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By Frank Stirk WHEN Paul Baloche, one of the most recognized and respected names in contemporary Christian music, went on stage at Eglise Nouvelle Vie in Montreal last fall, he was about to do what none of his peers had ever attempted: to sing an entire concert in French. And that’s despite the fact he makes no claim to being fluent in the language. “I was just excited to be able to honour that culture and that language,” he says, “to just try to say: ‘We’re trying to connect with your culture and meet you where you’re at, and bring languages and cultures and peoples together to worship the same God.’” It was also a way for Baloche to honour his own family heritage. Both his parents are French-Canadian by birth. Baloche himself was born and raised in Philadelphia, and now lives in Texas. Baloche never learned French himself. That became evident at his concert, but no one seemed to mind. “He said maybe 10 words in French,” says Montreal singer-songwriter Sebastian Demrey, who was there. “Everybody laughed about it. We saw his heart, and so it didn’t matter.” The concert premiered the artist’s new CD, Paul Baloche and Friends. It features some of his best-known songs with new French translations. The ‘friends’ include Quebec Christian artists André and Lynne-Marie Favreau, Joel Augé, Tabitha and others. The idea for a French-language CD came out of a conversation with the Favreaus two years ago. “I just kind of spoke that out: ‘We should do a French worship album,’” Baloche recalls. “They’re like, ‘Yeah!’ And they wouldn’t let me off the hook – ‘When are you going to do that?’ They pushed a little bit, but I’m glad they did.” The Favreaus oversaw the translations, and André Favreau produced Baloche’s French vocal sessions. Both proved to be daunting tasks. “Anyone who thinks they’ve got a perfect translation is mistaken, because you can always find something that’s not quite right,” says André Favreau. “And Paul being such a good songwriter, we wanted to come up with something that would be on a par with what he does in English.” In fact, they could not come up with an acceptable translation of one song, ‘Above All’; it ended up on the CD as a ‘bonus’ track – in English. Baloche also soon found that singing in French was harder than he imagined. “André was pretty strict with me,” he says. “We spent two days recording, and I just had to say: ‘I need more practice.’” And practice he did. “When Paul sent us what he’d recorded, we were surprised at how his level of French had increased in such a short time,” says Favreau. “He still has a little accent, but his French is good. We like it.” p> Before the concert, Baloche hosted a free workshop, where he gave away photocopies of the CD’s companion songbook. “That was awesome,” says Demrey, “because a lot of churches in Quebec are small and they don’t always have the budget to buy songbooks. |
“It was a humility lesson for each and every one of us there, just to have him come and bless us with his music and give us his advice and give us training.” “It was a lot of work,” says Baloche, “but it felt like God’s heart, making a project for a culture that is not saturated with worship music, that seems pretty underserved.” Crafting worship songs that touch people’s lives is a challenge in any culture – but especially so in Quebec, where fewer people now attend church than anywhere else in North America. Sociologist Reginald Bibby says the ratio of monthly churchgoers in Quebec fell from over 80 percent in the mid-1960s to just 22 percent by 2005. Among weekly attenders, that ratio is nearer 15 percent. “Quebec is very, very secular,” says Jocelyn Olivier, Nouvelle Vie’s music pastor, who estimates only about one percent of Quebecers are born again believers. “But there’s hope for the future. There are examples here and there of churches going very, very well. People are hungry for spiritual values. That’s why we need to plant dynamic, contemporary churches that have a message for today.” Given this difficult yet evolving spiritual climate, Demrey is convinced that Baloche’s album “is for sure going to help our churches. It’s only been like five to 10 years, that worship in music has taken a lot of space in the French-language church community. The churches want new songs.” Olivier agrees. “We have more and more new songwriters and musicians and worship leaders in French making very, very good, solid albums,” he says. “But we don’t have enough, and having one from Paul Baloche certainly is a plus.” For Baloche, this project was well worth the time and effort – and he would definitely do something like it again. “It was one of those things where you have these little dreams that may not make sense even financially. It wasn’t a strategic marketing decision. It was a labour of love.” February 2009 | ||||||
