Choeur Les Chants Marins De Montreal

Guy Giard sings Montreal’s Songs of Sailors:

Guy Giard recalls and sings on stage the great adventure of the ‘Shanties’ ‘Shanties’ are songs sung by sailors on board vessels on the sea in the days of sailing ships. They had a major importance: their main function rhythm was teamwork. These are therefore work songs, irreverent and often bawdy and songs for the arrival in port and relaxation. Guy Giard, choir and shantyman of the Chants Marins de Montreal recounts with great humor the epic Tall Ships by telling and singing sea shanties.

For the last 30 years Guy Giard has been active on the art scene in Montreal and abroad. As a multidisciplinary artist, video artist, multi-instrumentalist, singer and conductor, he has exhibited his multimedia installations across Canada. He graduated from Concordia University and the National Academy of Fine Arts in the Netherlands. He has received several scholarships and has often been invited as a resident artist and lecturer. He has given workshops at the Louvre Museum (Paris) and since 1996 he leads workshops at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal. As a singing teacher, songwriter and improviser/noisemaker, and after 15 years of performance as a chorister he is the founder of the Chants Marins de Montreal.

Guy Giard observes the elements of everyday life and warps their usual meaning to propose a new reading, either with installations, writings or music. He deconstructs the traditional use of familiar objects to create a personal and moving universe. Versatile and dynamic, he experiments with randomness, improvises and invents instruments by bluring the boundaries between musical styles and eras. With his love of rhythm he merges various forms of music with choir harmonies for an unexpected performance. Over the years he has conducted hundreds of workshops with children from preschool age to seniors groups. He regularly collaborates with musicians, writers, artists and non-artists in his creations.

‘Sea Shanties’ were songs sung by sailors on board in the days of the big sailing ships. Sailors were singing with a specific intent : to pace the team to synchronize everyone’s efforts. There are essentially work songs but also songs for fun and leisure.