Review: Pierre Cartier

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Pierre Cartier
“Dis, Blaise: Chanson du Transsibérien”
(Dame)

On this CD, the accompaniment of reeds (Jean Derome), viola (Jean René), trombone (Tom Walsh), guitar (Bernard Falaise) and drums (Pierre Tanguay), Pierre Cartier sings the epic poem by Blaise Cendrars. This piece is “Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France”. Cendrars wrote the ode in Paris in 1913. It is the tale of a teenager’s journey across Russia in 1905 as the Trans-Siberian railroad is being built and the Russo-Japanese war goes on. In presenting this poem (in French), Cartier mixes Rock In Opposition style avant-jazz with underpinnings of medieval liturgical music.