L'Infonie

L'Infonie
OriginMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres
Years active1967–1974
Past members
  • Walter Boudreau
  • Raôul Duguay
  • Jacques Beaudoin
  • Jean Grimard
  • Jean Préfontaine
  • Michel Lefrançois
  • Pierre Daigneault
  • Ysengourd Knörh
  • Yves Charbonneau
  • Jack Rider

L'Infonie was an avant-garde Québécois chamber ensemble founded in Montreal in 1967, under the direction of classical composer Walter Boudreau and artist/poet Raôul Duguay. The name is derived from a pun for the French words for "symphony" and "the Inferno". They produced four albums between 1969 and 1974, after which the project ended. It was intended both as a commercial music group and a novel approach to collective improvisation. L'Infonie had as many as thirty full-time musicians during its artistic apex.

Duguay published the group's manifesto in 1970. They released a number of albums on the avant-garde side of Quebec's progressive rock and jazz-rock scenes, blending disparate genres like classical, jazz, rock and electronica, proving to be influential in Montreal's political counterculture in the early 1970s until its 1974 dissolution. Their albums have since become sought-out collector's items. The ensemble's third album, Vol. 333, was re-released on vinyl in 2016 by Montreal label Mucho Gusto.

Unfinished Infonie

Unfinished Infonie (L'Infonie inachevée...), a 1973 documentary film by Roger Frappier about the ensemble, won the Canadian Film Award for Best Sound at the 25th Canadian Film Awards, before going into wider release in 1974.

A restored version of the film was screened as part of the 2022 Festival du nouveau cinéma's Estival program of summer repertory screenings, before going into commercial release in 2023.

Discography

References

  1. ↑ "Walter Boudreau biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Martin, Gabriel (2013-07-30). "Infonie, l'". Dictionnaire des onomastismes québécois: les mots issus de nos noms propres (in French). Éditions du Fleurdelysé. p. 87. ISBN 978-2-9814025-0-9.
  3. ↑ Québec Info Musique: Raôul Duguay, Biographie, accessed 14 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Couture, François. "L'Infonie Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  5. ↑ Desfossés, Félix B. (2016-12-15). "L'Infonie de retour sur vinyle : la troisième naissance de Raôul Duguay et Walter Boudreau". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  6. ↑ Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-7737-3238-1. pp. 111-114.
  7. ↑ Stéphane Baillargeon, "Les folies créatrices de L’Infonie". Le Devoir, January 14, 2023.