JE ME SOUVIENS, CRÉATION FMA 2009

FMA Retrospective – Webcast of the FMA 2009 original production “Je me souviens” (I remember)

A fusion of Jig and Dabké
Composition: Tony Akiki, Sean Dagher and Nizar Tabcharani
Choreography: Véronique Papillon, Tony Yazbek

Je me souviens is a production created for the FMA’s 10th anniversary. Rhythms, melodies, and dances derived from an authentic, joyous, and resilient Quebec meet with virtuosity, simplicity, and beauty the traditions of a heroic and pure Mount Lebanon. It is an invitation to join a grand celebration, taking place in the Square of a fictitious Village in the land of cedars or lilies, the epicenter of an everyday life filled with youth and enthusiasm. The complicity of the two memories, musical and choreographic, give life back to a fictional and awe-inspiring vision of these distant, yet still present, lands which become “too good to be true”.

This oeuvre crosses cultures and eras, going from millenary music, orally transmitted from generation to generation, to cleverly written modern compositions, from Mawal to Quebecer traditional singing, Jig to middle eastern Dabké.

Je me souviens offers the audience a unique experience, involving the marriage of the two folklores’ vocabularies, an attempt to extract “universal traditional forms”, push back the frontiers of fixed identities, and recompose highly rich authentic expressions often crystallized in archaic styles.