Étienne Coppée, winner of the 2021 Francouvertes contest, kicked off the 2022 edition of the event with a mellow, intimate performance. While this year marks the long-awaited return to in-person shows, the online experience continues through the integrated lepointdevente.com online viewing and voting platform.
Last fall, the Francouvertes also made a change to the rules, and First Nations artists can now sing entirely in their own language, or in French and a First Nation language. Two acts in the 2022 roster fall into this new category.
SOCAN will once again be on hand to offer the $1,000 Paroles & Musique cash prize to the winner of the semi-finals; they’ll also receive a songwriting residency at SOCAN House in Nashville or Los Angeles, and be the presenter of the “J’aime mes ex” performance series.
To open the preliminary rounds and semi-finals, 10 ex-contestants will be invited to perform a few songs in a more intimate format. They’re also invited to perform a new song or a new version of an older song from their repertoire. In addition, some of the artists in the series who’ve won the SOCAN Paroles & Musique Award in a previous edition are invited to perform their winning compositions. This year’s exes are: Thierry Larose (March 14), Fanny Bloom (March 15), Ariane Roy (March 21), Valence (March 22), Émilie Proulx (March 28), FUUDGE – as a duo (March 29), Chloé Lacasse (March 30), Gab Bouchard (April 18), Mathieu Bérubé (April 19) and Alex Burger (April 20).
The Paroles & Musique cash prize is part of a plethora of other prizes, grants, and concert opportunities that will be awarded this year.
There will be seven preliminary evenings held at the Lion d’Or every Monday from March 14 to 30.
The contestants of the preliminary round are
- Vidjay Rangaya, FAÇADES, and NINAN (March 14)
- Pataugeoire, hôte, and Zach Boileau (March 15)
- Rau Ze, BéLi, and YUYU (March 21)
- Madame Autruche, Émile Bourgault, and Allô Fantôme (March 22)
- Charlotte Brousseau, Antoine Aspirine, and Tamara Weber (March 28)
- Xela Edna & Eius Echo, Andy Jon, and David Lagacé (March 29)
- Michaëlle Richer, Gawbé, and Dan-George McKenzie (March 30)
The semi-finals will be held April 18-20 and April 26–28, still at the Lion d’Or, and the final round will be held at Club Soda on May 16.
To find out more about the 26th edition of the Francouvertes, visit francouvertes.com (French only).