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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.”
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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.
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“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
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