SJA's own music maestro Dan Chouinard, who frequently cajoles people into telling their life stories, decided it was time to share his own, the mid-life crisis tale of an itinerant bike musician. What better way to accomplish this but in concert with several of his musical peers. Adding raconteur and singer to his piano and accordion skills, Chouinard put the spotlight on himself by presenting Cafe Europa Saturday May 21 at MPR's Fitzgerald Theater.
MPR's Dale Connelly introduced Dan Chouinard by way of comparison. "What is diplomacy?" queried Connelly to the 500 strong house. He offered, "Use intellect, manners, respect, and wit to bend someone to your will. [This guy is all that] and perhaps our best hope for world peace [ladies and gentlemen]- Dan Chouinard." Out comes Dan to share his very own chronicles of recent European excursions, all traveled by way of his Bianchi bike heavily loaded with five backpacks and his trusty accordion. A sight to be sure. It was my wishful thinking that he would enter the show that way; his bike however did appear, mounted some ten feet high upstage.
Recounting a trip taken the summer of 2002, Chouinard detailed a sometimes lonely journey of self examination. Striving to connect with the European public and their music, he would travel through France and Italy, playing his accordion wherever people would have him, usually on the streets where Chouinard recalled, "the air cool, with just a hint of diesel." On this particularly balmy night, the first guest, Soprano Opera singer Maria Jette- elegantly dressed in a coral red evening gown-was accompanied by Chouinard on accordion and the Mandragora Tango Orchestra which consists of three violins, cello, bass and accordion. She exquisitely performed a rendition of "Quando Me'n Vo." Prudence Johnson followed Chouinard and the orchestra with a richly robust rendition of "I Love Paris."
Chouinard arrived in the hot weather of Paris during Pentecost and, with such heavy baggage (on a bike no less), took refuge in a cool church in the late afternoon. Exhausted, he unintentionally fell asleep. Ah, as he put it, "for a good song, for a nap." The Rose Ensemble lent Gregorian tranquility to Dan's tale, performing in a clustered huddle a capella "Allegri Miserere." Chouinard followed by discussing St. Francis of Assisi, "who walked away from ego and lived his life amongst the people." Dan elaborated, "I wanted this trip to be something of a Franciscan experiment. I wasn't going to strip naked in front of my father and the archbishop, run off into the woods and start a religious movement, at least not yet. But I was going to spend much of the summer in spandex, playing in the streets and perhaps associating with marginalized people."
Russian singer Sima Shumilovsky, along with Accordionists Mark Stillman and Bob Barnes, and Chouinard on piano performed the rousing central Russian Gypsy song "Dark Eyes" while Shumilovsky and Stillman cheekily honored Dan with the Russian tune "The Loneliest Accordionist." Chouinard discussed the advantages of traveling by bike and referred to passing vehicles as "speeding containers." Johnson returned to the stage reviving the lovely French ballad "Sous le Ciel de Paris," with particularly appealing accordion accompaniment by Chouinard. The Rose Ensemble with violin followed with "Fulget Dies," a Latin piece about medicinal pilgrims.
Back to story telling, Chouinard described how he would busk with fellow buskers along the streets. Wanting to just play his music, he occasionally sensed annoyance from Parisians who assumed he was pandering. He wittily felt obliged to respond, "I'm a well established professional from Canada who wants to strike up conversations, not collect money." Though quite engaging, the stories occasionally meandered. The problem with the evening's repertoire consisted of songs no more than two and a half minutes interspersed with long jags of story telling. Perhaps more song, less anecdote in spots. Chouinard concluded the first act warbling the French drinking song "Cheveliers de la Table Ronde" and "Bella Ciao," a song of the Italian Resistance.
After a 25 minute intermission, Act II traveled to places in Italy where Chouinard mused, "even the traffic signs sounded like opera." Peter Ostroushko provided some exceptional mandolin playing on the instrumental "Polca" with Chouinard on accordion. With the open windows and open hearts along the sweet coastal fishing towns, Dan sensed that folks here were more open and fun loving. Absorbing it all in over four weeks along the Mediterranean coastline, he noticed constantly being passed up by "thousands of elderly men in garish spandex." But hearing the many happy Italian songs were like getting ear worms-the melodies go in and just stay with you. Dan had fun singing one of them, "Oh Marie" while merrily playing accordion.
Rose Ensemble director Jordan Sramek expertly broke away from the Classics to croon a 1940s Italian pop song "La Strada del Bosco" and later "Non Dimenticar" with lush accompaniment from Mandragora and Chouinard on piano. In Italy, Dan encountered numerous Gypsy musicians, "All with different degrees of proficiency," he quipped, "covering the Romany Buskers Songbook." Playing some ambient Italian road side music, Chouinard turned to the piano while singing "Besame Mucho" with wonderful work from the orchestra and Bob Barnes on accordion. Dan briefly sang some superb Italian with the Neapolitan fishing song "Santa Lucia" and got Johnson and Rose Ensemble's Heather Cogswell to join in with verses of the audience sing along "It's Now or Never" or "O Sole Mio."
In one of the stories, Chouinard talked about playing accordion for an enchanted couple that loved his playing. The woman inquired if he had a girlfriend? He hesitantly responded about not having a boyfriend for a while, producing awkward silence from the couple. And from us in the house. Eluding explanation, he basically left everyone hanging. With that, Jette returned
to perform a sumptuous Italian version of "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart
Makes" (I Sogni son Desideri) from "Cinderella." Switching to piano, Chouinard lent a vibrantly hearty accompaniment to Jette's vibrant Italian Traditional "O Mio Babbino Caro."
The Rose Ensemble reappeared for a hauntingly tranquil rendition of the Italian "Or Piangiamo," featuring just one of their male singers singing in stirring Castrati style among the female voices of this gifted ensemble. Jette and Johnson duet ever so briefly on "Sento le Rane" while Ostroushko ever so sweetly followed with mandolin on "La Luna."
After his stay in Milan, Dan, via train, headed to Belgium where there are ample amounts, he suggested, of "cheese, SUVs, rain and bad pizza." Fondest of Italy, Chouinard discovered from his quirky European musical biking excursion that his mid-life crisis had suddenly dissipated. He was now homesick. Yes, for the roots of his Twin Cities and St. Joans upbringing, but now with hopeful prospects of trips to come back to Italy. "Being open to the serendipitous encounter of an oddball stranger," he concluded, now stays with him everywhere. He now understood what his true loves really are: home and the road. How fitting for Johnson and him to close with the French classic "J'ai deux Amours," my two loves.
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