Quebec’s music Hall of Fame coming to Studio Bell in ’19
The National Music Centre announced Wednesday a partnership with ADISQ, Quebec’s music industry association, which will put Quebec’s music Hall of Fame in Studio Bell in spring 2019.
ADISQ (l’Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo) will have a ring of honour on the fifth floor of Studio Bell, alongside the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
“We opened two years ago and part of what we wanted to do immediately was build a national music organization from Calgary that was connected to the rest of the country via the rest of the country’s music and amplify the rest of the country’s music,” said president and CEO of National Music Centre Andrew Mosker in an interview from Montreal. “I think this partnership with ADISQ is symbolically hugely important.”
Mosker credits the 2016 Junos in Calgary for bringing NMC, which is housed in Studio Bell, and ADISQ together. Solange Drouin, ADISQ vice-president of public affairs and its executive director, said Mosker approached ADISQ to give them a location to honour the artists who win the lifetime achievement award at the annual Gala L’ADISQ, an award show similar to the Junos but honouring artists from Quebec.
Previously, ADISQ didn’t have a physical location to honour its lifetime achievement award winners.
“Now we’ll have a home to present this Hall of Fame to people in Calgary, but also all the tourists and the people that will come and go to the National Music Centre,” said Drouin.
As part of the NMC’s mandate, Mosker wanted to create more permanent recognition for the artists enshrined in Canada’s various music hall of fames outside of awards shows.
“Where do those stories live after? How can elementary school kids and the general public engage with these stories?” he said. “I saw that as a void in Canada. When we built the NMC, part of the national strategy I brought to NMC was let’s bring all the hall of fame partners together.”
“If you pretend to be a national Hall of Fame, you have to have the Quebecois part of this project,” Drouin said, adding that it doesn’t preclude ADISQ from building a Hall of Fame in Quebec at some point.
The lifetime achievement award has been presented 33 times in the Gala L’ADISQ’s 40-year history; artists honoured include Celine Dion, Ginette Reno and ’70s progressive rock band Harmonium, which will be honoured at the 2018 gala in October and in a temporary exhibition at Studio Bell.
ADISQ hopes that this will help the organization be more present for francophones outside of Quebec, as well as exposing Canadians to Quebecois music, Drouin said. “I know it’s far from home, but at the same time, there’s no language for good music.”
I know it’s far from home, but at the same time, there’s no language for good music.