A look back at the Festival des musiques progressives de Montréal, which took place each September between 2006 and 2009.
| Jérôme was one of the co-founders of Maneige and Lasting Weep in the 1970s, and in the 2000s he put together a new ensemble to perform his Moglinak suite which was instrumental music inspired by nature and conservation. The usual rock instrumentation was augmented by instruments such as acoustic piano, clarinet, violin, and miscellaneous percussion. Past members of Maneige, Octobre, l'Orchestre Sympathique, and Conventum took part, as well as Jérôme's daughter Romie on clarinet. This was the very first performance at the very first edition of the event.
This album was released officially by ProgQuebec: https://www.qobuz.com/ca-en/album/live-au-fmpm-2006-jerome-langlois/twbn3k2zyda3b |
| Duo / Huard 1 Jérôme Langlois - Live au Festival des musiques progressives de Montréal - ProgQuebec (2007) 
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| Ville Emard Blues Band was a progressive rock/jazz/blues big band from Montreal led by Bill Gagnon, featuring 18+ musicians, who released two albums in the 1970s. In the 2000s it was the "nouveau génération" who were playing around town, with Bill having passed the reins to his son Chris. Many of the members were children of the original ones, and some of the elders also took part in this concert. For this track, Bill joined on bass. Bill Gagnon left us in June of this year.
This album also had an official release: https://www.qobuz.com/ca-en/album/live-au-fmpm-2007-ville-emard-blues-band/wu6k2h5fcgvwc |
| Walter's Van Ville Emard Blues Band - Live au Festival des musiques progressives de Montréal - ProgQuebec (2008)
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| IQ was a headliner in 2007, a band who has been around since the early 80s and performs in the classic prog style, and one with a long relationship with Quebec fans of the genre. This was their final performance with longtime keyboardist and co-composer Martin Orford, and as they had toured their most recent release "Dark Matter" a couple years prior, the setlist was a career-spanning retrospective.
IQ's "The Seventh House": https://iq-gep.bandcamp.com/album/the-seventh-house |
| Erosion (live 2007) IQ - |
| Miriodor is the most renowned avant-prog group from Quebec, and played the festival three times (they must have been busy in 2008). They have released ten albums of intricate, almost entirely instrumental music over the last four decades, with interlocking parts reminiscent of Gentle Giant and moods ranging from playful to ferocious. For us they were a guaranteed great set and an attraction for fans at home and abroad. Their 2009 set was mostly taken from their then-new release "Avanti!".
Miriodor's "Avanti!": https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/avanti |
| La Roche (live 2009) Miriodor -
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| The Italian group DFA played a type of virtuosic jazz rock reminiscent of the Canterbury scene and augmented by the often spacy synthesizers of keyboardist Alberto Bonomi. There three studio albums remain classics of the "festival" era of progressive rock between 1995 and 2010. This was to be their only performance in Canada, as the pressures of balancing life and music led to the group's dissolution not long after. We lost Alberto Bonomi in 2011 to an automobile accident.
(The opening notes are played on a Korg Z1 that I bought for them to use because good luck finding one of those to rent, LOL... I no longer have the Z1 but I still have Alberto's sysex patches). DFA's "Duty Free Area": https://mellowlabelproductions.bandcamp.com/album/duty-free-area |
| Escher (live 2009) DFA - |
| The other headliner in 2007 was the Strawbs, the long-running folk-rock group (with proggy overtones!) from England. David Cousins passed away earlier this year and Mark did a nice tribute for him on a recent Jukebox. |
| New World (live 2007) Strawbs - |
| Interférence Sardines are a group from Quebec City playing in the musique actuelle style, mixing rock, folk, jazz, and improv. I knew they were good but I was not prepared for how funny and engaging they were, and they charmed the audience when they performed in 2008.
