Brittney Kent, Herald contributor
The SCFPA, la société canadienne française de PA, is the Canadian French Society of P.A. They are located downtown at 29 – 11th St E and they organize a variety of events held each Friday at the space.
Christien, the director of SCFPA and his good friend, Laeticia were warm friendly faces present at last week’s weekly event. The two of them immigrated from the Congo a few years back seem passionate and proud about being apart of the French Community here in Prince Albert.
Laeticia mentioned that the society also has “special events for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc,).” She also works for the society, which was founded back in 1984 and is excited about the numerous activities they organize for parents and kids. It is evident that the SCFPA are a tight-knit group and they do not excuse their French.
Last Friday, Nov. 23, they invited Saskatchewan singer/songwriter Thomas Chevalier, to play a variety of French folk songs for the group.
It was a calm winter’s night full of melodic French lullaby-like songs with catchy and smooth guitar riffs. Chevalier, a francophone himself is well versed in the English language too. While all of the music he sang was in French, he said, “I can sing ‘em all in French and in English (too).”
Chevalier is no stranger to the music scene. He has been playing guitar for 15 years now and is into a variety of genres. Playing exclusively folk tunes at Friday night’s event, he also enjoys playing metal and classical music too.
Thomas said he put out his metal album about five years ago now, but within this last year he received the “programme d’aide aux artistes” grant from CCF, a Canadian French organization, which is in support of helping artists make music.
When asked if Chevalier is on tour or not, he stated, “every month I’m in different places.”
He expressed that he likes that because “acoustics are (always) different.”
Music is seemingly a huge part of Chevalier’s every-day life. “I do a lot of volunteering with people impacted by mental illness. I also volunteer frequently in old folks homes (playing his music).”
Thomas added he books a lot of shows through his website: thcmusique.com so feel free to “book a show” in both French and/or English, he chuckled.
His next show is on Dec. 5 at the local Cat Café down in Regina, SK. where you will find Chevalier serenading the cats to sleep with classical music. As a cat-owner himself, he enjoys the company of the animals and voiced that he plays there at least once a month.
