to Bob Sinclar’s ’98 album, Paradise, as two cartoon voices search for the elusive Sinclar, a secret-service man discovers his whereabouts: “Il est à Miami, Monsieur le Président!”
The Mirror recently found itself searching for Bal en Blanc headliner Sinclar, but was told that he was hard at work in Miami, spinning at the opening of a Louis Vuitton store and was unreachable. We’d just about given up hope of reaching the man who took his gigolo moniker from Le Magnifique, a 1973 James Bond spoof starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as Bob Saint-Clair, a libidinous French spy novelist. But then in the nick of time, Sinclar, aka Christophe Le Friant, co-founder of the Yellow Productions label, dropped us a line from his home base in (where else?) Paris.

“Miami is horrible,” is one of the first things that comes out of his mouth. “It’s all trance,” Sinclar laments (guess that means this disco darling won’t be sticking around to hear Paul Van Dyk’s set). “Unfortunately, trance is the leading music for the young of today, but we are Gaulois. We resist!” Sinclar and his Parisian posse resist the global trance domination with their incomparable disco-house releases. Case in point: Sinclar’s recent remixing of the biggest hits from French disco king Cerrone, a man whose live disco band, the Kongas, used to play at Club Med resorts.

And there’s the ever-popular Africanism project where Sinclar and friends dipped their French touch in zouk and soukous. So with a track record of strictly hot-blooded happy music, does Sinclar ever see himself going in a more melancholic direction? Surprisingly, yes. “I never thought I would, because I love funky, joyous music, but I do feel like hearing more melancholic things now. The next album will be melancholic disco, a little colder, closer to ’80–’81 with more synths, whereas I had usually stayed within ’77–’79.” Just as long as he doesn’t go goth.

Other White noise

A tantalizing trio of parties kick off the giant snow-coloured shebang on Thursday, March 28. The official Bal en Blanc/White Party launch goes down at Newtown, with funky jazzy house daddy Kevin Yost and local boy Jester ($8). The Hustler White party will star circuit-party favourite and NYC native Manny Lehman, plus Stephan Lippé and Serge Duchesne (at Parking, $15–20). Over at the Spectrum, stakes will be high when Bingo à Mado en Blanc combines an extravagant drag show with the palpable tension of no-holds-barred bingo ($20–25).

Friday, March 29, Noche Blanca—not a torrid night of Latin licks but an evening of British beats courtesy of Sheffield megaclub Gatecrasher’s Scott Bond—is rounded out by Mr. Tribe, Doc Slim and Scott Free (at Red Lite in Laval, $20).

Saturday, March 30, everybody’s favourite jetset playboy, Dimitri from Paris, spins at Newtown with Christian Pronovost ($15). Another option that night: La Nuit blanche at Aria with the U.K.’s Tom Stephan and local Stephan Grondin ($20–25). Then of course there’s French pop-hop-ulists Télépopmusik at Sona’s bar that night as well ($20).

The White Hot Hip Hop Night takes over Aria on Sunday, March 31, with former Invisibl Skratch Pickl Q-bert, East Coast big shot DJ Clue and locals Mike Mission and Short Cut ($22–28). Meanwhile, the main event will be rocking the new Palais des Congrès until rather beyond the break of dawn. Hear such big names as Paul Van Dyk, Deep Dish, our man Bob, and locals Luc Raymond (selector and mixer of the event’s official CD White is Pure), Nic B and Simon P. :

For the full schedule of Bal en Blanc festivities visit www.balenblanc.com