50 Years of Harmonium: “It was a deep desire to be heard, to be loved, to talk to people”

This week, the debut album by Quebec folk-rock group Harmonium celebrates its 50th anniversary.

In an interview on the Le Belan programme, singer-songwriter Serge Fiore was “touched” by the news.

“This doesn't make any sense,” sends the guitarist emotional.

While the interview began with one of the group's best songs, “A Musician Among Others,” Mr. Fury returned to his motivation for writing this song.

“It was a deep desire on my part to be heard, to be loved, to talk to people,” he said. “Here we are now 50 years later, and it's been that way all along.”

The artist says that since the beginning of Harmonium, he has felt the power emanating from the music he performs.

“The world didn't know the tunes, but he sang and came back the next day because we played seven nights a week to perfect the songs,” he recalls.

The musician explains that during these numerous performances, he was able, based on audience feedback, to discover songs that had potential.

Although the group had success with French-speaking Quebecers, being one of the most popular bands in Quebec in the 1970s, Harmonium's music touched not only Quebeckers, but also the English-speaking community throughout Canada.

“It was one surprise after another,” Mr. Fiore says. “We have ‘sold out shows’ across Canada.”

He compares this enthusiasm to what many French speakers have for music whose lyrics are in English.

He points out that these tours across Canada “were the opposite of what happened in Montreal, where English bands would come to play and there would be a lot of people who didn't know English or the lyrics.”

“They were English speakers and loved music and were still singing and learning the words,” he recalls. “It was unbelievable.”

***Watch the full interview with Serge Fiore in the main video***