« Dis, Blaise …» :The poème simultané according to Cartier

Abstract

Jazz musicians crossing boundaries between music, theatre and spoken word are rare. In general, musicians tend to shy away from speaking and acting. Apart from isolated incidents like New York pianist Cecil Taylor’s engagement in dance and poetic recitation during concerts or the antics of the Dutch ICP orchestra, most performers believe that on stage their music is sufficient. In Québec, the musicians grouped under the collective umbrella of musique actuelle, however, explicitly search out means to overstep the boundaries of traditional jazz in order to bring to the stage new intersections between creative sound and non-musical art forms. The very nature of musique actuelle is to maintain an open format in terms of musical genre (integrating jazz, electronics, noise etc.), instruments (traditional, forged or found objects) and creative process (composed or improvised music) with the implied objective that this music is actuelle (at the cutting-edge of culture in a general sense). Listening, reacting to their own social experiences, these musicians, over the years, have set out to redefine contemporary jazz. One of the ways they have done so is through a cross-fertilization with other art forms such as film, theatre, cabaret and dance.