Interférence Sardines "Spot de Rue": https://interferencesardines.bandcamp.com/album/spot-de-rue |
| 33 (live 2008) Interférence Sardines -
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| Ça Mords-Tu? (live 2008) Interférence Sardines -
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| Rouge Ciel released three albums of instrumental music combining avant-rock, jazz, and folk. Their 2009 set mostly drew from their then-forthcoming album "Bryologie", but this track actually comes from their second album "Veuillez procéder".
Rouge Ciel "Bryologie": https://www.qobuz.com/ca-en/album/bryologie-rouge-ciel/rrd9vf7g4xwna |
| Névréalité postparapsychophysiologique (live 2009) Rouge Ciel -
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| Polish band Riverside played in 2008 to an enthusiastic crowd, featuring a set of heavy Floydian music tinged with metal not totally unlike what Porcupine Tree were doing at the time. This song was the opener of their debut album "Out of Myself". Most of this concert was released on a fan club only DVD entitled "Live in Canada", and an additional track appears as a bonus on their live DVD "Reality Dream". Guitarist Piotr Grudziński passed away in 2016.
Riverside "Out of Myself": https://insideoutmusic.bandcamp.com/album/out-of-myself |
| The Same River Riverside - Live in Canada - Voices In My Head |
| Samla Mammas Manna was one of the original Rock in Opposition groups we booked over the years (Univers Zero from Belgium was the other, performing in 2008). They were a Swedish group led by musical genius Lars Hollmer, who had previous played in Quebec with local musicians as a solo artist. This was the first and only performance by Samla in Canada. For this show he was joined by original members Coste Apetrea and Lars Krantz, and appearing on drums was Tatsuya Yoshida from groups like Ruins and Koenji Hyakkei. Hollmer was one of the great composers of the style and their concerts were always spontaneous and full of improvised moments. This track originally appeared on 1973's Måltid. Hollmer passed away the following year and it was a massive loss.
https://www.qobuz.com/ca-en/album/maltid-samla-mammas-manna/joht7t2dgqcnb |
| Dundrets Fröjder (live 2007) Samla Mammas Manna - |
| Three Friends is the closest the world ever got to a Gentle Giant reunion. In 2009 original guitarist Gary Green was joined by one-time drummer Malcolm Mortimer and Kerry Minnear, the original keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist and one of the band's primary composers, along with four additional musicians, to perform the repertoire of Gentle Giant. There was hope at the time that they might also write new music. The news of their upcoming performance hit like a shockwave and we sold out within a week or two of announcing them. Ultimately Kerry left the group late in 2009, and this became one of the few concerts they played with him in the band. This track originally appeared on 1972's Octopus, sung by Kerry, and they did not perform it live back in the day. When they played it in Montreal, Kerry sang it instead of the usual lead singer, and the entire crowd was rapt and utterly silent. It was a moment, and when it was over there was a great outpouring of affection for this man whose music had moved so many in the audience over the years. |
| Think Of Me With Kindness (live 2009) Three Friends - |
| We will conclude today with one of the giants of Italian progressive rock, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, who headlined in 2008 with the only Canadian performance in their fifty year history. This song comes from their 1972 release, "Darwin!", a concept album about Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. The great singer Francesco di Giacomo departed the mortal plane in 2014.
The band needed two vintage 80s Roland modules to perform, and no backline place I contacted had them (it was frankly laughable to ask but I didn't know any better). I couldn't even find them on eBay. One day I was googling for them and found a site where a guy was selling his old studio gear, and he lived in the outskirts of Ottawa! So you better believe I was hauling my ass out to the boonies to buy them. It's funny (now) to think about how fortunate that was. We rented their vintage Minimoog from a collector for the weekend for a little cash and a free festival pass. I spent about 1/3 of the set watching that Minimoog, hoping it wouldn't somehow get knocked off its stand. |
| La conquista della posizione eretta (live 2008) Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - |
| Thank you for listening to this show. It was an audio love letter to the artists who performed at the event and the people who supported it. It left some great musical memories and I'm glad people get to hear some of them. |
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This is beautiful!
9:36 AM, September 26th, 2025