Papa Boa

Bernard Falaise ? Pierre Labbé ? R?mi Leclerc ? Frédéric Roverselli A Montreal avant-rock group with ties to the Ambiances Magn?tiques collective, Papa Boa is one of many projects involving Bernard Falaise and R?mi Leclerc. The group writes complex songs out of studio improvisation sessions, including a lot of sampling and oddities, and is driven by Falaise's highly original guitar work. They have one album out.

In 1991, Falaise, drummer R?mi Leclerc (of Miriodor and various projects by Andr? Duchesne), and bassist Fr?d?ric Roverselli struck a friendship. Out of it came Papa Boa, at first a loose studio collective to which reedist Pierre Labb? was later added. All members (minus Labb?, a jazzman) have a rock background and their first intention was to explore freer structures that would include electronics. Their first experiments consisted mostly of improvisations. The group debuted on-stage in 1991 during the Festival du Th??tre des Am?riques in Montreal. The next few years saw little activity, the unit being used mostly as a laboratory as Falaise and Leclerc's profiles were constantly on the rise in avant-rock circles.

The group provided the soundtrack to Michel Lefebvre and Eva Ouintas' multimedia work Liquidation in 1997. Engagements began to pile up, leading to an active period of three years. The quartet (occasionally augmented by guests such as Marcelle Hudon and storyteller Michel Faubert) performed concerts at various Quebec festivals (Festival des Musiques Fra?ches in Quebec, Festival des Musiques de Cr?ation in Jonqui?res). They built a repertoire of quirky, angular songs and recorded T?te ? Queue, their first CD. It was released in May 1999 by Ambiances Magn?tiques. Performances at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 2000 and the 2002 Montreal Jazz Festival raised the group's profile, but the members' other projects finally claimed them back and Papa Boa went dormant