Guhn Twei's scathing criticism of Fonderie Horne, a dedicated hardcore metal group that cost him his participation at the Alienfest music festival in La Sarre, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, says a lot about the “culture of silence”. The region upsets the group's singer.
What is there to know?
Guhn Twei, a committed metal group from Rouyn-Noranda, was invited from the Alienfest festival in La Sarre, which was later cancelled.
The group condemns the pollution caused by the horn foundry.
The event's main sponsor and organizer, which counts Foundry among its clients, described the situation as “sensitive” to explain its decision.
The event, which was eventually canceled altogether, had as its main sponsor Métal Marquis, a Lazarro-based company that makes metal parts and equipment for the mining, forestry and industrial sectors, which counts Fonderie Horne among its clients.
“We are one of the suppliers of the foundry, and this is where it becomes sensitive,” explained the organizer of the festival, Francis Pepin, partner of Metal Marquis, in a message sent to the group's singer Kun Twee , Simon Turcotte.
This artist from Rouen-Noranda had a leg amputated after five bouts with cancer A fierce critic of copper smelting, its toxic emissions have polluted the region's air and soil for a century.
Photo Dominique Leclerc, special collaboration
Rouyn-Norandian musician Simon Turcot in his practice room
“I am the horn and its chimneys / The black plague, the last judgment / With no mercy to the insects on the ground / I am death, Karma”, he specifically sings. ParasitesA piece from the album GlencorruptionIts title refers to Glencore, the Anglo-Swiss multinational owner of the horn foundry.
90% of our songs condemn the situation; It's very “in your face”, our criticism of melting and poisoning people
Simon Turcotte
In his message to Simon Turcotte, dated March 26, organizer Francis Pepin says he has “no choice but to include Kuhn Twee in the Alienfest 2024 programming.”
Six days later, on the 1stThere is In April, the festival was canceled altogether, citing “conflicts of interest between our sponsors and participants,” the organization said in a press release, Radio-Canada reported – Pres Francis Pepin could not be reached for this press release and did not respond to requests sent to him through various channels.
“Outre” singer
Simon Turcotte says he was “furious” when he was invited back in November after his group was canceled from the third annual Alienfest festival.
“It's very worrying for culture, for the funding of culture, for other artists,” he said Pres.
People are so afraid of the foundry that artists are removed from festival programs.
Simon Turcotte
Horn Foundry insists it is not involved in the matter in any way, with spokeswoman Cindy Couette saying the company “has nothing to do with the Alienfest festival and is not aware of what is going on. The music group has been accused. [Guhn Twei] ».
Regardless of whether Horn Foundry intervenes or not, Simon Turcotte believes: “The sponsor is so afraid of offending a business partner that they decide to remove us from their festival and then cancel their festival, which is huge. »
Ironically, the band addresses this issue in their song Melt the water : “Apologetics of genocide/The collective mask/Their profits are more valuable than our lives”
Simon Turcotte's decision to alienfest is difficult to explain, as he has performed with his two musical groups, Kuhn Twee and Tumers, at other events in the region, including the Emerging Music Festival in Abitibi-Temiskamingu. Sponsored by Horn Foundry.
He also performed in the 2023 touring musical Au pays pic-ups.
“We played on the Horn Foundry pitch,” he says. We were in front of fences and chimneys. »
precedents
This is not the first time that criticism of the Horn Foundry has been excluded from cultural events, the Kuhn Twee group, which is concerned about freedom of expression in the region, recalled.
The Horn Foundry ended funding for the Rouen-Noranda Exhibition Center in 2005, which it had supported for years because of a “controversial exhibit,” Radio-Canada reported at the time.
Exhibition of work by artist Véronique Doucet normally Criticized the company and was concerned about the impact of its polluting emissions on the health and environment of the surrounding population.
Even the now popular documentary NorandaDirected by Daniel Korvec and Robert Mondari and narrated by Richard Desjardins, it was excluded from the Abidibi-Temiskaming International Film Festival when it was released in 1984, as Pierre Serre recounts in his book Journey to the end of the tunnelPublished in the fall by Écosociété.
“It must be said that the festival received a subsidy from the Naranda Mines,” he wrote, and Daniel Korvec was arrested by the police for unpaid fines on the evening of the film's premiere at the Théâtre du Copper.
Learn more
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- 45 ng/m23
- The maximum level of arsenic in the air that the Horn Foundry must meet this year is 15 times the legal standard of 3 ng/m in effect in Quebec.3
Source: Ministry of Environment, Combating Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks
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