Les Colocs

Les Colocs were a major musical band of the Quebec music scene of the 1990's.

Profile

Founded in 1990 and fronted by D?d? Fortin, Les Colocs gave Quebecois unique songs colored with humanity, simplicity and social conscience (especially regarding poverty). They marked the history of Quebec music with their sound, infused with brass sounds, first very wild and festive, later more mellow, as well as more inspired by swing,country,blues and african music. This new direction inspired a collaboration with the Senegal-born Diouf brothers for the album Dehors novembre.

The group promoted tolerance and had a multicultural line up (for example, Mike Sawatzky is a Cree from Saskatchewan, Andr? Vanderbiest is from Belgium and Patrick Esposito Di Napoli was from the French Catalonia). D?d? Fortin (as well as other members like Serge Robert, later to be known as Mononc' Serge) was a passionate Quebec sovereigntist and brought the band to play an important role in the 1995 Quebec referendum via partisan shows. They were part of the resurgence of political songwriting in Quebec, after a drought in the 1980s and part of the 1990s. They were past contenders in the music band contest L'Empire des futures stars.

The festive nature of many of their songs is sharply contrasted by a difficult destiny, marred by the 1994 death of member Patrick Esposito Di Napoli, a victim of AIDS; the band effectively came to an end in 2000 when frontman Fortin took his own life by harakiri. They are considered to hold a major place in the history and evolution of the music of Quebec and are still loved by many music fans.

Members