Tradosphère Radio Programme

This is the customary opening phrase to a favourite radio programme of mine, Tradosphère. Host Marc Bolduc gives a sparkling introduction to his co-host, Christiane Campagna. As radio announcers, they form a dynamic team to entertain and educate their listeners in the traditional music of (mainly) Québec. It’s a great way for someone outside of Québec to stay up-to-date with what’s happening. The show is in French, but if you don’t understand French you can still enjoy the music. It’s also a great way to improve your Québecois French!

Annonce CKVL 2I asked Marc to tell us a little about the show, and was very sad to hear that the station CIBL will end all specialist programmes, including Tradosphère, in September. So enjoy it while you can!

Update: Good news!
A month after the sad announcement of finishing with CIBL, Tradosphère has found a new home on CKVL on Friday nights from September 9, 2016. You can listen at https://soundcloud.com/marc-bolduc/tracks

Tradosphère has just celebrated its 12th anniversary. Congratulations! Have you been involved with the program from the start?
I’ve been associated with Tradosphere since the beginning in 2004. The founder of the program, Jocelyn Thouin, needed some “expertise” since he was a newbie on the scene. My wife, the fiddler Laura Risk, was interviewed by Jocelyn during (the festival) La Grande Rencontre in 2004 and she told him to contact me about a collaboration. I helped him for an interview with fiddlers Jean-Marie Verret and Yvon Mimeault and it went so well that Tradosphère was led by two people. In the end of the first year Christiane started to do some segments on the program and became a regular collaborator to the program. When Jocelyn left in 2008, she became co-producer of Tradosphère.

It became, for me, an ideal situation, since I always loved folk music and dreamed from a  young age of working in the media

I haven’t been to your studios, but it sounds like you have a window looking from the street right in to where you’re recording, allowing people passing to see you. Is it distracting? Do you have a regular audience?
As for the location of our studios, they are on the corner of St-Laurent and Ste-Catherine, two major streets in Montreal’s downtown. Also, CIBL is near the Place des Festivals, which means there is a  lot of people passing by. They are not really a distraction, but sometimes people are tapping on the windows, taking pictures (especially when we have guests), and dancing in the street since they can hear on the sidewalk what’s going on in our studio…

Which countries listen to your program or podcast?
As far as podcasts are concerned, I don’t have any data about where we can be downloaded. But from comments coming from the audience, I know we have people listening to us everywhere in Québec, but also in the United States, in France, Scotland and in Australia! It’s always surprising and curious to know that someone so far away would get interested in a genre so “local”.

For those who don’t know Québecois music, what artists or groups would you recommend listening to?
It’s really tough to recommend a group or an artist in particular because there are so many styles and different interpretations that make  Quebec folkore great.  It would be unfair to direct the public toward someone.  The Tradosphere is large and the interest of people varies so I would just recommend to listen to it all and then, make your own mind about what you love.

You can hear the archived programmes at:
https://www.cibl1015.com/tradosphere

Tradosphere podcasts are now found at https://soundcloud.com/marc-bolduc/tracks

To discover Marc’s old psychotronik trad blog (in French)
https://tradotronik.tumblr.com

Tradosphère vient de fêter ses 12 ans – Félicitations! Avez-vous été impliqué dans ce projet depuis le début?
Je collabore à Tradosphère depuis le début de l’émission en 2004 et malheureusement, j’y serai aussi à la fin puisque la station CIBL met fin aux émissions spécialisées à partir de septembre 2016, donc profitez du temps qui reste! Le fondateur de l’émission, Jocelyn Thouin avait parti un projet d’émission trad (parce qu’il aimait cela) sans trop s’y connaître. Par hasard, il a interviewé mon épouse Laura Risk au Festival La Grande Rencontre 2004 et celle-ci nous a mis en contact.. J’avais toujours voulu faire de la radio, j’ai donc sauté sur l’occasion! Mon expertise et son enthousiasme on fait démarrer l’émission du bon pied. À la fin de la première année, Christiane s’est mise à collaborer à Tradosphère par l,entremise de chroniques diverses et est devenue coréalisatrice au départ de Jocelyn survenu en 2008.

Pour moi il s’agissait d’une situation idéale, car j’aimais la musique traditionnelle et que j’avais toujours voulu travailer dans le monde des communications.

Je ne suis jamais allée dans votre studio mais d’après ce que j’ai entendu il y a une fenêtre qui donne sur la rue d’où les gens peuvent vous voir enregistrer. Ce n’est pas distrayant? Est-ce que vous avez une audience qui vient vous voir regulièrement?
En ce qui a trait aux studios, la distraction est parfois présente, puisque nous sommes au croisement de deux artères importantes de Montréal soit la rue Ste-Catherine et la rue Saint-Laurent. En plus nous sommes à proximité de la Place des Festivals, il y a donc beaucoup de passants. Souvent, la musique de l’émission est diffusée sur la rue, ce qui fait parfois réagir les gens, qui souvent, dansent ou font des gestes grandiloquents…

Quels pays écoutent vos podcasts? De surprenants pays?
Pour les balladodiffusions, nous sommes écoutés à plusieurs endroits au Québec et par l’entremise de certains auditeurs, je sais que nous sommes écoutés aux États-Unis, en France et en Australie…