En voix d’evasion, the first event that Francophone music festival La Nuit sur l'étang has been able to host since the beginning of the pandemic, was an opportunity for musicians and fans alike to come together and celebrate not only Francophone music and culture, but also, the keepers of it.
That’s why, at the April 2 show, La Nuit sur l'étang presented the Le Prix de Nouvel-Ontario to the Madores: Guy, and his beloved late wife, Pierrette.
Created in 1983, the award of excellence recognizes an artist’s body of work and contribution to francophone arts and culture in Ontario and is presented to those who have significantly contributed to the Francophone culture and community. Past winners include Denise Truax of Francophone publishing house Éditions Prise de parole; Hélène Gravel, a well-known educator who was instrumental in leading the theatre troupe Les Draveurs; as well as Jean Éthier-Blais, a Sturgeon Falls-born writer, literary critic and professor of French literature at McGill.
For decades, Verner resident Pierrette Madore and her husband, Guy, chronicled the birth and growth of Ontario’s unique Francophone music culture, and did so by spending as much time on the road as touring musicians, collecting ticket stubs, newspaper articles, photos and anything else they could put together.
Their souvenir collection has become, at last estimate, between 150 and 170 five-inch binders, not just the Madores’ life’s work, but that of just about every Francophone musician to ever perform in Ontario.
With Pierrette’s passing in September of 2020, the community lost one of its first true champions. Guy Madore spoke to Sudbury.com about her life’s work, and her passing. He spoke of her love for her family, and really, for every single person she met.
Franco-Ontarien actor and singer-songwriter Stef Paquette recalled at the time, “She was the human form of genuine happiness. Her reaction when she saw you arrive at a show or festival, she would rush to you and first thing's first, her arms were in the air coming in to get that hello hug. With Pierrette you hugged first, then you talked.”
Singer-songwriter Eric Dubeau spoke of meeting her on his first foray to the big city of Ottawa from his small, very small town roots of Perkinsfield, Ont. (near Midland.) He’d won a contest and found himself performing at the National Art Centre (NAC) for the first of many times. And he was 16.
“I'm walking into one of the big rooms at the NAC and about to do a bunch of interviews and meet a bunch of people, and this woman comes up to me running, like bouncing along, arms open wide, yelling ‘Eric!’ And she gives me — people will tell you this, you will hear this again and again — like tree-crushing hugs. End of the world, I will never see you again, hugs.”
It is not only this community spirit and support for which the Madore’s received the award, but for the work they dedicated themselves to — simply out of passion for Franco-Ontarien culture, and especially music.
Now, 50 years after they began, the Madores have created the most comprehensive and lovingly created archive of contemporary Franco-Ontarien music ever known.
The award was presented to Madore by Sophie Gingras, director of community partnerships and programs for Desjardins Ontario Credit Union, sponsor of the award and the prize that comes with it. Gingras spoke to the two “criss-crossing the province” to attend performances and create their archive.
She said that over the years, the two had also become volunteers and helped out whenever they could, and that, “their presence at shows was essential.”
Madore was both proud and sad at the bittersweet moment, he told Sudbury.com, one of many he has experienced since losing his beloved wife.
But it was good to see friends again, he said, and he was happy to be once again giving back to the community and culture he loves.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized, including the Black, Indigenous, newcomer and Francophone communities, as well as 2SLGBTQ+ and issues of the downtown core.
