How This N.B. Musician Exports His Art All The Way To Europe
MONCTON – Joey Robin Haché wants to perform his brand of Acadian folk-rock in Romania and other Eastern European countries one day. He’s gotten close, having played in Switzerland, Belgium and France, among other countries.
“Seven years ago I decided to make [music] a profession. I wanted to be a singer-songwriter, but I had to find all the venues and stuff before I get to the next step. You really have to take your time,” he said. “But since that I traveled pretty much anywhere from Vancouver to Halifax. I’ve been to Europe a couple of times, and I’m supposed to go there later next year. So it’s been a cool seven years.”
The Nigadoo, New Brunswick-native is an award-winning musician at home. He won Francophone Album of the Year Award at the 2016 East Coast Music Awards and Francophone Recording of the Year at the NB Music Awards in 2015.
He said the Francophone music scene is already strong in New Brunswick, especially since there was renewed interest when Lisa Leblanc won the Festival international de la chanson de Granby in Quebec in 2010. But it’s “blooming” even more in the past few years.
Haché says his career isn’t 100 per cent writing and performing music. He’s had to think of the business side of things too. Besides, for him, performing full-time would be nerve-wracking after a while because of all the traveling that goes with it.
“I always say I’m doing this 50 per cent of the time, or maybe 40 or 30 per cent of the time, because on the other side you have to take care of all the logistics, administration, the things you have to do for grant applications and stuff like that,” he said.
He also facilitates singer-songwriter workshops at schools through Cour de la Chanson, a competition for teenage singer-songwriters, and he works as an administrator for local label Le Grenier Musique.
“It goes well together – you have to know both sides to really see what’s going on and where you want to go.”
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When Haché spoke with Huddle, he had just finished a 20-minute showcase in front of dozens of industry professionals, broadcasters, venue owners, agents and artists from across Canada and the world as part of this year’s FrancoFête en Acadie that took place earlier in November. The general public were also invited to attend.
FrancoFête is an annual Acadian and Francophone performing arts event organized by RADARTS, an arts presenter association with 41 members across all four Atlantic provinces. It includes music, theatre, spoken word and others. The event aims to showcase local artists’ work and help them develop business relationships and professionalize.
Haché says the event helps expose his work to people who may want to promote his music on stages and radio stations nationally and internationally.
“When [artists] present their shows to the delegates, they generate interest and then they can sign contracts for tours, to promote their songs overseas in radios, etc. They help the artists in all sorts of ways – with the media, the music scene. There are also workshops on how to build your showcase or your show as a whole. There’s all sorts of things you can find,” he said.
“It helped me a lot to travel around the world. Some of the delegates become my friends here. And they help me construct a tour around Europe, Belgium, Switzerland and France.”
RADARTS partners with other professional associations internationally to promote local artists. Many have brought their work abroad over the 23 editions of FrancoFête, including Menoncle Jason, Chloé Breault, Les Païens and Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire.
This year, Acadian artists are expected to take on 25 international tours. About 58 per cent of the artists seen in showcases will have an Atlantic Canadian tour in the next year, says executive director Jacinthe Comeau.
Acadian performing art is unique because it has a different “colour of the language” compared to other French dialects, she said. At the same time, great talent is blooming in Atlantic Canada in the last few years, offering “very modern presentations.”
“I think that’s what attracts delegates from everywhere,” Comeau said. “And it’s also the warmth and friendliness of the event.”
In his fifth time taking part in FrancoFête, Haché feels he’s matured musically.
“Now I feel like I’m in a place where I can do what I want to do and say what I want to say [with my music], there’s authenticity and people feel it.”