Émile Naud

Émile Naud’s amazing musical story begins in the mid-60’s at the St-Pierre Catholic Parish in Shawinigan (Quebec, Canada). Father Émile Naud was in fact a young priest at the parish, and also a musician, flutist and a graduate in Gregorian chant and choir. Along with local friend Jacques Paradis and a few other musicians, he formed an orchestra/choir and they began performing rhythmic masses in the Shawinigan area. The orchestra enjoyed some local success and they soon landed a short contract with Radio-Canada to become the official musical group for the ‘Lord's Day Masses’ that were presented live on television. These programs were broadcast from the cathedral at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. In 1968, they recorded an obscure rhythmic pop-mass album for Jerusalem (2). By the end of the sixties, Emile Naud decided to pursue his musical career more seriously. He gave up his priesthood, managed to obtain a government grant, and evolved his group into a musical audio-visual project under the name “Champs-Pignons”. Their shows combined music (with rock, psychedelic and progressive tones), and also light effects and slide presentations (à la early Pink Floyd). And so, Les Champignons were born, ultimately moving to Laval before recording one of Quebec’s true experimental underground masterpieces, the now highly-coveted [m526892]