Are you an aficionado of those old French post-war movies? Do you like the movies of Jean Renoir, Christian Jacques, René Clair or Marcel Carné?
Are you fond of the art of Auguste Renoir or Toulouse-Lautrec, the Art Nouveau style, the French Existentialist movement, Prévert (the author of the lyrics of the famous song Autumn leaves), La Nouvelle Vague, François Truffaut?
Would you like to re-discover the unforgettable songs of Brel, Piaf, and Fréhel, or would you have liked to spend an evening with Aristide Bruant in his famous cabaret Le Chat Noir? And how about finding yourself sitting at the terrace of a Parisian café on Bastille day, looking at couples dancing to the music of a Musette accordion band?
Did you like the movie Amélie?
If you answered yes to one of those questions, Dominique Dupire and Daniel Thonon's show: Le temps des Cerises will take you for a ride in the mythical Paris at the end of the 19th Century into the first half of the 20th.
Dominique and Daniel play original historical instruments such as the diatonic and chromatic accordions, the Jas (a particular drum set at the beginning of the 20th century), the Musette bagpipes and the Manouche guitar (gypsy guitar).
Le temps des Cerises mixes songs, instrumental pieces and anecdotes that will take you into the everyday life of the neighborhoods of Montmartre, La Bastille, and Pigalle.
Le temps des Cerises is suitable for different audiences and can be presented as a casual concert, a street show, for private parties, workshops, and of course, school programs. The participation of the audience and special requests are encouraged.
Dominique
Dupire was born in 1951 and spent most of
her early days in Mont-St-Hilaire in the Province of Quebec. The Dupire family
was at all times involved in the cultural life of 
Montreal.
Dominique's grandfather, Louis Dupire, was the
founder of the botanical gardens of Montreal. Jacques Dupire, Dominique's
father, a journalist in the arts section of many newspapers, while working for
Radio-Canada, was a poet and used to sing with a group of friends.
Everyone in Dominique's family is an artist, her
brothers and sister are all musicians, actors, or work in the film industry. Dominique
is an actress who specializes in Children's plays. She has toured the
world with Le Carrousel, worked for the television and film industry, and then
specialized in teaching music and drama, obtaining a Master's Degree in those
areas. Dominique has always been a singer;
having been involved in many choral groups, and has had many singing roles in
theatrical performances.
Since meeting Daniel Thonon, her new passion is the Parisian Song. Dominique has a very versatile vocal register that allows her to sing these songs that need so much character. She also plays the Jas (or Jâse), a set of drums used typically in the Parisian Musette Orchestras at the turn of the 20th Century, as well as the diatonic accordion.
Daniel
Thonon is considered as one of the masters of the french diatonic
accordion. Born in Brussels in 1949, he is involved since early childhood,
in the artistic world of the early fifies. His father, a jazz pianis, runs
a club in Brussels where he books and accompanies singer-song writers and poets
such as Léo Ferré, Barbara or Juliette Greco. Very often Daniel's
bedroom is used as a rehearsal or hotel room for those artists. Later, Daniel's
parents own an art gallery, where most of the well-known painters and sculptors
of the period hold exhibits. Daniel goes on
to study harpsichord at the Conservatory of Geneva, while learning instrument
building at the Paris Conservatoire. After graduating, he moves to France
where he lives for the next ten years, touring and recording with various groups
in all styles; early music, jazz, folk and even rock. In 1980 he moves
back to Quebec, where he had lived for a short while in the 1960's, plays with
Ensembe Claude Gervaise, and forms the well known group Advielle que Pourra that
has toured world-wide for 15 years.
Daniel has recorded many cd's with his own groups as well as with guest artists, and has published two song-books. Amongs his compositions, the famous Evit Gabriel is played and recorded by many musicians around the world. Daniel accompanies Dominique on the diatonic and chromatic accordions. on the Manouche guitar and the Musette bagpipe.
To
find out more about the various activities of Daniel
Thonon, please go to the Home page.