We arrive full of words, bound, mannered, exhausted, distraught, in the intense ‘There’ from which we departed haggard, terrified, investigative, mute.”

— Pascal Quignard, La nuit sexuelle, Flammarion, 2007

The newer the art, the more it transports us to the distant past.

Our village is located in a remote forest. All around us, great predators hunt and mate in the night.

I created eleven statuettes, my super little totems, and placed them around the village as protection. Each one radiates an energy, a “musical-magical” power, an ambiance, a smell, a flavour, a particular lighting: the colour of the air.

Each Super (petit) Totem highlights a different resource from two extraordinary instruments invented by Jean-François Laporte: the siren organ and the Babel table. These materials are wedded to the rich possibilities offered by three “shamanic,” seasoned improvisers.

— Jean Derome [English translation: Isaiah Ceccarelli, xi-23]

Premiere

• October 24, 2019, SuperTotem, Studio multimédia — Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Montréal (Québec)

Awards

• Création de l’année, Prix Opus 2019-20, Québec

Recording

• June 1, 2023, Robert Langlois, Boris Petrowski • Studio Mixart, Montréal (Québec)

Mixing

• September 2023, Robert Langlois • Studio Mixart, Montréal (Québec)

Mastering

• Ross Murray

Performers

• Jean Derome, baritone saxophone, bass flute, voice
• Lori Freedman, contrabass clarinet, voice
• Michel F Côté, drum kit, voice
• Jean-François Laporte, Babel table
• Émilie Girard-Charest, Babel table
• Francis Leduc, siren organ