Polaris Music Prize finalist Klô Pelgag recommends One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
CBC Books | | Posted: August 12, 2021 6:16 PM | Last Updated: August 12, 2021
Klô Pelgag is finalist for Notre-Dame-des-Sept Douleurs
With her ethereal third album Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, Quebec singer-songwriter Klô Pelgag has landed on the 2021 Polaris Prize shortlist.
The Polaris Prize annually celebrates the best Canadian album of the year, awarding the artist $50,000. There are 10 albums on the shortlist. The winner will be announced on Sept. 27, 2021.
Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs explores a recent dark period in Klô Pelgag's life, but also finds glimmers of light in the aftermath. The music explores anxiety and overwork, and often features piano and string instruments.
"It's a thick fog that settled in my head. A black, opaque sky," said the musician in an interview with Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau, on the program Tout un matin.
"I feel like [the album] helped me free myself from the rigidity and harshness that I had on myself."
Klô Pelgag received the Félix Awards's New Artist of the Year in 2014 and has been shortlisted for Juno Awards and SOCAN prizes.
CBC Books asked Klô Pelgag for a book recommendation. Here's why she chose the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
A book of evocative images
"C'est en lisant ce roman de Gabriel Garcia Marquez que j'ai découvert l'existence du 'Rémora'. Ce poisson des mers tropicales, dont la première nageoire dorsale est transformée en un disque adhésif, par lequel il se fixe aux requins ou aux tortues pour avancer. Je suis encore habitée par certaines images de ce livre au pouvoir évocateur très fort."
I am still preoccupied by certain images in this book, which have very strong evocative power.
Translation to English:
"It was while reading this novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that I discovered the existence of the 'Remora'. This tropical sea fish's first dorsal fin transforms into an adhesive disc, which it attaches to sharks or turtles to move forward. I am still preoccupied by certain images in this book, which have very strong evocative power."
Watch | CBC Music profiles Klô Pelgag: