Postcard from Québec, Canada

Since 2016, I’ve been to Québec so many times that it has unofficially become my second home. Québec is unique within Canada as the only province with French as its majority language, and its particular traditions, culture and history, making it akin to a country within a country. The region’s name comes from an Algonquin word meaning ‘narrow passage’, referring to the area in Québec City where the St Lawrence River narrowed when explorer Samuel de Champlain founded the city, as an important colony for New France, in 1608.

While in Québec City, I stayed at the infamous Chateau Frontenac which claims to be the most photographed hotel in the world. It would be an understatement to say it’s a grand building, as its imposing tower can be seen all over Québec City. It’s also steeped in history, as it was where the Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt planned D-Day in 1943 at the First Québec Conference. Also, every single prime minister of Canada has visited or stayed at the hotel at some point.

My first stop was Festival d’été de Québec, one of the largest music festivals in Canada. Bombino was headlining the Hydro-Québec stage, which brought out a large entourage of the area’s Nigerien community. The desert blues maestro was on fine form, the Saharan and Touareg vibes going down a storm with the whole audience. Ivan Boivin-Flamand, a First Nations artist, also performed. He’s a member of the band Maten, but was performing here solo, singing in his mother tongue of Atikamekw, as well as French and English. He played a sort of acoustic indie-rock popular with the Indigenous community.

The next morning, I strolled around Old Québec City, a UNESCO Heritage Site, with its charming, cobbled streets, quaint buildings and very popular shopping district, Quartier du Petit-Champlain. In the afternoon, I was driven to Montmorency Falls – which are taller than Niagara Falls – to zipline across them. The experience lasted 25 seconds, as I counted, but it felt like an eternity. Québec is spoilt when it comes to outdoor activities and I also got involved with kayaking, hiking and whale watching, with lightning missing our boat by ten meters during the latter.

The depth of music that Canada, and particularly Québec has to offer, was showcased at Le Festif! in Baie-Saint-Paul, a small city in the Charlevoix region. Le Festif! began as a small local affair with only four acts, one of them being a tribute band for The Beatles. Sixteen years later and now 110 artists and bands are spread across Baie-Saint-Paul, of which 75% are Québecois. Local residents even host shows in their back gardens.

One such impromptu event was the Acadian country singer Zachary Richard singing in French to around 400 people as the sun set. Ibibio Sound Machine were one of the few bands from overseas, drawing a huge crowd who lapped up their set, and demanded an encore. Not bad for their first visit to Canada.

La Force perform as a duo, singing in French and English. They treated us to an intimate Friday matinee show, serenading us with dreamy, hazy pop reminiscent of Beach House and Mercury Rev. Outside a bakery, Tom Folly played country songs soundtracked by passing traffic and onlookers drinking their morning coffee. Montréal-based R&B singer Clara Dahlie provided R&B slow jams in a backyard behind a café, singing gamely in French and English while a nearby marching band threatened to drown her out.

The final stop in Québec was to visit a traditional longhouse in a First Nations reservation in Wendake. No longer in use, the house shows a typical way many Indigenous people lived hundreds of years ago. Led by a guide, it was a fascinating insight into another facet of life here. It’s no surprise I keep coming back. Culturally and historically, Québec has plenty to offer.